Solar System Animation

One of my latest discoveries is Animate on ABCya.com. Using this great tool, my third grade students are creating animations to illustrate concepts as we study the solar system. A friendly tutorial shows students how to use the available tools to build their animations.

Our first step was taking time to experiment. Students selected a scene and at least one object to move through it. Most students really were motivated to go beyond the requirement and create a full story with many moving characters and props. They were very excited to show their work. Fortunately, the finished products can be saved and run in any browser.

As we studied the sun, planets and moons, students created animations which illustrated a planet revolving around the sun. They were also able to show the rotation of the Earth with a person or animal being pulled by gravity. Some showed the phases of the moon as it orbits Earth. 

By using this tool along with simulations, artwork and videos, the students were able to create a product that helps them understand some sophisticated concepts.

Animation with Tux Paint

Tux Paint is an open source drawing software you can download. It has an easy to use interface.

We use it for many purposes in our lab, one of which is animation. The second-graders have been studying the plant life cycle. In my class, they have used Tux Paint to draw the life stages of a plant. They started with a seed being blown from a mature plant.

After a bit of modeling, they were able to create series of images showing the sun moving though the sky as a seedling grew, or rain watering a flower that kept increasing the number of petals. Each time they made a slight change to a drawing, they would save the new one as a new file.

In this way, they kept each image as a separate file, which can be viewed by clicking on

To play the animation sequence, the student clicks on "Slides"and numbers them.

Students can also select the speed at which the images change.

When the drawings were done, they used the text tool to add a sentence, one word at a time, so it also changed in each frame.

My second graders were very enthusiastic about their work; they enjoyed viewing each other's creations as well.