Book excerpt 3

Animating Kids In Time and Space

Literally Animating Kids

Fastest Way To Understand Animation Is To Be Animated!

Scene: A Media Lab in Elementary or Middle School

When: 2003-2018
Where: In hundreds of classrooms all over the world

Joe strolls into the classroom for his third visit.

"Alright, animators. Any questions from last time?"

A hand shoots up. "Where’s the chalk?"

Laughter erupts.

Joe smirks. "Unbelievable. It is still about the chalk? I’m literally handing you the keys to the media-making kingdom, and all you want to talk about is the chalk!"

The kids giggle as he paces the room.

"Now, let’s talk about something much bigger. Bigger than stop motion. Bigger than Hollywood. Bigger than the universe itself."

He pauses dramatically.

"Time."

A hush falls over the room.

"And Space," he adds. "Because you, my friends, are about to become masters of both."

A kid in front blurts out, "Like Doctor Who?"

"Exactly. But instead of a TARDIS, you have a camera. And instead of traveling through time, you’re building it. One frame at a time."

Joe spins on his heel. "How do we measure time in a day?"

"Hours!"

"Minutes!"

"Seconds!"

Joe nods. "Right. 24 hours in a day. 60 minutes in an hour. 60 seconds in a minute. We live inside a giant invented time signature—just like music too. You know how music has 4/4 time, or 3/4, or 5/4 if you’re feeling adventurous? It is just another time signature, for a different media.”

A few kids nod.

"Well, animation has a time signature too. And ours is going to be 15 frames per second. That means, for every single second of animation, we have to take 15 pictures. That’s our rhythm. Our beat. Our law of time."

A kid tilts their head. "So if we don’t take enough pictures…?"

Joe points at them. "Then time breaks. Your movie gets choppy, jumps ahead, or goes by so fast it makes no sense at all. And if you don’t take pictures at all? Time ceases to exist. No movie!"

The kids exchange wide-eyed glances.

Joe continues, "And then, there’s space."

From the back, "Like, outer space?"

Joe whips around. "EXACTLY. But also no. We’re talking about the space between movements from frame to frame within the 15fps time signature. Space controls speed."

Puzzled looks.

"Alright, let’s test this. Imagine you’re animating yourself sliding across the floor. 15 pictures per second. So, Move—Click—picture. Move—Click—picture. Move—Click—picture. If you take one picture for every step for 15 separate pictures, and space each step by only a few inches, what happens when we play it back at 15fps?"

"You move across the floor without walking?”

Joe quizzes, “How long is your animation”

“One second?”

“Why?”

“Cause we are working at 15 pictures per second, so we’ve only taken 15 total pictures. So one second of animation.”

“Exactly!” Joe thrills.

"Second question. Will you be moving fast or slow when we play back this one second animation?” Joe quips.

Blank stares.

"You go fast?" guesses a young media mogul.

“Hmmm. Let’s do this as a thought experiment, and then we’ll literally animate you guys doing it.” says Joe hopefully.

Joe points out, “Here’s the deal. If the time stays the same—15 frames per second—the space you put between movements changes how fast it looks when we play it back."

A kid raises a hand. "So if I want to be a super-speed ninja, I just take big steps?"

Joe grins. "Exactly. And how would you space an animation to make it look like slow motion?"

Thinking kids rustle up a raised hand.

“You would make tiny spaces of movement between each picture?"

“Bingo!” Joe hops a little for emphasis. “Alright. You are getting how space and time signatures relate. Now a new question. Here’s where most new young animators fail spectacularly."

Dramatic pause.

"Let’s say you done a one second animation, you’re sliding across the floor, looking all cool and animated. Then, you get to end of the animated slide and pause and smile at the camera for a couple of seconds."

Silence. Then—

An intrepid student offers, "You do the animation across the room, then you look at the camera and take a picture with a smile?"

Joe gasps in mock horror. "WRONG!"

Laughter.

"If you just stop taking pictures, what happens in the animation?"

A kid snaps their fingers. "You stop being animated?"

"Yes captain Obvious! YES! Here’s the thing. If you take one picture of you smiling at the end of the animation, it is on the screen for 1/15th of a second! Remember, we need 15 pictures for every second of this movie, whether something is moving or not."

Blank stares.

"In our 15fps world, if your character needs to pause for two seconds at the end of sliding across the floor, how many pictures do you need?"

Quick mental math.

"Thirty?"

Joe points at the responder. "Yes! If you don’t take those 30 pictures, 15 pictures per second, your character's smile won’t be detectable at all at the end of this animation.

A kid groans. "That sounds tedious."

Joe shrugs. "Welcome to animation! Math, patience, and a little bit of planning and persistence goes a long way. But get it right, and your movie goes from a choppy mess to Hollywood-level magic. And one of the trickiest parts of working in 15fps is to remember to take 15 pictures per second for each pause where nothing is moving on the screen."

The kids start to realize why the chairs and desks are pushed to the outside of the classroom—they are about to be animated.

"Animated filmmaking isn’t just about movement. It’s about controlling time and space. Every great story has a rhythm, a speed, a pulse. It’s all math and spacing. It is figure-out-able."

“You mean we have to not only work out all the movements in an animation, but we also have to work out all the math for the pauses?” queries a voice from the back.

“Yes! And here is the great news. Walt Disney and the Warner Brothers worked out all the timing almost 100 years ago. We still use their formulas for timing and spacing.”

Joe looks around. "And here’s why this matters. You are growing up in a world built on media. Everything you watch, click, scroll, and hear was designed by someone who understands time and space—someone who is working within a time signature—someone who is doing the math—someone who wants you to feel something, think something, maybe even believe something."

Joe points out, "We are going to assemble our animations one frame at a time with purpose and intentionality. And just like everybody else in media persuasion, once you understand how media is made, you won’t just be someone who watches—you’ll be someone who creates, produces, and controls it. That’s a superpower. And it starts with this—learning how to make and manipulate time itself."

He claps his hands. "Alright, time travelers. Who’s ready to bend time and space?"

Every hand shoots up.

Joe cracks his knuckles. "Let’s animate."

Kids Chase A Big Bag Of Popcorn Bags!

Stay tuned for the next post….

Book Excerpt 1:

The Magic Of Media

Introducing The Power Of Directing Attention

Seeing Vs Looking

Media Lab Session In An Elementary or Middle School

When: 2003-2018
Where: In hundreds of classrooms all over the world

The teacher stands at the front of the room.

"Class, we’d like to welcome Joe this morning. He’s here to show us how to make content, stories really, we’ll be learning to make movies."

The class emits eager postures and excited whisperings.

Joe smiles at the students. "Good morning! Learning to read and write in school? You’ve been at it for about five years, right?"

The class groaned collectively, nodding in agreement.

"And I’m guessing there’s a pop quiz, or a test, or some kind of measurement of how you’re doing, right?"

The groans deepened.

Joe turned to the teacher. "How are they doing?"

The teacher either rolls their eyes, chuckles, or gives a thumbs-up.

"Here’s my question. Reading and writing are basic skills for survival as you leave school and go out in the “real world”. Please take it very seriously. Even though we are talking about how to make content with sound and motion, every storytelling movie starts with a written script.”

Student’s eyes start to glaze over.

“Let’s talk about how to read and write with sound and motion. For your generation, this is as basic as reading and writing with text. Here’s my question - Where did you go to learn how to see and hear?"

The students laugh, snicker, and murmur, suggesting they didn’t need to learn how to see and hear.

"I’m serious. Where did you learn how to see and hear?"

Silence.

"It is my contention that you need to be taught how we see/hear as a basic skill of survival in the media saturated age in which we live. Let’s test this. I need a volunteer."

The teacher gestures to a bold student and he rushes to the front of the room.

"What’s your name?"

"Dayquon," the student replys.

"Alright, Dayquon. Could you hand me that piece of chalk over there?"

Dayquon retrieves chalk from a little used chalkboard next to the smartboard and hands it to Joe.

"Thank you. Now, hold your hand up, palm to the ceiling. I’m going to put this piece of chalk in your hand."

Joe carefully and slowly places the chalk in Dayquon’s hand and closed his fingers around it.

"Now, make a tight fist, hold your hand high and keep squeezing. Don’t let us look at it."

Dayquon complies, holding his fist aloft.

"Here’s the test: What did you see in Dayquon’s hand?"

"Chalk!" the class shouts.

"What color is it?"

"White!"

"How big is it? A long piece or a little nub?"

"Long!"

"What shape is it?"

"A circle! No, a cylinder!"

"Was it shiny or dull?"

"Dull!"

Joe grinned. "Amazing. With just a glance, your eyes picked up its color, size, shape, and texture. Isn’t it incredible how quickly we gather information just by looking? But here’s the thing—I’m not testing your looking. I’m here to test your seeing."

The class murmured in confusion.

Joe turned back to Dayquon. "Alright, open your hand."

Dayquon opens his hand—empty. No chalk!

The room erupts in astonishment. Students leap from their seats, some drop to the floor, and others scream.

Joe let the chaos play out before continuing.

"Dayquon, what’s the name of the student in the third row with the pink hoodie?"

"That’s Mica."

"Mica, could you do me a favor? Check the hood of your hoodie on the back of your chair."

Mica turned, reached into her hoodie. Gasping with eyes bugging out of her head, she pulls out the chalk, holding it high.

Pandemonium erupts again.

Joe lets the noise settle. "I thought you said you knew how to see?"

"That was magic!" students shout.

“Do it again!”

“That’s impossible!”

Joe offers, “Do you want to know how I did that?"

"YES!" the class shouts.

Joe smirks. "I did it very well, thank you."

Groans.

“It’s not magic. I just was having a little fun with the rules we all use to pay attention, to see. I guided your eyes, your ears, your minds, and your expectations using the rules of seeing and hearing. I was three or four steps ahead of you at all times, using story, motion, sleight-of-hand, emotion, and anticipation.”

Joe continued, "Today my visit was just to test you, just to get your attention. I’m about to open up a world you have not been exposed to, a world of media production, a world of getting and keeping attention with sound and motion.

Joe pauses, to make sure everyone is listening. “I have been employed by some of the biggest media companies in the world. I’ve been paid to get and keep peoples attention. I feed my family based on the success I’ve had in this business. I am excited to share all these rules, skills, and abilities with you. Today, this is a superpower, and your future depends on understanding how to actually see the magic behind the scenes, by doing media. We’ll explore the rules of attention, of illusion, and how look and SEE.

“Until then, have a great day."

The students scream, “How did you make the chalk dissapear and reappear in Mica’s hood?”

Joe walks out the door, knowing he has the class’s full attention for next time.

Book Excerpt 2 here…

Every Kid Should Go To Film School.

"Imagine if we sent every child to film school. I know, it sounds bold—and maybe a bit idealistic. Especially when there’s no standardized test to assess ‘persuasion through sound and motion.’ No fill-in-the-bubble answers for creative storytelling. And that’s exactly the problem, isn’t it? You can measure math, reading, even STEM outcomes with a ruler. But how do you quantify something like ‘emotional impact’ or ‘engagement’? How do you justify spending precious classroom time on media production when, let’s be honest, your paycheck doesn’t depend on it?

Here’s the thing though—kids today live in a world dominated by video. They ‘read’ video every day, but they don’t know how to write for it. And whether we like it or not, video is fast becoming the most important communication tool in every profession, not just Hollywood. But before you worry that we’re pushing stop motion for the sake of it, let me make something clear: Animating Kids is not a stop motion program. We’re not here to romanticize clay figures moving across a screen. No, we’ve tested this for years in real classrooms with limited resources, and stop motion just happens to be the most effective way to teach the principles of filmmaking. Why? Because it slows everything down—frame by frame—so kids can grasp the building blocks of visual storytelling. It’s like teaching literacy: you start with letters, then words, then sentences. Stop motion allows students to fully experience the creative process, from brainstorming to acting, editing, and finally seeing their work on screen.

What will your students develop during an Animating Kids project?

• Creative and Writing Skills: Brainstorming, sequencing, playing with language, and drafting—skills they can apply to writing and communication.

• STEM and Analytical Skills: Ratios, spatial reasoning, real-time hypothesis testing, and tinkering—core math and problem-solving skills.

• Cinematography and Visual Storytelling: Framing, lighting, continuity, and character design—teaching kids to tell stories visually.

• Performance and Communication: Voice acting, pacing, timing, and choreography—skills that enhance verbal and non-verbal communication.

• Media Production and Technology: Video editing, sound design, music application—learning to work with media production tools.

• Collaboration and Organizational Skills: Teamwork, leadership, compromise, and deadline management—skills vital in any profession.

• Learning and Problem-Solving: Creative problem-solving, trial and error, and real-time adjustments—fostering resilience and critical thinking.

Every child growing up in today’s media-saturated world is owed at least a hands-on, head’s up about creating content—or being a content creator.

At the end of an Animating Kids project, students will have created a one-minute animated story, soup to nuts, using all the skills above. Imagine if this were baked into every school curriculum from the start.At the very least they’d have a clue about how the media they consume is manufactured to entertain and persuade in powerful relevant medium.

Bon Animate!

Give Your Child a Competitive Edge in the Media-Driven World

Animating Kids grew out of turning public school classrooms into media education powerhouses. We have lept many hurdles and found rebel teachers who took a chance on our framework. See a few of their testimonials  here. 

These teachers and media specialists are not the norm. Schools do not teach media literacy as a core literacy alongside reading and writing. With standardized test pressures teachers are not equipped, have no time, or admin support for media skills education, especially in the early grades.

The consequences of this lack of attention to media literacy will be far-reaching.

We invite you to check out some of the latest research below. Even though is years-old, the trends are flagged and we are early days.

We’ve linked some papers which make our point for us. We are making headway in schools, so if you are a teacher these links might be ammo to convince your admin. It is imperative too that parents take their children's media literacy education seriously. Join us at Animating Kids.

Children who do not develop strong media literacy skills early may struggle to communicate their own ideas and thoughts effectively in a world dominated by visual media. It is up to all of us to take an active role in media literacy education.

Bon Animate!

The Team at Animating Kids

*" The Development of Visual Literacy in Early Childhood:  A Review of the Literature" by Diane L. Gromala, Sarah M. Coyne, and Catherine L. Bright, published in Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 2016.

" Enhancing Visual Literacy in the Early Years: The Role of Teacher Professional Development" by Karen Wohlwend , published in the Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 2016.

" Media Literacy in the Early Years: A Longitudinal Study of Children's Media Use and Development " by Kiran Gauntlett, published in Children and Society, 2017.