Animation Fundamentals for Young Creators: 5 Screen-Free Experiments

Animation is a magic trick: lots of still pictures, shown one after another, fool our eyes into seeing movement. The best way for children to understand it is to make some themselves, with paper, pencils and a bit of patience. Here are five experiments to try at home or in class.

1. The flipbook

Take a small notepad. On the last page, draw a simple shape near the bottom, like a ball. On the page above, draw it a little higher. Keep going for 10 to 20 pages, then flip from the back with your thumb. It moves! This is how all hand-drawn animation began.

2. The bouncing ball

Draw a ball falling, hitting the ground and bouncing up again. Then try drawing it slightly squashed when it hits the floor and slightly stretched as it falls. Animators call this squash and stretch, and it makes movement feel bouncy and alive.

3. The spinning picture (thaumatrope)

Cut out a card circle. Draw a bird on one side and a cage on the other (upside down). Tape a pencil or two pieces of string to the sides and spin it fast: the bird appears inside the cage. Our eyes hold on to each picture for a moment, so the two blend into one.

4. Slow in, slow out

Draw a swing moving back and forth in five pictures. Put the drawings close together at the ends of the swing and further apart in the middle. Flip through them and the swing slows down at each end, just like a real one. Animators call this easing.

5. Stop-motion with toys

With a grown-up's phone, take a photo of a toy, move it a tiny bit, take another photo, and repeat 20 times. Flick through the photos quickly and the toy walks on its own. Plasticine figures work brilliantly too.

Want to see gentle animation in action? Watch our watercolour bedtime songs and look for the small movements: flowers swaying, stars twinkling, sleepy eyes closing.