2Animate!

www.2simple.com/2animate

KS2 (Years 3 - 6)

ICT

This product is published by 2Simple Software (Tel: 020 82031781)

2Animate! is an easy to use program that encourages children to demonstrate their creativity as they produce animations that can be printed off and used as hard copy, posted to the Internet or saved as a .pdf. Images can be changed using any one of the 50 special effects included, as well as resized and rotated or captured from the Internet or a webcam. The program’s ease of use belies its ability to produce work of a high standard. The work screens are clear and uncluttered and the user is supported through the use of a video (on the CD-ROM) that illustrates how easy the program is to work with. Three option levels are available – basic, intermediate and advanced – making this program suitable for a range of abilities.

The title is easily accommodated in the Primary classroom and was mainly used during computer club sessions at lunchtime and after school, although the program is now being used across the Curriculum. Following an initial introduction to the program using a projector and an exploratory session on animation, the children viewed some of the video examples included with the software. The children worked in pairs and familiarised themselves with the software by creating a simple animation on a given subject. The children discussed ways of improving their work and saw how making too large a change resulted in jerky movements. The children then went on to use the title in a variety of contexts according to their different needs - some continued to work in pairs but most chose to work independently. Later, the children went on to use a webcam to animate model dinosaurs they had created.