Stop-Motion Animation for ages 9–14
Stop-motion is how films like Wallace and Gromit were made: move a character a tiny bit, take a photo, repeat. It teaches storytelling, planning and patience all at once. Your child storyboards a short scene, builds characters from the kit's clay, shoots it with a phone on the kit's stand, and adds titles and sound.
A 30-second animated film, shot frame by frame on a phone
How 3 sessions get there
Each session is 60 minutes, live, and builds on the last. Your child is doing something for most of it.
Twelve photos a second make motion. Children animate a ball bouncing and learn why it should squash at the bottom.
Plan a 30-second scene in six boxes, then build one or two clay characters and a backdrop.
Shoot the scene frame by frame using onion-skin to line up each shot, then add a title, music and sound effects.
What's in the Animation Studio Kit
Everything your child needs for the sessions arrives in one box before session 1, and all of it is theirs to keep.
- Flexible phone stand that clamps to a table
- Eight-colour modelling clay that never dries
- Two fold-out backdrop scenes
- Small clip-on LED light
- Storyboard pad
Live with a coach, hands on the kit
Here is session 2. The coach shows one idea, the children try it straight away with the kit, and they hold their work up to the camera for feedback.
What your family needs to know
You'll need
- A phone or tablet with a free stop-motion app installed (the instructor recommends one before session 1)
- A table near a window or lamp
Ready if
Your child can sit with a fiddly task for twenty minutes at a time.
Where you come in
Lend a phone for shooting. A finished 30-second film is roughly 360 photos, so it helps if the phone is free for the session.
Reserve a seat
guru.cool will call to confirm a batch time and the fee, and where the kit should go.
About Stop-Motion Animation
Do we need a good camera?
Can my child share the film?
Who runs this workshop?
What happens after I reserve a seat?
When does the kit arrive, and can we keep it?
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3 sessions for ages 9 to 14, ending with a 30-second animated film, shot frame by frame on a phone.