Brush Ninja Teacher Resources
Brush Ninja helps students explain ideas through drawing and animation. Teachers use it for quick starters, full lessons, and creative projects across subjects.
Science shows that there is a connection between drawing things, and remembering things. Drawing things encourages people to think of topics in multiple ways, which makes them easier to recall later. Animating things takes this a step further. The addition of movement introduces repetition which reinforces the topic being learnt.
Quick Start for Teachers
New to Brush Ninja? Try this first:
- Open https://brush.ninja
- Choose Animation Maker
- Draw 4–6 frames
- Export as a GIF
- Share or submit
Most classes can complete a simple animation in one lesson.
Examples of Brush Ninja in Education
Making our mark on International Dot Day-ish with Brush Ninja Animation Maker!
Tweeted by Rosemary LaraHere’s some fantastic GIF animations created by some of @esmsedinburgh’s P5 classes using Brush Ninja - a moon invasion and time-lapse plant growing cartoon! Totally normal thing to say in this job 🤣
Tweeted by Mr RigbyWhen the ice cream van has visited the school playground it must be the last week of school term in Scotland! Enjoy the summer holidays!
Tweeted by Heather HaynesWait for the end…Stewart’s Melville College @esmsedinburgh becomes Hogwarts @harrypotter! Animation creativity through a 9 year old child’s eyes.
Tweeted by Heather HaynesSpace Science is a favourite topic of young children! Recent launches by @SpaceX and @BoeingSpace keep their interest alive and I love that we provide space related learning opportunities well after the formal curriculum topic ends. Every mission shapes their future! Exciting!
Tweeted by Heather HaynesSee more examples of Brush Ninja being used by teachers →
Why Schools Choose Brush Ninja
Brush Ninja is designed to work within typical school policies and technical constraints.
- Free to Use The core tools are free. No licences, installations, or specialist hardware are required. All that is needed is a modern web browser.
- No Student Accounts Required Students can use Brush Ninja without creating accounts. This reduces administration and limits personal data collection.
- Simple and Accessible Most students can create their first animation within minutes. This supports mixed-ability classes and independent learning.
- Privacy-Focused by Design Student work is stored on their own devices. Projects are not uploaded to Brush Ninja servers.
- No Internal Messaging or Social Features Students cannot message, comment, or interact with other users. There are no public profiles or discussion areas.
- Works on School Equipment Brush Ninja runs in standard web browsers on: Chromebooks, Laptops and desktops, Tablets, and Shared devices
Summary of Key Features for school use
- No student accounts required - No student work stored on servers - No internal communication tools - GDPR and COPPA aware design - Works on standard school devices - Free core tools
Classroom Uses and Teaching Ideas
Brush Ninja works well for short activities, full projects, and creative assessment. Teachers use it in many subjects and age groups.
Below are some common ways teachers use Brush Ninja in everyday lessons.
Starter Activities
Use quick animations to recap learning or introduce new topics. Students can create simple 4–6 frame animations in five minutes.
- Vocabulary recall
- Science processes
- Historical events
- Diagram explanations
Main Projects
Build longer pieces of work around storytelling and explanation.
- Animated stories and comics
- The water cycle, life cycles, or forces
- Step-by-step problem solving
- Topic summaries
Assessment and Showing Understanding
Animations help students explain their thinking clearly.
- Maths working and reasoning
- Method demonstrations
- Revision summaries
- Peer teaching clips
Creative and Cross-Curricular Work
Use animation to support wider creative projects.
- Creative writing and storyboarding
- Design and art projects
- Idea development
- Media studies
Presentations and Classroom Games
Add movement to presentations and interactive activities.
- Animated slides
- Topic introductions
- Pictionary-style guessing games
- Revision quizzes
Clubs and Enrichment
For longer sessions, students can develop more detailed work.
- Short films
- Stop-motion projects
- Collaborative stories
- Personal portfolios
Memberships and User Accounts
Student accounts are optional and are not needed for classroom use.
Most schools use Brush Ninja without any logins. Students can create, edit, and export their work directly in the browser, with files saved to their own devices.
This approach reduces administration and helps limit the collection of personal data.
Paid memberships are available for individual users and teachers who want extra preparation features. These are designed for personal and home projects rather than classroom management.
The core tools are free for everyone and will always remain available without an account.
Optional Teacher Memberships
Most classroom activities do not require any accounts. Some teachers choose to use a paid membership to prepare reusable project files in advance. These files can include custom images and templates, and can be shared with students to use in the free version of the app.
For example:
- In art, a teacher might prepare a set of abstract shapes for a creative project.
- In science, a teacher might create a starter file for animating the water cycle.
Students do not need accounts to use these files. Teacher memberships are intended for individual staff use and should not be shared.
For full details, see the membership page.
Lesson Plans
To help you get started I have put together a collection of 71 lesson plans to freely use with your students. You can see some examples below - with many more on the lesson plan section of the website.
Teaching with Brush Ninja: A Simple Model
Many teachers use this structure:
Explain → Show → Create → Share → Reflect
- Explain the concept
- Show an example
- Students animate
- Share work
- Discuss learning
Useful Tools for Teachers
The following third-party tools are commonly used alongside Brush Ninja.
-
Padlet. A simple online noticeboard. A great place for students to post their animations. They can be grouped on different boards per topic. Below are some examples of Padlet being used to display students’ animations:
- A collection of animations created by students looking forward to their holiday break.
- A look at the character of Margarete/ Gretchen from Faust
- Students learning Spanish
- Buncee. A presentation app that you can add your Brush Ninja animations to.
Tutorials
These are some interesting tips and tutorials from teachers, on how to use Brush Ninja.
- How to Use Brush Ninja (Youtube Video)
- Using Brush Ninja and Screencastify to Make Science Presentations
- How to use Brush Ninja to teach Chinese (Youtube Video, in Chinese)
- Teach like a wrestler
Helpful Docs
These are the official Brush Ninja docs explaining some of the common questions I get for using Brush Ninja.
- How to Convert an Animated Gif to a video
- How to Export your Animation - Share your animation with friends, or teachers.
- How to Make a Gif - An animation primer.
- Glossary of Animation Terms
- Getting Started with Animation
- How to Open a Brushninja file - Loading a file.
- How to Save your Animation - Save your animation to be reopened later.
- How to Upload Brush Ninja Animations to Google Docs and Google Slides
- How to Upload Brush Ninja Animations to SeeSaw
Privacy and Safety
Brush Ninja does not require student accounts and does not host student work.
Full safeguarding and compliance details are available on the For Schools page.
