Fast, Easy, Low-Tech Educational Animations

Introduction

I recently discovered the educational use of simple paper animations thanks to a presentation by an MSU professor. It looked like such a fun technique that I had to try it out myself. Before I get into explaining how to create an animation, I will address some of the benefits and perceived challenges.

Benefits and Perceived Challenges

Educational animations are beneficial because they are

• fun to make
• a friendly and humorous tone setter for your students
• creative opportunities
• unique
• impactful: a great way to convey your message in a manner that viewers tend to enjoy

The perceived challenges of creating educational animations (and their refutations) are

• "I can't draw." The worse you are at drawing, the funnier your video will be. Use this to your advantage.
• "I don't have or know how to use advanced software." Everything you need can be obtained for free and is relatively simple to use.
• "I don't have the hardware." You can use the hardware that you have available and do not need anything fancy.
• "I don't have time." These animations can be made with relatively low effort and have a favorable time-benefit ratio. It would take no more time to convey a lesson through animation than any other method that you would choose.

The Basic Process

Step 1: Organize Your Ideas

Start from the idea of what message or knowledge you want to impart. Think about what you will say and how your animations will convey your idea. I recommend writing a script for your narration and creating a storyboard for your animation.

Step 2: Create Your Characters

Grab a marker, scissors, and paper and get to work. It is unimportant how refined your doodles are. Just draw what you need to effectively convey your message and move on.

Step 3: Record Your Narration

Use a microphone and whatever audio recording software you can obtain to record the sound for your animation. This is where a script comes in handy.

Step 4: Record Your Animation

Use a video camera, webcam, cell phone, or any other recording device to capture the visual portion of your animation. You will need to secure your camera in a stable position using a tripod or a flat, motionless surface.

Step 5: Combine Your Audio And Video

Take the editing software that you already have on your computer or anything that you can find for free and synchronize your audio and video. This will require speeding up or slowing down the video to match the duration of your narration. After this step is finished, your animation is complete!

I created the following video to walk you through the animation process and to provide an example of what a product of this method might look like. In the photographs that follow, you will see that I used the absolute most basic setup possible, which implies that you could make much more sophisticated movies than mine.

Example Animation

Low-Tech Proof

Lastly, to prove that these are fast, easy, low-tech animations, I wanted you to see exactly what I used to create the preceding video.

High-Tech Equipment

Five books, a box, and a wad of paper turned cell phone camera tripod.

Without their performances, my video would not have been possible.

Conclusion

Overall, I believe that making a paper animation is an excellent way to bring additional fun, humor, and learning to your students. Furthermore, it is an opportunity to be creative and playful yourself. If you happen to find an example of similar educational animations online (or perhaps if you create one yourself), feel free to link to it in a comment to this post.