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Teachers' Notes
What is animation?
Animation Techniques
Starting animation

Animation History
Moving Images
stop motion
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 Teaching Animation - Teachers' Notes

Why teach animation?

These pages provide an introduction to animation and give some ideas for projects and lessons across Key Stages 1 & 2.

Animated films and the skills needed to produce them can provide a stimulus to learning across the curriculum - especially in Art and Design, History, ICT, Science and Literacy.
These internet materials provide an introduction to animation and give some ideas for projects and lessons across Key Stage 1 & 2.

When talking about animation in class, it is important to stress the following points:

'Animation' is a performing art rather than a graphic art. The drawings and models replace actors and actresses, so when children are creating their own animation it is important to approach it through the creative skills they would use in drama rather than graphical skills.

Children will have their own preconceived ideas about what animation is from what they have seen at the cinema and watched on television. Try to alert them to the fact that animation is not just Pokemon and Disney cartoons. Animation is image manipulation and it can be used on any object - from pins to people. The key is to let the imagination run wild!

Teamwork

Animation is a co-operative exercise and will utilise the varying skills of the children in the group getting the best out of them. You will find that where some children can draw well, others will be good at operating equipment or playing instruments; or performing voices or acting as artistic directors.
Three rough divisions can be used for group work:
  • pictures
  • sound
  • equipment

Pictures

These can come from various sources: they can be drawn, taken from magazines or compiled on the photocopier. Ask the children to research the images before they start creating them: all good animators spend a lot of time looking for source material and practising before they actually do any artwork.

Sounds

Background music and sound effects come from tapes or CDs, or the children can make the sounds themselves using their voices, musical instruments or everyday objects that can be used for making sounds.

A quick search on the interent for 'free sound effects' will lead you to some useful sounds to add to your animated movies.

Get the children to be creative when devising sounds.

Equipment

This can be as basic or as fancy as you feel comfortable with. The basics that you will need for animation are pencils and paper.

There are many animating software packages that can be installed onto your computers relatively cheaply and easily. e.g. Art Attack-Comic Creator, Kid Pix Studio Deluxe

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