Animation

'Animation' is a performing art rather than a graphic art. The drawings and models replace actors and actresses, so when children are creating their own animation it is important to approach it through the creative skills they would use in drama rather than graphical skills.
Children will have their own preconceived ideas about what animation is from what they have seen at the cinema and watched on television. Try to alert them to the fact that animation is not just Pokemon and Disney cartoons. Animation is image manipulation and it can be used on any object - from pins to people. The key is to let the imagination run wild!
TeamworkAnimation is a co-operative exercise and will utilise the varying skills of the children in the group getting the best out of them. You will find that where some children can draw well, others will be good at operating equipment or playing instruments; or performing voices or acting as artistic directors.Three rough divisions can be used for group work:
pictures
sound
equipment
PicturesThese can come from various sources: they can be drawn, taken from magazines or compiled on the photocopier. Ask the children to research the images before they start creating them: all good animators spend a lot of time looking for source material and practising before they actually do any artwork.
Sounds
Background music and sound effects come from tapes or CDs, or the children can make the sounds themselves using their voices, musical instruments or everyday objects that can be used for making sounds.
A quick search on the interent for 'free sound effects' will lead you to some useful sounds to add to your animated movies.
Get the children to be creative when devising sounds.
Equipment
This can be as basic or as fancy as you feel comfortable with. The basics that you will need for animation are pencils and paper.