Learning through play with HUE Animation Studio

A day in the life of a HUE HD teacher, by Nick Dempster

HUE Animation Studio wins a Junior Design Award!

October 1, 2021

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HUE Animation Studio contains everything that a budding animator needs to take their first creative steps into the world of animation and time-lapse.

The kit includes the HUE HD camera, fully-featured HUE Animation software and the HUE Book of Animation with step-by-step instructions for creating 20 hilarious stop motion videos and ideas for even more.

Stop motion animation is a highly engaging, immersive activity where children can enjoy the freedom to express themselves creatively. Whether animating on their own or with friends, children love the thrill of making stop motion movies and they can become absorbed for hours!

Toy cars can be animated to drive around the living room, toy dinosaurs can roam free in the garden, LEGO® models can build themselves and teddy bears can have their picnics through the magic of stop motion.

Movie-making is the perfect gender-neutral activity for imaginative play, enabling children to create pretend worlds and characters using hands-on artistic and technical computer skills. Equally enjoyed by boys and girls it’s great for spending time together and developing different skills without even realising it!

Animating is so much more than a fun hobby. It can also provide an educational springboard for project-based learning right across the curriculum. From Art to Zoology, teachers, homeschoolers and parents can bring learning to life with HUE Animation Studio.

One of the most immediate and accessible ways that HUE Animation Studio can be used for teaching and learning is by using the software’s time-lapse feature. Time-lapse is a photography technique where images are automatically captured at set intervals of time. When these images are played back in sequence as a movie they can show things happening much more quickly than they do in real life.

Things that move or change very slowly over time which are imperceptible to the human eye are perfect subjects for time-lapse video projects. The technique can be used to great effect to reveal hidden processes in chemistry and nature such as capturing a flower as it blooms, beans growing in a jar, crystals forming, yeast fermentation in bread dough or insect metamorphosis.

If you are interested in making time-lapse video projects but need some pointers to get started, we have a comprehensive tutorial covering how to set up the HUE Animation software, time-lapse tips, and suggestions for the best interval and duration settings.

The uses for stop motion animation in the classroom are endless. There are so many roles involved in creating a complete animation that everyone in class will have their time to shine while working together and contributing their unique interests and skills to the project.

From drawing the storyboards to making the models; writing, reading and recording the scripts; directing, lighting, animating and editing to planning the movie premiere film screening, children can practice and improve their creative, technical and social emotional (SEL) skills in every subject.

HUE Animation Studio makes it easy for teachers to create exciting, project based lessons in any subject area that children can keep and will remember for years to come. The software is designed for use by children. The flexible HUE HD camera eliminates the need for additional tripods or tablet stands and the HUE Book of Animation has all the information you need to master the stop motion technique in minutes.

“We are passionate about film in our school. It provides exciting opportunities for content density and strengthens skills across the curriculum.
The flexible neck of HUE’s camera made this so easy to achieve at our desks, and the quality of the resulting footage left students feeling proud of their work. You could have heard a pin drop in the room: total engagement was unquestionably achieved.
Classrooms are full of digital natives and our world is ever-more saturated by the moving image. Having the equipment to be able to champion film and filmmaking not only welcomes a flourishing industry into schools, it also engages students in a medium they enjoy and can manipulate with ease.
Using HUE’s products have made creative, cross-curricular learning easy to plan and achieve, and helps us in our mission to make learning relevant, independent, and enjoyable.”
Charlotte Skeoch, Northwood School, London, UK

For an overview of how to set up and manage a stop motion project, check out our handy blog post: Tips & tricks for making your first stop motion movie.

HUE also provides a growing number of free resources to download including the 12 Principles of Animation and Activity guides on Global Warming, Maths Fractions, the Cycle of Seasons and The Water Cycle. Watch out for more coming soon!

If you have made stop motion movies before and just need some animation inspiration, we have curated some fabulous ideas from the HUE Animation archives and elsewhere around the web that can help bring learning to life in the classroom.

10 ways to engage the class with HUE Animation Studio

Animate the story of your summer holiday.

Animate a favorite book, poem or fairytale.

Create an animated movie about the moon landing or a mission to Mars.

Film a Skittles® rainbow time-lapse video.

Animate the parts and processes of a volcanic eruption.

Use animated storytelling to bring ancient civilizations to life.

Animate the life cycle of a frog.

Animate the flow of electricity around a circuit.

Create an animation of the water cycle.

Animate LEGO® to visualize mathematical concepts such as fractions, addition, subtraction and multiplication.

For more ideas about using HUE Animation Studio in the classroom, check out this video featuring headteacher Tim Whitehead and the children of Kildwick CE VC Primary School in North Yorkshire, UK.

HUE Animation Studio is available to purchase in three fun colors (red, green and blue). The accompanying book is available in English, French, German and Spanish. Schools can purchase using a purchase order with discounts available for multiple kits and for MATS.