How to Make a Stop Motion Video with Your Kids

Have you seen a stop motion video and wondered how they were made?  They are easy and fun to make and a perfect activity for you and your kids to do together.  A stop motion video is a series of photos that are taken and then placed together to form a video; similar to how animation is made.  Your children get to use their creativity, work together with friends, siblings or you and learn how to use technology.  Plus you get to spend quality time together.  

With the weather cold and you being stuck inside the next time your kids say they are bored make a stop motion video together and then enter to win $5,000 from GoldfishTales!

So how do you make a stop motion video?

Brainstorm

The first step is to brainstorm what story you want to tell.  You could talk this step out or write it out with a bubble map.  You can work together to build and expand on different ideas.  

Write/Draw It Out

Then next step is to think about how your story will play out in your video.  Since a stop motion video is made up of a series of photos you need to know what scenes will be playing out.  You could write it out or draw pictures like a storyboard.

Gather All Your Supplies

Gather together everything you need.  We used Goldfish as our characters.  White paper for our background since we choose a snowy, winter scene.  We used play dough to create all of our elements of our snowman.

Then be sure to download a stop motion app on the device that you will be creating with, either a smartphone or a tablet.

Snack Time

Ok, so this is not a step for making your stop motion video, however you’re probably wanting a snack about now.  A snack that I feel good about serving my child (and me too) is Goldfish crackers.  They are so yummy!  We usually have several bags opened in our house at the same time because my daughter asks for Goldfish crackers more often than any other snack item.  Goldfish crackers are always baked with real cheese and contain no artificial flavors or preservatives (the colors are sourced from plants).  

Start Your Video

First, set the scene for your video with a background.  My daughter used a white piece of paper and had snow (play dough) falling from the sky.   Arrange your recording device at an angle that allows you to capture your story.  You could use a tripod or a stack of books or a box to help you.  Next, open up the stop motion app that you downloaded earlier.  You will capture all the pictures to make your video in the app.

Now it’s time to recreate the story that you brainstormed and wrote or drew out.  Since a stop motion video is a series of pictures, you will want to only move the items in your scene a little bit and then snap a photo, move the item a little bit and then snap a photo, etc.  Here’s a look at my daughter creating her stop motion video; sometimes it helps to see a view of the behind the scenes.

Tip: You are going to need a lot more photos than you think!  My daughter took about 130 photos and her video was 30 seconds long.

Here’s her finished video:

 

Now that you’ve learned how to make a stop motion video get your creative juices flowing and make your own.  Once you’ve completed your video be sure to submit it on GoldfishTales website for a chance to win $5,000.  

To see even more inspiration and to learn more about the Goldfish Tales Animation Xperience, click here.

Have you ever made a stop motion video before?