Faces tell feelings - Part 4 - Computer animation

In this lesson, students will create an animated face presented in a slide show using Kid Pix software.

A lesson plan for grades 3–5 Visual Arts Education and Computer/Technology Skills

By Susan Wenzel Getter

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Related pages

• Faces tell feelings - Part 3 - Drawing facial expressions: Students will learn how to draw facial expressions and paint a portrait which portrays a particular expression or emotion.
• Faces tell feelings - Part 5 - Typefaces: Students will study various typefaces in terms of their line quality and shape. Then they will use various editing functions in a word processor to create a text document whose typefaces "show" a particular emotion.
• Faces tell feelings - Part 6 - Emotions collage: Students will create a collage using magazine photos and words printed in computer lab to express a particular emotion.

Related topics

• Learn more about Kid Pix, animation, arts, emotions, and facial expressions.

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This lesson plan was designed as part of a collaborative unit between art and technology teachers. The other lessons in the unit are:

• Faces tell feelings - Part 1 - Understanding URLs
• Faces tell feelings - Part 2 - Observations
• Faces tell feelings - Part 3 – Drawing facial expressions
• Faces tell feelings - Part 5 - Typefaces
• Faces tell feelings - Part 6 - Emotions collage

Learning outcomes

Students will:

• create a series of six drawings in KidPix illustrating the stages of a particular facial expression.
• save each step of the expression as a separate file for use in a slide show.
• incorporate each of their individual drawings into a slide show using the SlideShow feature of KidPix Studio.
• save the slide show and print a copy to give to art teacher.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

1.5 hours

Materials/resources

• Drawing expressions handout (PDF) on the factors of drawing expressions
• Image examples showing an animated facial expression:
  • Face #1
  • Face #2
  • Face #3
  • Face #4
  • Face #5
  • Face #6

Technology resources

• Computer for each student
• Kid Pix Studio software on each computer
• Computer with Kid Pix Studio for teacher
• Color printer
• Computer projector and screen or monitor large enough for whole class viewing (for use with instructor’s computer)

Pre-activities

• Students should have finished the first three lessons in this unit before this class:
  • Faces tell feelings - Part 1 - Understanding URLs
  • Faces tell feelings - Part 2 - Observations
  • Faces tell feelings - Part 3 – Drawing facial expressions
• Students will have studied and practiced facial expression in drawings and painting during art class.
• Students should also be familiar with using Kid Pix, as well as saving their work to a file (on a disk or file server).

Activities

Day 1

1. Distribute handout on drawing facial expressions. Review what parts of the face that show expression.
2. Explain that their animation will consist of a series of six drawings that they create in Kid Pix. Each file will be saved separately, then put together later. Stress how important it is to save each file separately and with a different file name!
3. Show an example of each of the six drawings going from no expression to the final expression (see materials list).
4. Students will create and save their six drawings.

Day 2

1. Using the overhead and the six drawings, walk students through placing each individual picture in a slide on Kid Pix slide show.
2. Students will complete a slide show using their individual pictures, print a copy to take to art class, and save the show to a disk.
3. Students will show their completed animations to the class on the projector.

Assessment

Students will share their completed animations with the class on the projector. The student rubric can be used to assess the final animation.

Comments

This lesson is the fourth in a series of six lessons created by Jan Kimosh and Susan W. Getter, the elementary art and computer teachers at Our Lady of Lourdes School during a summer LEARN NC/NCSSM/Ackland Art Museum workshop. Look for lessons 2, 3, and 6 in the Arts section of the lesson plans.