ABCya Animate
Easy-to-learn tool empowers beginning animators
Use ABCya Animate to show students how animations are created. Once students understand how animation works and how to use the tool, they can use it to create short animated movies to demonstrate their understanding in many other subject areas. After a study on insects, for example, students could create an animation of the life cycle of a butterfly. Or they could use the app to retell a short story read in language arts or bring to life an event studied in social studies. The possibilities are endless, especially in project-based learning environments. This creative tool will engage students and help them demonstrate their knowledge and solidify their understanding.
Continue readingEditor's Note: ABCya Animate is no longer available in the U.S. app store; however, it is available in Australia.
ABCya Animate helps students easily create their own animated movies as a video tutorial shows them how to use each of the commands. Starting from a white screen, students can create their own background (from the iPad's camera roll) or use one from ready-made library of. They then draw using four sizes of pencil and 36 colors, or add images from the categories of transportation, landscape, animals, foods, people, and fun objects. They can move and size objects, flip them, or arrange them in front of or behind other objects. To save a frame and add it to the film roll, students hit "copy frame" and then add to the next frame -- up to 99 frames. They can set the background, view the previous frame, and clear a frame easily. There's no way to record voice-overs or add custom music, though the background tune can be changed in the parent/teacher section. Movies can be played once or on a loop. Creations can only be saved to the gallery on the device or exported to the camera roll and shared from there.
Continue readingABCya Animate is a blast for students who want to dip their toes into animation. The drawing interface is easy to navigate, and all the commands are visible on-screen. With 99 frames, students have plenty of room to build a short animated film, and the dozens of included images provide the versatility to incorporate lots of elements. Students can't add their own narration, which limits ABCya Animate when compared to other animation apps like Easy Studio Stop-Motion Studio and Toontastic 3D. The video tutorial is very helpful for showing students how to create animations, so consider this app a good introduction to the animation process and a way for students to successfully create some basic animations.
Continue reading
Overall Rating
Teacher Reviews
(See all 3 reviews) (3 reviews)
I really like this tool. I am a technology teacher so for me it is a great tool to teach slow motion movies. I recommend this program to children from K-3. You could easily have the students create a movie on the screen and than write a story about their movie. This could kick off a writing assignment or it could be a follow up from a writing assignment. You are limited to their images, but I think the gallery has a lot of stuff so the students can easily create a story off of it.
Read full reviewExplore Our Favorite Tools
-
Best Picks for Early Childhood STEM Learning
Get a head start on building essential STEM skills.Grades Pre-K - 3Math, Science -
Media-, News-, and Information-Literacy Resources for Students
Great apps and websites for building media-, news-, and information-literacy skills.Grades Pre-K - 12Critical Thinking -
Top Tech for Using Augmented and Virtual Reality
Immerse students in new worlds with AR and VR.Grades K - 12