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 story’s 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
More English Lessons
Examples of Brush Ninja in Education
5th graders are creating GIFs using Brush Ninja. It’s so fun to see what they come up with!
Tweeted by Mrs. Sosnik's ClassThanks to @CrosbyMiddle for supplying us with a Creativity A-Z resource. S’ and I have been learning a new one each week. This week http://Brush.ninja a great free site.
Tweeted by Jenny StithEthan and Olivia made a fantastic animation using brush ninja! @SLCDigitalEd
Tweeted by Bankhead Primary and Nursery SchoolFirst graders had a BLAST learning about animation and creating moon phases movies using #BrushNinja 🌑🌒🌓🌔 Who knew learning could be this fun?
Tweeted by Stephanie Economos
Fifth-graders in Mr. De La Rosa’s class have been learning all about ecosystems and having deep discussions about the interactions between living and nonliving. Ss used BRUSH NINJA to create an animation for both.
Tweeted by Gilbert BarreraI’m becoming increasingly obsessed with https://brush.ninja ….. #edtech #giforgif #gifs
Tweeted by Ange
