Such Cute Little Creatures - Stop Motion Animation

These little creatures are the cutest thing ever! Grab a cup of coffee (or beverage of choice), turn up the volume, kick back, and enjoy this fantastic animated production from all the classes at the May Center School in Randolph! The kids learned so much through each phase of this project. It was going to be unveiled at the June talent show, but then COVID-19 happened. 

Notes from Jen Vanora, our terrifically talented art teacher, about this project: "I made the modeling clay at home so it's kitchen ingredients and non-toxic. It's a recipe that involves cooking it on the stove, so the consistency comes out a little more satisfying than the ones where you just mix them.

• All of the classes practiced using the modeling clay, building hand strength and working on fine motor skills.
• We worked on basic shapes and how to make them, and then how to make some basic shapes into characters.
• We learned how to operate the stop motion animation app, flipaclip, and students took turns at continuing to build their creations, putting their creations into the "studio" (a cardboard area covered in blue paper that we set up at a second table) and moving their creations a tiny bit in-between each frame to give the appearance of motion, and operating the camera in the animation app to take the photographs and set up the frames.

The different elements of the activity drew from and built different skill sets- some students focused a lot on the physical activity of using the clay, and other students focused on the narrative skills involved in moving the characters in the studio box.

There was also the element of using technology, and of course, turn taking and collaborating.

It took about a month for all of the classes and students to have a chance to try out the different stages of the project. Afterwards, I just uploaded the students' pieces to the art room computer to edit them in to one video. I didn't make any changes to them.

Watch the student's movie now!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8WundVsy4o&list=PL2Lh6lyyEhmYsNJ-eHLhHfUnZFQMnBAPQ&index=1