iStopMotion is one of those great apps. You know, the kind that are soooo easy to use, yet offer so many possibilities for learning and collaboration? Best of all? It involves hands on creativity to design the movie set and characters.
It’s great because it has an overlay, as in the purple clay man show below, so students can see where the object was last placed. It really helps students to know where to begin again with their object. The trick is to keep your iPad stable and set up a background using file folders stapled together or papers attached to the wall.
Please don’t limit students to just few ideas. Introduce the app, allow them time to explore and play, and then ask them what they could create. One question might inspire the next feature film in your classroom. Keep collaboration at a maximum by having each group member have a specific role, such as Producer, to move the objects, Director, to set up the scene and be sure story is followed, and Camera Operator, to click. Students could even work on storyboarding their movie before creating to save time in production and produce a more thoughtfully planned project.
So how can you use iStopMotion in the classroom? Here are some ways to get started in the elementary or primary classroom…
Character Project: After reading a favorite book, students can draw the setting. Then, students draw the character on cardstock and cut him or her out. Moving the character around on the background will work just like an old style cartoon!
Fractionator: Fractions are often hard to visualize. What if students design a movie to demonstrate fractions for younger learners, then invite them to your classroom and show them. Imagine a pizza made from clay that divides into fractions. Or, imagine what students could come up with if you asked, “How do fractions help us?”
Lego: A bucket of minifigs, a pile of blocks, and 5 minutes in a team to create a story? Then the app opens and students are writing, creating, and collaborating. The story could demonstrate challenging vocabulary words, character words, or even scientific concepts. Kids will think outside the box when it comes to Lego blocks and iStopMotion.
Patterns: Create a video that shows a pattern being built with blocks, manipulatives, food, or even paper objects.
Historical Stories: Imagine sculpting a tiny Lincoln for the Gettysburg Address? What about recreating man walking on the Moon? Whatever time period, it gets more interesting when turning it into a feature film. Ask students, “How might an event change the course of history?”
Measure It: Imagine if a tiny clay inchworm crawled up a ruler, one inch at a time, to measure objects in the classroom. It would not only reinforce how to measure, counting, and creativity, it would be fun to watch each other’s videos and see what was measured.
And if your students get hooked on stop motion video? Here are some fun videos that will inspire them….