From Still Frames to Moving Stories: Grade 1 Explores Stop Motion

Each year, grade 1 students in Bloomfield Hills Schools create their very own animated movie as part of a stop motion unit in STEAM. This hands-on project is not only fun for kids, but also combines several educational elements: developing a story, planning ahead, creating and designing parts, working as a team, and making adjustments.

At Way Elementary School, students began the unit in the weeks leading up to spring break. STEAM teacher Samantha Auriccio had students begin with simple manipulatives like playdough or Legos, which are easy to shape and re-position. Once students were comfortable with how stop motion works, they created an original video using handmade components. 

First, students worked in small groups to write down a “story map” for their project: a setting, characters, and a beginning, middle, and end. They used colorful construction paper for scene backgrounds, and decorated separate cutouts to be characters and objects. When they were ready to record the action, one team member would make tiny adjustments to the pieces while another took photos with a classroom iPad. Dozens of photos then became a stop motion video of their story.

Ryder Klar, Jax Satterlund, and Mody Schey created a video based on the Titanic. They made a backdrop out of black construction paper (the night sky), with a wavy blue strip at the bottom (the ocean), and a white triangle (the iceberg). They cut a miniature Titanic ship from white and brown construction paper, which they moved - half an inch at a time - toward the iceberg, until it crashed and broke into pieces. 

Meanwhile, Angelee Barnes and Lucy Garmo created a snowman melting in the sun. They made a snowman out of three white circles, complete with brown arms, brown hat, and an orange carrot nose. When a bright yellow sun gradually emerged on the blue paper background, the parts of the snowman gradually sank lower to represent melting. Other projects in the class involved a pizza shop and people riding in a car, and all projects involved many rounds of trial and error, as well as constructive feedback from classmates.

The grade 1 stop motion project is an excellent example of maker-space learning and creative design that regularly takes place in STEAM classes. Bloomfield Hills Schools is proud to provide STEAM as part of its elementary unified arts curriculum.