The Big Draw 17: Living Lines of Animation

Saturday afternoon, October 14, the Academy Center of the Arts in Lynchburg, VA hosted a Big Draw17 Living Lines event. I knew I was going to have a good time and was thrilled when we had a full house with kids and adults making art and animation and loving it. I am most indebted to the Academy Center of the Arts for sponsoring this program.

As a family event, it was very exciting to have so many adults actively participating, parents and adults who came to experience the Big Draw in Lynchburg. I had not realized, we were one of only three Big Draw happenings in the US this year. Time is running out, but not too late for you to register for a Big Draw event at your school, museum, art space, park during the month of October.

Life Stories: One Story A Beginning

Adult cicada  Wikipedia: Public Domain

Growing up on an old farm outside of Washington DC, I had access to 40 acres of fields, barns and woods. It was a time when kids wandered and explored for hours a day, especially in the summer. 

Discover the World of Communication at American University

In July I taught two classes at American University's very extensive summer program for high school students, Discover the World of Communication at their Washington, D. C. campus.  Professor Sarah Menke-Fish founded the program and has been the director for over 20 years. I taught for the second two-week session with nineteen courses offered, including Advanced Scriptwriting  and Video Production, The Film Intensive,  Broadcast Journalism, Media for Change, Speaking for Impact and Nature Photography. My classes were Graphic Design and Animation. I was very impressed with the program and want to make sure teachers, parents and students are aware of this opportunity for future summers.

I had not spent much time at AU in my many years living in the area. It was a delightful surprise to discover this beautiful campus. Our classes were held in McKinley Building pictured below.

Prints for Kids

Like many artists, I started drawing as a kid. I remember copying comic strip characters and asking my Mom to help me draw a horse. I am very fond of this photo of painting in our yard as a four year old. I was lucky my Mom indulged me, I'm quite sure I made a big mess.

I am a big fan of keeping that four year old mentality as much as I can.

Lady Bug

Wish On A Dandelion

5 Features of ABC Apps

The first book I bought for my daughter, all those years ago, was an ABC book from the Brooklyn Museum. She is now a PhD candidate in Art History and lives in Brooklyn. 
Probably not a direct correlation, but a nice coincidence.

ABC Egyptian Art from The Brooklyn Museum by Florence Cassen Mayers

After many years producing fine art and linear animation, my media production for kids turned to apps. An interactive, animated ABC book with images from museums was the first project I wanted to develop. Soon after that the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. released 20,000 images into the public domain and I was off to the races. ABC.DC: An Art Alphabet was released in February, 2014. I has just been updated.

Here are 5 reasons I think the alphabet is a great structure for children's media.

New App in Development: New Workflow

Kristin Reiber Harris
KristinHarrisDesign.com

I am fixating on bird these days; little birds, big birds, silly birds and even realistic birds. My new app project is all about birds. Birds that will make three year olds giggle and hopefully a lot more.  I am combining some of my favorite old and new tools on this project as well as getting back to my roots as an animator.

 

Step One: Textures in Procreate

I start this process of creating a menagerie of birds by developing textures in Procreate on my iPad. I became familiar with Procreate teaching students how to use it working with Demibooks Composer Pro, a development tool for iOS apps. The beauty of Procreate is the artwork is created on the iPad which facilitates import to Composer Pro.

Maier Museum iPad Camp: A Success Story

Five afternoons in mid-June, the Maier Museum at Randolph College in Lynchburg, Va hosted eager and dedicated iPad artist between the ages of 8 and 13 for the first iPad camp of the summer. Surrounded by art treasures from the Maier Museum collection, what better location to inspire students to be creative.

My objective in organizing these iPad camps is to encourage students to become content creators not just content consumers. When I asked the students how they use their iPads, I heard a lot about Minecraft and Youtube. We all know how easy it is to become addicted to the wide range of media at our fingertips with our mobile devices.  My mission: convince students to use their own creative energies and expertise to become animators, storytellers and developers too. Few things make me happier than to see this mission accomplished as successfully as it was that week.

Olivia's wonderful cat with a view of the Flip Boom Cartoon interface.

6 Reasons To Go to iPad Camp

Kristin Reiber Harris

What's So Special About iPad Camp?

I have had the opportunity to work with many kids and adults in a variety of venues exploring the iPad as a tool for creative expression. My schedule this summer includes two weeks of half-day iPad camps at the Maier Museum at Randolph College the weeks of June 15th and June 22nd. The sessions are 3 hours five days in a row, the first week for kids 8 to 12 and the second week for teens and adults. Stay tuned for more dates and venues.

iPad Camp last summer at Lynchburg College  Photo Credit: Lynchburg College

iPad Animation: Lesson One

Kristin Reiber Harris
kristinharrisdesign.com

Flip Boom Cartoon is a fantastic tool for teaching kids how to become animators. I recently spent a lot of time working with middle school students using this iPad tool to create short animations.

Question to Get Started

I like to start my animation workshops with a question. What does "to animate" mean?
What could be more exciting than "to bring to life"...everything from letters to balls and most importantly the students own artwork and stories.

iPads, Flip Books and Animation

Kristin Reiber Harris

I Love Animation

I love watching it and I especially love making animations. Some of the coolest people I know are animators. I have enjoyed sharing this enthusiasm with others for many years. iPads add a twist to the process with a new set of tools and great portability. I recently did an animation workshop for elementary age kids using FlipBoomCartoon. Now I have a chance to offer this same opportunity to my students at Lynchburg College.


What Tools Will We Use?
My Drawing 1 students will be using iPads next week. This is a first for me to be able to offer beginning drawing students access to art making tools on an iPad. The college just got 30 iPads last semester. They will be using FlipBoomCartoon to make animations and Procreate for drawing. If we have time, I'd like to see them bring gesture drawings from Procreate into iMovie to create an animation of stills.

Gov School 2013 and Demibooks Composer Studio

MacLab in Schewel Hall at Lynchburg College waiting for Gov School students to arrive.

Sunday the students arrived for the 2013 Summer Residential Governor's School Program in Mathematics, Science, and Technology; or Gov School. This is the eighteeth year it has been hosted by Lynchburg College and my 5th year of teaching 2D animation and interactive design with Adobe Flash Professional. This year things are going to be quite different. Gov School students come from all over Virginia and live on campus for 4 weeks. Every year it has been a pleasure to work with a group of students, most rising seniors, who want to spend the month of July studying and working when they could be at the beach.  Well,maybe...

Brand new iMacs in the lab

One reason my course will be different this year is because Lynchburg College received a grant from the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges for technology to support creativity in the arts. I am thrilled that this grant made possible the purchase of 30 iPads and 3 iPad kiosks among other things. These iPads will be available for my Gov School students. I will have the opportunity to share with my students my enthusiasm for Demibooks Composer Studio, the production software I am using to develop my artEpants series of apps for young children.

Demibooks has created products that are affordable and versatile yet relatively easy to use to create apps with realistic physics, animation, illustrations, text, sound, movies and visual effects. I started working with their Composer Pro but upgraded to the subscription Composer Studio when it was released. I have had a great time learning the software and watching my content flex and grow into the capabilities of Composer Studio.

iPads sync'd and charged

The addition of Composer Share has significantly altered the Demibooks landscape. This free app lets me share my app at any stage of development with any one I choose. Right now I am preparing for a second round a beta testing for artEpants's Duck Takes A Ride. A bit of a learning curve to understand how I explain to my testers how to access the the dcb (Demibooks file format). I got up to speed on that problem and ready to shoot it out again when another complication became apparent.  The complication that will delay this process is that Composer Share is not completely compatible with the latest features of Composer Studio. The most important of which is Hot Zones. This funcionality greatly enhances the options for interactivity. I am going to have to wait for the upgrade to proceed with my beta testing.

Hopefully during the month of July this problem will be addressed so that no matter how far along the students get in the process of working with Composer Studio, they will have something when they leave that they can take back home and share with their family and friends. They can always save their Demibooks files and get Composer Studio for an iPad at home.

There was some consternation from IT staff about loading Composer Studio because it is currently not available through the iTunes store. Actually I have yet to load all 30 versions, but we won't be working with Composer immediately after the students arrive, so I have some time. What my colleagues in IT didn't understand is how impressed I am with the ease of use and scope of this software and how motivated I am to use it with students. The Demibooks community support has been really wonderful.  

We will start Gov School working in Flash CS6. This gives me an opportunity to introduce all of the students to the basic principles of animation and help them develop skills in content creation, both illustration and animation. Those skills will be useful when we start working on the iPads and need content to import into Composer Studio.

It's Tuesday afternoon and we have completed two days of classes and I am very impressed with how diligently the students are working and how quickly they are grasping the basic concepts and maneuveuring around in Flash. Numerous student came to Gov School with both Flash and animation experience, but quite a few created their first animation today. I still remember seeing the first animation I made years ago.  

iPads locked up in a fancy cart that charges and syncs.

I will keep you posted on our progress.

My remarks to the students and parents on Sunday afternoon after the Opening Ceremonies when we all gathered in the MacLab for the first time.

Welcome, I am so pleased to be here and meet all of you.  This is my 5^th year of teaching animation at Gov School and probably my 10^th teaching Flash to someone, both here at LC and NVCC (Northern VA Community College).

I am Kristin Reiber Harris. I have been adjunct faculty at LC for 7 years teaching in the Art and Design dept. I have had an animation business for over 25 years, primarily in the DC market before I moved to Lynchburg. I worked with a variety of clients, but my primary interest has always been educational media for young children. I was very pleased to provide over 40 animated shorts to HBO Family and have my work included in numerous children’s film festivals all over the country.

I am currently developing apps for young children that introduce objects from museum collections via both narrative and alphabetical sequences. I am very excited to introduce you to the software I am using for app development, Demibooks Composer Studio. It is both accessible and robust. We will start our process of content creation and animation working with Flash to get the fundamentals and develop artwork and animated sequences.

What’s it going to be like in here for 4 weeks? I am a huge proponent of nurturing creativity by giving you lots of room to do what you want. We will start out with fairly specific skill building assignments, but then I encourage you to develop more complex projects that make sense to you.  If you have a burning desire to do a specific thing, I will facilitate that as much as possible. 

What do I ask of you? Be here both physically and mentally, have a good attitude, focus on your work, share and help others.

This course is about basic skill building, but more important it’s about process.  How do I go about learning what I need to know to do what I want?  How do I get around a roadblock?  How do I answer that one question that will open new functionality for me?

I am very big on notebooks. I want you to have a plan.  You can change your plan a million times, but you need to document where you start and links to your research.

Parents, please leave a note or two for your student in their books to encourage them. There will be ups and downs during the month.

Welcome and I really look forward to working with you.

Questions?

 

MoMA's Art Lab Shines

MOMA's Art Lab is tucked away in their education building. I had not been aware of it on previous visits. I was particularly interested in seeing the facility before I meet Cari Frisch in April at the Sandbox Summit. My efforts were well rewarded. Cari was kind enough to put me on the staff guest list and I spent a wonderful afternoon with Queena, Bek and numerous families at the Art Lab.

 
The education facility at MoMA is extensive. The Art Lab is on the ground level and designed for young children. Downstairs are multiple classroom studios for older students. There is also exhibit space so I was able to see examples of the kinds of projects they do with the older visitors.

Create Ability is a seven year old arts program for children and adults with learning or developmental disabilities and their families. This is only one of the numerous programs offered.

The ArtLab is a bright space that is very inviting with one long wall of windows. On an annual basis, the space is configured for a specific theme. This year the theme is people. At the entrance an animated segment with letters projected on the wall and configured into various faces entices little visitors. Actually, the space is designed for families. I was visiting in the early afternoon so, it was not too surprising that the children I saw we're all very young, some as young as a year old. The space is well designed to accommodate visitors of all ages.

Still from the animation that greets visitors to the Art Lab.

The first project on the wall as you enter the room is a large set of magnetized letters that can be arranged into faces. This kind of activity is replicated with many different materials at other locations in the room. There are blocks, laminated cards and drawing stations.

I could not resist playing with the letters myself. It was fun, the magnetized letters were large enough for small hands to manipulate and "sticky" enough to move around without undo effort but also securely stay in place.

One of my favorite games is exquisite corpse (wish it had another name). Their version was very clever. Three small doors are affixed to the wall, stacked on top of each other. This allows the player to make a head drawing and conceal it while a fellow player would draw the body, etc. Most of the little visitors when I was there were still into scribbling, but that didn't stop them from wanting to participate.

 
I am always on the look out for good ideas for the children's workshops I conduct at The Daura Gallery at Lynchburg College. The Art Lab provided inspiration on many levels but of special interest was a unique activity I would like to replicate. They constructed a shadow puppet theater and a workstation for making shadow puppets out of chop sticks and black construction paper. I am a huge fan of Indonesian shadow puppets. This activity would be a great opportunity to introduce children to that tradition. It was very helpful to see how they had constructed the theater. They may not have used plexiglas, but it could be made with plexiglas, tracing paper and a few reflectors and bright bulbs. I am envisioning asking the kids to come up with a story idea, probably for efficiency sake, a fairy or folk tale known to all, and then have them go to work making the puppets. I can also envision having the effort video tapped, why not...if it works.

Shadow puppets waiting to be called to action.  They are hanging on the window that faces the Sculpture Garden I walked through to get to the Art Lab.

Queena Ko was the arts educator/facilitator I spoke with when I first arrived. It was fun to realize we are both UCLA art school grads, she much more recently than I. Her co-worker Bek is from Australia working at the MoMA for 6 months. She is an arts educator in Sydney. Both young women were very friendly and helpful. Another pleasant conversation was with Sori and her mother. Sori is 20 months old and this is her second visit to the Art Lab. She was having a grand time putting together card faces and seemed to enjoy handing me cards!

I enjoyed talking to Sori and her mother while they made faces with smartly laminated cards
with photos of a large variety of objects.

Lucky toddlers and up who live close enough to the museum to make this a regular playground.

Beautiful Animation about Caring for Children

Through one of those circuitous routes one takes on the web, I landed on a video presentation by Sir Ken Robinson on the Dalai Lama Center YouTube channel. Robinson is very humorous and entertaining and I considered embedding that video.  I recommend it but it's 45 minutes long and in some ways preaches to the choir.  His entertaining presentation style is an inspiration, I'm sure my students would appreciate it if I were that funny.However, there are two things I do want to share now, information about the Center and the embedded animation link below.

Homepage from the Center website

I was thrilled to discover the Dalai Lama Center.  Located in Vancouver, BC it was established in June of 2012 to facilitate dialogue about supporting communities that nurture compassionate, socially-responsible children. The programs are crafted to educate, convene, advise and apply research. I think the Dalai Lama is one of the greatest living spiritual leaders today. I feel very fortunate to have heard him speak on two occasions.  It is very exciting to find another venue he has established to share information about not only his spiritual tradition but wisdom from like minded individuals.

On second search of the numerous video presentations available from the Dalai Lama Center, I found this beautifully animated 2 minute piece. As an animator and designer I especially appreciate the creativity that has crafted this poignant and relevant piece.  I hope you will take a few minutes to enjoy it.

Wild About WWF Together

Why do I love this app so much?  Is it that I was just at the National Zoo in Washington, DC and watched pandas eating bamboo in the Panda House?  Is it because everyone loves animals? Is it because it is engaging for both kids and adults? Or just that WWF Together is one of the most beautifully designed, clever apps I have seen for the iPad?

The World Wildlife Fund just released their first US iPad app, WWF Together.  It is free and available for download.  Together features endangered animals that WWF works to protect, including giant pandas, marine turtles, tigers, bison, polar bears, snow leopards, whales and elephants. More species are to be added.

When an animal is selected, you are greeted with a large portrait and text that describes a prominent characteristic of the animal. The sections are based on the mobile magazine model of accessing pages vertically and  horizontally. A grid is superimposed on the screen at touch to diagram the options.  It is usually two or three pages vertically and 3 or 4 pages horizontally.  As you move around the app, you get visual cues as to where you are. Each animal has a fact sheet with population numbers in the wild, habitat, weight, height, distance from your location (when location is enabled) and a cute revolving 3D model of the globe that shows were the animal lives in the wild.

Have I raved about the photographs and video clips yet?  They are so compelling.  WWF obviously works with some of the best photographers in the world to get such intimate portraits that tug at our hearts and minds. I am watching a panda eating bamboo right now in one of the video segments.

A design element or rather a concept element that ties this app together is origami.  This is so brilliant. Origami appeals to kids and adults alike. At the end of each animal section you are prompted to go to instructions about how to make the animal by folding paper. You see an animation of a piece of paper folding into the specific animal you have just learned about through text and images. There is a link to instructions for the origami as well as links to share on Facebook, Twitter or to email a friend.  I suspect these links will be used often and play a major role in how effective this app is to advance their mission helping save endangered species. WWF has truly integrated this app with social media and their message.

All of these features are presented in a document that is designed for clarity and accessibility. The photo galleries have the standard icon of an i in a circle to indicate additional information.  The succinct text is placed over the image in white full caps to insure it can be read.  Any extraneous design elements are not frills but used to support clarity and access to information.  It is a beautiful example of a well designed document.

I am really looking forward to sharing this new find with my iPad buddies of all ages. 

Multicultural Stories: 1001 Inventions at Nat Geo

An important job we have as educators/parents is to help children get as wide a view of the world as possible to balance our natural ethnocentrism. Here in Lynchburg, VA I have been very impressed with Randolph College's commitment to "cultivating a global perspective in a liberal arts setting".  Randolph currently has an initiative to move from tolerance for diversity to "intercultural competence". These are exciting and worthy goals for any institution. Museums can and do play a major role in introducing cultural assets and explaining their significance.
   
Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation (FSTC), a British non-profit educational organization has created the exhibition 1001 Inventions to this end. The exhibit introduces the Golden Age of Muslim Civilization, highlighting the groundbreaking scientific and cultural achievements of the the 7th to 17th century in the Muslim world.  1001 Inventions is currently (until February 3, 2013) on view at the Washington, DC headquarters of the National Geographic.   The exhibit is geared toward children but engages all ages.


One of the most interesting objects in the exhibit is a large reproduction of the automatic clock designed by Al-Jazari 800 years ago.  Al-Jazari was an inventor, engineer, mathematician, artist and scholar. His work, including this clock were instrumental is setting the stage for both modern automation and robotics.   He is best know for The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices published in 1206.  In it he describes 100 mechanical devices and provides blue prints for their construction.

Al-Jazari's clock is run by water in an elaborate series of mechanisms that function inside and outside of the elephant. This video animates the workings of the clock.  This monumental clock is 20 feet tall. 

One of the most interactive components and one kids particularly enjoyed was a projection on a large wall. The projected image featured Abbas Ibn Firnas. Firnas is attributed to be the first man to make a scientific attempt at flying. Firnas is shown with his winged invention jumping from a tower and in "flight".  The viewer standing in front of the wall powers Firnas's flight by flapping their arms. An animated replica of the viewers motion is also projected on the wall. The longer and stronger the flapping, the more yards Firnas flies. 

I learned lots of interesting factoids.  Cat gut was first used in surgery during this time and it is still used today.  Fatima Al-Fihri founded the world’s first modern university in 859 CE.  It is still in operation today. A Muslim scientist Alhazen is considered the first to come up with a scientific description of a camera obscura or room sized pin hole camera. Knowledge of various architectural features such as arches were brought back to Europe from the Crusades. One display suggested that the shape of the Arabic numerals were devised to correspond to the appropriate number of angles, ie one had one angle in the symbol that represents one, two had two angles etc.

This pdf for middle school students is a worksheet for students to fill out at the exhibit. It provides an overview of the range of topics addressed in this stimulating, informative experience. 1001 Inventions has traveled to numerous locations around the world including the California Science Center in Los Angeles, the New York Hall of Science, the London Science Museum and the Sultanahmet Square in Istanbul.

Toys and Objects for Kids at MOMA

Museum of Modern Art, New York City - 

Century of the Child: Growing by Design, 1900-2000

MOMA's blockbuster exhibition, Century of the Child is on view until November 5, 2012.  Referencing a book Swedish social theorist Ellen Key wrote in 1900 predicting that the coming century would see a new interest in the rights and concerns of children, this exhibition chronicles the emphasis on design and progressive thinking that marked a century of great change for everyone.  The exhibit and online resources for this exhibit are rich, wide and deep. Much more than I will address here. There were a few objects/media included in the show that were especially meaningful to me.

MOMA, 11 West 53rd Street, NYC

Big Table and Chair

This exhibit is not really for children, certainly not young children.  There are numerous events that are kid-centric, but the presentation are clearly for adults. A very clever technique is used to prepare adults to immerse themselves into the world of a child (again). A very large table and two chairs are placed at the entrance of the exhibit. This over sized table and chair set were designed by Peter Opsvik in 1972. Visitors are encouraged to be photographed in the chairs. A great way to invite adult visitors to a child-sized frame of mind.  I loved it, I am good at channeling my 5 year old self.

Link to video about the chair and its designer.

Also in this entry way was marvelous footage of a child riding a bicycle in a large wheel...sort of. Hard to describe and difficult to find reference to in the extensive web presence for this exhibit. Please look for it (rather hard to miss) if you get to the show.  On the wall behind the big chair, the film shows a small child riding a bicycle-like device in what appears to be the inside of a large hoop.  Please let me know if you find a reference to this short film anywhere.

Photography was prohibited in the exhibit, but this tumblr site has 100 objects from the exhibit. I want to focus on the two media additions I found the most compelling. I have spent many years creating animations and was not surprised when one of the highlights of the exhibit for me was this animation.

EVERY CHILD 
National Film Board of Canada

1979 

in association with UNICEF

The National Film Board of Canada, an agency of the Canadian government, has produced over 13,000 productions and won more than 5,000 awards, including twelve Academy Awards. Among these productions are documentaries, animations, alternative drama and digital media. Their body of work is exceptional and I was very pleased to see this wonderful example of their collaboration with UNICEF.  Media was produced to commemorate the declarations of the UNICEF about the rights of children. This short animation addresses the theme "Every child has the right for a name and nationality when born." A very cute little baby is repeatedly abandoned until two men at the dump take care of her. That may sound dreary, but it is delightfully upbeat.  No dialogue make it appropriate for a world audience.

SHADOW MONSTERS
Philip Worthington

This interactive exhibit was one of the last pieces in the show, and worth more than the price of admission, which at MOMA is pretty steep.  As I approached I saw what looked like a large light table (6' x 8') on end in front of a large screen. A young couple were moving their bodies between the light table and the screen.  What I was seeing on the screen was clearly related to their bodies and movements....but not in a way I had ever seen shadows before.  Spikes were coming off of their bodies and eyes were appearing between their hands.  This has to be seen to be appreciated. Upon consultation with game players, I am learning this technology should not have surprised.  Regardless, it is delightful and tons of fun.

Image from Philip Worthingon's website

Shadow Monsters

 

What changes will the next century bring for children?  Any ideas?

Digital Storytelling: Sock Puppets Giggle Factor

Why are stories so compelling? Is it that they distract us from the reality we are living....or a desire to share information with others?  Or simply that they can be so entertaining. Kids have been writing stories at school as part of the process of learning to read and write for a very long time.  How do the new mobile tools change that landscape?

I recently participated in a SimpleK12 webinar "Stories on the Go: Digital Storytelling with Mobile Devices" with presenter Shelly Terrell.  The audience for this presentation was elementary school teachers and people like me who have discovered SimpleK12 as a valuable resource. The presentation was very basic but did introduce me to a wonderful new app. I had heard of it, but this time I gave it a test drive. 

Sock Puppet from Smith Micro Software

Sock Puppet just makes me giggle. This app is designed to have a very high silliness factor which of course is a great kid-magnet. It has a fairly straight forward interface but there is a link for help.

You select your puppets, up to four, from photographs of real sock puppets or cartoon sock puppets.  Then you select your background and have a few choices of props, some of which can be animated while others are static.

Choices for props, the colors indicating whether they are static or can be animated

Unlike Toontastic in which you see your characters and background as you select them, this app waits until all of those selections have been made to assemble them for the next step. Now you can scale the puppets and objects you have selected and arrange them on the stage.  The real magic is what happens next and how easy it is.

Red button at top left starts the recording/animating of your voice and puppets.

Press the red button at the top left of the app to start recording and animating your story.  Tapping a puppet attaches the voice track to that character.  Tapping another puppet continues the dialogue with that character.  You can also scale and move the puppets as you are recording. With the free version you can record for 30 seconds.  You can record over your initial take, but not add length to an existing story.  

Your dialogue is then "translated" into a cartoon voice that differs by character. After a brief rendering process the animation opens and plays.  Next options include saving and giving the story a title and sharing it via YouTube or Facebook. Or not saving at all and starting over again.

Still from my little story about the Perseid meteor showers.

There are a number of add ons.  I paid $.99 to move my video to my iPad Photos so I could upload it to my computer via DropBox.  Some of the other paid options include buying more characters and being able to upload your own backgrounds. 

This is such a fun tool that sparks a creative nerve, not only in terms of the output but the development.  I can't wait to share this with my young friends.

iPad Adventures at the Yellow House and AlphaBELCH

I had the great pleasure of spending time yesterday morning with my iPad and a group of three year olds.  I was visiting the Yellow House at Elizabeth's Early Learning Center here in Lynchburg, VA. Sabrina Windsor, Program Director at Elizabeth's was interested in my work with kids and new technology and welcomed the visit.

Volunteering (and teaching) in classrooms has been a staple of my life for over 40 years.  Although the focus of of my media development is young children most of those classrooms I visited were not in preschools.  So this was an extra treat to make many new young friends and play technology with them.

The programs that I was particularly interested in assessing were Monkeys in a Boat, AlphaBELCH, Good Night Safari, FlipBoom Lite (you may remember I thought this was doable for three year olds, a hunch), Dragon Brush and Press Here. What I learned was both informative but not really surprising.  I am finding children reacting in similar fashion to this technology.

Written by Stephen White and Illustrated by Tony Neal

The Yellow House
I came into a busy classroom.  Children were in small groups taking advantage of the many activities spread out for them. I was introduced to the kids and a table was selected for our activities. In general there was no hesitation in interacting with me or the iPad.  I chose the apps and gave basic guidance. It's fascinating to see how eager they are for an adventure.

I worked with the kids individually because I think that's the most fair.  The overly eager are likely to crowd out others.  Getting volunteers was not hard and soon there was a group around the knee high table.  The ground rules were simple.  Don't touch until it's your turn.


During the hour or so I was playing with the children, the app that generated the most animated reaction from the kids was AlphaBELCH.  I sort of sigh when I say this. Did I expect them to be sophisticated?  Of course not.  And who doesn't like silly.

AlphaBELCH, illustrations by Tony Neal

AlphaBELCH is an alphabet app that mimics the structure of a book.  Page 1 provides the instructions for page turns and indicates the use of a button to read the text and a second button to play the sound effects.  This app is all about silly sound effects, as you may have guessed from the title. The images are in alphabetic order populated by animals of the appropriate name for the letter.


The audio tracks would elicit giggles and laughter from my new little friends in the Yellow House. Probably because they were clever and funny in themselves but also because belching is marginally accepted as appropriate behavior.  Three year olds know this.

Illustrations by Tony Neal

AlphaBELCH is the creation of Stephen White. Stephen wrote for the TV series Barney and Friends for many years.  His work included not only the television episodes but also home videos, a feature film, traveling concerts, radio programs, and authoring numerous books for young readers.  On his website he says "(he) believes in the serious benefits of teaching with humor."

Tony Neal's illustrations are wonderfully colorful and quite silly in themselves. The images and audio are well matched.

I left remembering these things:

1.iPads are a magnet for kids

2. three year olds have a short attention span

3. audio is a huge factor in engaging the viewer and keeping their attention

4. humor is a powerful tool 

I will be reviewing some of the other apps we played with in future posts. Oh, the three year olds could use FlipBoom Lite with guidance.  We didn't spend that much time in FlipBoom because there were so many kids and so many other options.