Digital Storytelling 101: Using Brush Ninja for Narrative Storyboarding and Creation Lesson Plan
Learning Objective
Students will learn how to use Brush Ninja, an animated GIF maker, to create a narrative storyboard and produce an animated GIF.
Materials
- Computers or tablets with internet access
- Brush Ninja website
- Paper and pencils for sketching storyboards
Procedure
- Introduce the concept of digital storytelling and how it can be used to convey ideas and emotions using animation.
- Explain that students will be using Brush Ninja to create their own animated stories.
- Show students the Brush Ninja website and demonstrate the basic features of the software.
- Explain how they can use different brush strokes, colors, and frames to create a moving story.
- Ask students to brainstorm ideas for their own stories on paper before beginning their digital creations.
- Instruct students to sketch out a storyboard detailing their storyβs events on paper before starting their digital creation.
- Encourage students to use their storyboard as a guide while creating their animation using Brush Ninja.
Assessment
Student animations will be assessed based on creativity, quality of artwork, clarity of storytelling, and effective use of animation techniques.
Extension
As an extension activity, students can share their final animations with classmates or even post them online for others to view. They can also explore other digital storytelling tools and create more complex animations.
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How to animate with Brush Ninja
This video teaches the basics of using Brush Ninja
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Examples of Brush Ninja in Education
3rd grade got creative using Brush Ninja to demonstrate how molecules move in different states of matter.
Tweeted by Emily ArnoldThanks @hreitDIS for coming amd doing brush ninja with out kiddos. Kids read an article and created a gif to represent the main idea.
Tweeted by Chad PhillipsThe Gr 3s @Ocean_View_Elem πππ learning about Brush Ninja this morning for animating poetry, stories and more!
Tweeted by Chris CocekWait for the endβ¦Stewartβs Melville College @esmsedinburgh becomes Hogwarts @harrypotter! Animation creativity through a 9 year old childβs eyes.
Tweeted by Heather Haynes#BrushNinja can be used for more than animations. Comics were created by 4th grade last week
Tweeted by Pamela ReeceHazel class finishing up their animation work by creating gifs on Brush Ninja. Great work guys!
Tweeted by SPAComputing





