Technology Tuesday; Go Animate!

19 April 2016
Okay this week's Technology Tuesday is not an app! It is actually a website. The website does not work on iPads either.  (Which was a downfall for us at times, but I definitely made time to go to the computer lab because my kiddos LOVED it!


Go Animate is a video making website!  Very easy to use and the kiddos picked up on it fast! There is a catch!  We signed up for 14-day trial.  Therefore, we had to finish our videos in 14 days.  It is possible! You just have to make the videos a priority.  After 14 days your videos will not be accessible unless you purchase to use the site.  Keep reading to see how we saved our videos for free :).

Once you open Go Animate this screen will appear.
You are being asked to sign up for a free trial. Just do it! You will love it!  Once you sign up for the free trial you a ready to start creating.  I first created my own video to show my kiddos how AWESOME this site was.  Then together we created all the same video.  This was so I could teach how to use the site first. They had some choices but our videos were all about the same. This teaching part took about 3 half hour sessions to complete.  Logging in can be a process (especially with younger kiddos-I have third grade) 
At this time we were learning about black history month.  We were going to be creating a wax museum with our people of choice.  What better addition than a video! Here is an example!



Here are a few tricks I learned with the site!
This screen will appear and you want to make a video.
There are a TON of different templates to choose from!  It really doesn't matter which on you choose because you can get the options from all templates once you start creating. 
This is your blank template ready to be edited. 

You can do as much or as little as you want!That is what is so awesome to see from your kiddos!  Some friends will really get into adding special animations and some will not!  That's okay!

Here is what you see!


Alright some of the options are pretty easy.  However, some of the options I have learned through experience! Let's start with the background.  If you want to change the background at any time click the background (the green right now)-make sure you clear a clear space.  It will look like this once you click it.
Click color to change the color or click background swap for a different background or texture.  Once you are happy with the background for this scene you have to click the x to get back to the original screen!
If you would like to upload your own background you can...
-----------How to make a character---------
If you do not like the character on the page simply click the character and press delete.  Then press the character button and there are lots to choose from!  My kiddos wanted to customize their character and here is how you do that! 





Make sure you save before making a character! After you design your character you will be brought to a new web page.  From here you must go back into your video.  Click characters and find your character under lil peeps.  

My favorite part of these videos is adding animations!  You can add animations to anything by click on whatever it is you want animated -Do you want words to fly in? Click the words. Character to run? Click the character.  When you click a different sidebar will appear. 

Finally have your first scene finished! Add a new scene and begin again! 
Sometimes when you add a lot of dialogue with a lot of different scenes it starts to overlap.



Very easy to fix! Click the dialogue or the music and drag to fit the scene!  


Just a few tips I have found to be helpful...
1. Get in a habit of saving your movie every few minutes.  We had a few freak accidents and lost our videos.  
2. let your kiddos explore -they will teach you stuff once they figure it out!
3. Build in time to explore, teach, and create
4. Once the videos are complete video record your screen while the movie is playing so you can keep your videos!  I did this for all of our videos!  Yes it took me a long time BUT they are so happy to have the videos forever! 
5. Play, Play, Play with it
6. Email me with questions! I am happy to help!

Here are a few more example we had!  All of the videos are so different and creative!  I highly recommend this site!











We had such a fun time creating these videos!  At one point we were almost done with our 14 day trial and I was trying to get them to finish their videos without rushing them.  So I said "Friends if you would like to come in at recess today and work on your video you may. BUT you do not have to !!" (I hate keeping kids in!!)-After lunch I walked into a lab with ALL of my students (SAY WHAT!) every single child was there working on their video! 

If you have any questions please, please, please just ask!!







2 comments:

  1. Awww! My sister and I are both teachers, I want to blog with my sis! Cool! I love Go animate but don't want to pay for it after the free trial! Thanks for sharing!

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    Replies
    1. It is amazing blogging with you your sister!! Yes we love go animate-we have a a few too many 14 day trials :)

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