Let’s animate: Stop motion animation techniques

Stop motion is loads of fun and there are plenty of free tools available for any type of device. Use the image resources and video tutorials to create your own animations.

  • Learning areas and strands Visual Art, Digital Technology
  • Education type Education resource
  • Suitable for Years 3–8

Resources

Hand holds up a cut out of a tohorā | southern right whale

Caption

Tohorā | southern right whale, 2019. Te Papa

Method

Stop motion is loads of fun and there are plenty of free tools available for any type of device. We usually work in teams to get the best results when animating. It makes it easier when the different roles are shared. For instance, you may want a camera person to be in charge of capturing the photos, a puppeteer to be moving the creatures between each photo, and a director to make sure everyone is working together.

Cardboard cut-out of the ururoa | great white shark sits on a green sheet of paper, and is visible through the computer recording the scene

Caption

Filming the ururoa | great white shark, 2019. Te Papa

Challenge

Use the image resources and video tutorials to create your own animations. What other materials can you use to make creatures and puppets to animate? Start with something simple like the rolling ball tutorial.