Maybe the first animated movie you watched was far away -in terms of realism, technology, and characters- from the newest releases your children are enjoying nowadays.
Just like in any other aspect of life, technology is progressing at an extremely fast pace, and without even noticing it, we are watching animated movies that look as real as the live-action ones. But, how is this possible?
First of all, because on one hand, animators want to show off their new creations, but on the other hand, audiences are demanding new releases that surpass their predecessors. Have you tried showing your kids the first-ever version of Snow White? Or maybe Aladdin’s original animated film? Most likely, they’ll be expecting for the moment in which these flat characters turn into 3D figures that can almost leave the screen behind them.
Now, for kids to actually value and comprehend how animation works and how this industry started, we are sharing with you 5 offline animation activities for kids that will be fun, educational, and very entertaining for the entire family.
Who knows? Maybe your kids will get enough tools and inspiration to create an animated movie worthy of an Oscar.
Want to go over these great and fun animation activities for children? Let’s cut to the chase!
Fun animation activities for kids and teens!
Besides the rich, amazing, and surprising history of animation, there are several things that haven’t been done yet. But in order to create extraordinary, praiseworthy products, young learners should be able to boost their levels of creativity even when using materials that aren’t part of the online, technological world.
Technology, especially in animation, has had a drastic impact on the way animators work and create, but hundreds of practices animators used to have a few decades ago to create something, shouldn’t be left behind.
That is why we suggest these 5 fun and offline activities for kids that will make our children fall in love with the endless possibilities animation and creativity have to offer.
As you know, your kids can strengthen numerous future-ready skills while learning how to animate their ideas. Therefore, the 5 offline animation activities we are about to share can do way more for your children than just offering them a few moments of amusement.
Check these 5 animation activities out, and if you decide to go ahead and do -at least- one of them, let us know how it goes! Ready? Let’s begin…
1. Storyboard
The base of all live-action or animated movies -besides the script- is the storyboard. According to an official definition, a storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic, or interactive media sequence.
But what can your kids do with this information? Well, if they have an idea for a movie or animation, let them create a storyboard! How? Just print out a few papers with 6 squares on them and a few lines under each square. This way, your children will be able to draw inside each square the illustration of exactly what they imagine happening in the actual film.
This is an excellent way to organize their thought, to let their creativity fly high, and to analyze how they can take extraordinary ideas and transform them into something that can be drawn on paper. Great challenge, isn’t it?
2. Play-doh animation
We’ve talked about stop-motion animation many times in the past. We strongly believe that hands-on learning is a great way to acknowledge learning from a different, more efficient perspective.
When doing a stop motion animation project, your kids will have to actually experience the learning process with their own hands: They’ll have to create characters with Play-doh, they’ll have to move them around, and they’ll have to create different features and reactions for each character.
In an article we published in the past, we talked about some tools that can help kids work on their stop motion animation projects. Check them out here!
3. Paper characters with moving arms
Just as your kids can create their own characters with Play-doh, they can also do so with paper. Let them draw their characters on a big piece of paper and then help them around by grabbing a pair of scissors and cutting the character carefully.
If you want your kids to actually play with the characters they’ve just created, cut the characters’ arms and legs, and then stick them together to the rest of the body by making a small hole in the edge and attaching it together to the rest of the body with small little magnets.
This can easily turn into a D.I.Y STEM project related to animation… Can it get any better than this?
4. Pick a song and create characters for it!
This is a great exercise to boost your kids’ creativity! Make a playlist of your favorite songs and ask them to create a few characters for each song. They can base their creation on either the lyrics, the melodies, or the feelings they get when listening to it.
After they’ve created a few characters for each song, ask them to create original situations in which the characters from the different songs interact with each other.
A musical experience to create characters from scratch can bring us unprecedented results, and can offer your kids a unique opportunity to express themselves and to increase their creativity levels.
After they have drawn the characters, ask them to invent a background story for each one of them. Doing this will help them understand the importance of each character, and how transcendental it is to fully comprehend -when doing their own animations- from where each character comes from, and where does each character wants to go.
Sounds like a cool thing to do with your kids, right?
5. Post-it animation!
Last but not least. This is an old experiment that we all love. Grab a bunch of post-its and use them to create an animation as it was done a few decades ago. One post it after the other, your kids will be drawing each big movement by putting attention to the whole process of the movement itself.
If you’re a little bit lost, take a look at this video and let yourself be inspired.
Animation is just around the corner. Check out our animation courses for kids!
If your children are truly interested in animation, you should definitely check out the amazing online courses offered by Tekkie Uni. In these courses, your kids will learn everything they need to know about animation in a safe, encouraging, enjoyable, scalable, and fun learning environment.
The instructors will make sure to create a feeling of trust so your children can express themselves freely, knowing that mistakes are nothing more than just valuable learning experiences.
With the animation course offered by Tekkie Uni, your kids can take their craziest ideas and turn them into praiseworthy movies. What are you waiting for?
