Animation is always a great ICT unit to teach in a Primary School. I will be teaching animation to Year 4's over the next few weeks and thought I'd share my plans and reflections with you. Feel free to use these ideas in your own teaching.
We started by watching snippets of trailers from animations including Mickey Mouse, Tom and Jerry, Chicken Run and Frozen. I didn't want to just show the latest animations in order that the children could see how animation has developed and changed over the years. This really caught the children's imagination and they were genuinely interested in the history of animation.
We then talked about different types of animations and how they are made. This included a discussion about frames, how many frames per second we need for a smooth animation (25-30 fps) and the changes that might happen frame by frame.
Main Activity
Creating a flipbook. The children had to create a flipbook by cutting out pictures of Coco the Clown (download below), putting them in order and securing them with a paperclip. Once they had done this then the challenge was to create their own flipbook on the reverse side. The aim behind this was to teach the children how small the changes are between frames and how animation requires both patience and perseverance.
Examples of children's flipbooks included a bouncing ball, a ball rolling down a hill, a plant growing up from the ground and then flowering. A great lesson and the children can't wait to now start animating on the computer!
We started by watching snippets of trailers from animations including Mickey Mouse, Tom and Jerry, Chicken Run and Frozen. I didn't want to just show the latest animations in order that the children could see how animation has developed and changed over the years. This really caught the children's imagination and they were genuinely interested in the history of animation.
We then talked about different types of animations and how they are made. This included a discussion about frames, how many frames per second we need for a smooth animation (25-30 fps) and the changes that might happen frame by frame.
Main Activity
Creating a flipbook. The children had to create a flipbook by cutting out pictures of Coco the Clown (download below), putting them in order and securing them with a paperclip. Once they had done this then the challenge was to create their own flipbook on the reverse side. The aim behind this was to teach the children how small the changes are between frames and how animation requires both patience and perseverance.
Examples of children's flipbooks included a bouncing ball, a ball rolling down a hill, a plant growing up from the ground and then flowering. A great lesson and the children can't wait to now start animating on the computer!