I love this project. My oldest made his first movie when he turned 5 and I have been encouraging him to make another ever since. Spring Break started early last week and we needed a creative way to tell Nana, “Happy Birthday!” Making a movie for her seemed like a fun idea and we finally had the time to do it.

There are so many pieces that go into creating a movie that encourage a child’s creativity, invite collaboration, and are just really, really fun that result in something you can have to show the media when he wins his first Academy Award. (Or watch over and over again at his insistence.) ;)

How to make a still animation movie:

1. Choose how you are going to tell the story. Storytelling has so many wonderful aspects and a new body of evidence is suggesting that storytelling has a positive effect on children’s social, emotional and cognitive development. There is value in both retelling a classic story or in creating your own.
2. Create a story map. For younger children, this can be done with a basic drawing of what each scene will entail. Older children can write out a basic script and also include simple sketches to go along with each scene. Structure, sequencing, and components of a story, being able to pick out the important details of the story, plus drawing and writing skills are all emphasized in this section. Go as far in depth as your child, and time, will allow.
3. Finalize the narration and any dialogue. This will likely be the hardest step for young children. They still need quite a bit of guidance to make the story and dialogue flow nicely. That is all a learning process that will help them when reading and writing stories on their own.
4. Draw the scenes. For my children, this was the second best part (see below). Take each important scene and let them draw what it looks like in their head. This is the time to really get the creativity going. Use lots of color and lots of detail for the best effect. I still have them draw on paper, especially since all three could work at the same time, but a computer drawing program would be fun for a lot of kids.
5. Scan or photograph the paper images or prepare the digital drawings for your movie making software. I use iMovie, but Windows Movie Maker is a good choice for PCs.
6. Play around! This is the best part…
   • Put the images in order.
   • Add opening credits and a title.
   • Add fun transitions between scenes.
   • Record the narration. Be sure to give them lots of practice time and keep background noise to a minimum.
   • Add sound effects.
   • Add music.
   • Add closing credits.
7. Share it! Follow your software’s instructions on how to share your movie on Facebook, YouTube, or make it into a DVD.
8. Start thinking up your next great idea!

I am a big believer in letting kids take responsibility for their art, even though that often means it doesn’t look like how I would have done it or how it “should” look. My toddlers always came out of art class with Picasso like animals and people, but they did it themselves. Making movies is just another way to show off their personalities and a learn a little while they’re at it.

Have you ever made an animated movie with your children? Any tips?
If not, what are you waiting for?