Ever since the AOE Conference I have been inspired to add stop motion animation to the Expressions Curriculum. Since then I have read many blog posts about ways to incorporate, set up and run this type of project in the art-room. Just this weekend we visited the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley where there was a stop-motion animation lab and my 6-year old son was able to sit down and figure out how to do it within 15 minutes. After he was hooked my 9-year old daughter sat down and really got into it too. both kiddos were so instantly successful I realized I needed to stop thinking about it and JUST DO IT! So, I went ahead and downloaded
Stop Motion Studio as a starting point.
Since my daughter and I are home together this week for spring break we decided she would be the stop-motion "experimenter". So I had her read
Ms. Novak's Stop-Motion Blog Post first before she decided on what mediums she would use for her first video. Once she read through the blog post she played around with the app for about 15 minutes creating a simple video in which she gleaned what she needed to know to make her project plan. The mediums she decided on included a white board and modeling clay. I set up the i-pad on the stand and about two-hours later, with a lot of giggles and cartwheels in between, Te'a produced this video.
Here is what I loved about her first experience:
- She figured out how to use the app on her own, the only thing she needed help with was changing the settings to allow for audio if she wanted it- SUPER USER FRIENDLY!
- She was totally in control of the entire process creating and revising the itty bitty frames on her own. She did not allow me to watch until she was done!
- VERY engaging. She only took a couple cartwheels breaks. :)
- PRIDE! She was so proud of her video she waited until her Dad and brother came home for a big family "Reveal".
- She wants to experiment creating Stop-Motion animation on her Kindle and Chrome-book.
- YOU GO GIRL!!!
