ACTIVITY SUMMARY

Learn to create a stop motion video with your kids to send encouragement and love!

PROJECT STEPS

1. Pick your audience (an aunt (like in our video here), teacher, friend, grandparent, a class or just the world in general)

2. Pick your message to write in the video (“I love you,” “You are awesome,” “Great job,” “I miss you,” etc ….)

3. Gather your supplies (play doh, popsicle sticks, crayons, pencils, Cheerios, ketchup (whatever you have around!), etc…)

4. Make the video (If you are new to stop motion, follow the instructions below on how to create your first stop motion video.)

STOP MOTION: THE BASICS

If you can download an app (Stop Motion Studio has a free version) on your phone and take a picture, you can make a stop motion video! Stop motion is a a collection of photos put together to make a static object look likes its moving. You can tell a story or display a product or even write a message of encouragement!

STOP MOTION: EXAMPLES

If you or your kids are not familiar with stop motion, I would recommend checking out Becca Clason and her company So Mighty. She is the the best stop motion artist, particularly with lettering, that I have ever seen. Her work is AMAZING and used by widely popular brands and companies.

For some simpler examples, below are two videos I have made with my daughter using the Stop Motion Studio App on my phone.

This is a stop motion video I made with my daughter for The Kindness Day logo.

Here is a super simple stop motion video of my daughter’s name. This was the first time I taught her (age 3) about stop motion.

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At Paint Love, artist Madison Beaulieu led a project at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta teaching teens about stop motion. They created these two videos explaining what “Art is….” and “Art makes me feel…”

Stop motion video with Paint Love and the teens at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta explaing what “Art Is…”

Stop motion video with Paint Love and the teens at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta explaing what “Art makes me feel…”

STOP MOTION: TOP TIPS

1. Download a stop motion app. I use Stop Motion Studio. There is a free and a paid version.

2. Tape off your filming surface to help you take the photo in the same spot over your stop motion area. If your photo is taken from the same spot every time it will make the movement look better. It would be helpful to have a tripod to hold your phone/camera steady in one place, but it’s not necessary. Sometimes I’ve used books and other tall objects and balanced my phone on top while other times I’ve simply taken the photo in what I estimated to be the same spot.

3. Start with the finished product and reverse the film later. Use your materials to make your message on your filming surface and then move the items away slowly. Once you are done filming you can select all the photos in the video and click “reverse” in the app. The video will look like all the materials magically come together to spell out your message. If you have little ones who can’t spell/write, you can set up the finished lettering and then let them move all the objects away slowly, bit by bit. It’s fun for them to make it messy and choose what they want the objects to do.

4. The smaller the movement = more photos = a more seamless looking video. Think about it this way if you want it to look like a piece of clay is rolling across a table, you will move the clay a teeny, tiny bit take a photo, then move it just a little bit more, etc... If you move the piece of clay all the way across the table in just two pictures, it will not look seamless. It will look like it teleported there.

5. Have fun and experiment! Try moving the objects in different ways..maybe something looks like it is crawling away or rolling up into a ball into a play doh container. Maybe something else is splatting down on the table. Look at examples and then try and experiment. You can even add in your own sound effects. You can’t go wrong and you can make as many as you like. And, if you are anything like me…you will want to do it over and over!!

ACTIVITY SUMMARY

Set up a super fun activity where kid detectives find a secret code, solve clues, and find treasure at the end.

BACKGROUND

Last year I created a detective crime solving activity for my cousin’s three kids who love puzzles. The activity was a big hit and my cousin’s oldest son even asked me to create another activity for him for his birthday party. I felt like the coolest aunt in the world!! With “social distancing” from COVID-19 forcing my friends with kids into their homes, I figured this was the perfect activity to pull out and surprise some of them at the doorstep.

HOW IT WORKS

1. A parent/caregiver (aka “Head Detective”) hides a secret code in a room or designated area (portion of a house, outside, etc..). There are 26 small pieces of paper each with a letter and a symbol for that letter.

2. Once the code is hidden, the kids (aka “detectives”) are given their instructions envelope

3. The detectives find all 26 pieces of paper called “evidence” AND collect 6 other items of evidence from around the house in a bag. Because of the Rainbow theme…there must be one item from each color: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. All the items must fit in their collection bag and it can be anything they are allowed to pick up and put in a bag (aka probably no tiny dogs or steak knives, etc..).

4. Once the kids show the “head detective” they collected all the evidence, they are given Clue #1 or all the Clues, depending on how the game is set up.

5. Each clue is written in the secret code language and the “detectives” must use the 26 pieces of paper to crack the code and solve the clues.

6. The Clues can either all work together to lead to the treasure ( example: clue #1: “Look”, clue #2:“Under” clue #3:“The” clue #4:“Mailbox”) OR can lead you from one clue to the next and then to the treasure (clue #1 “Find Clue #2 in a brown bag in the kitchen”; Clue #2 “look under the blue table” to Clue #3 to Clue #4). Obviously more words and places the detectives are led to the longer and harder the game will be.

7. At the end, the detectives will find gold (because its Leprechaun themed). The first time we did this activity, we made cookies with gold sprinkles. When I made it for my neighbors, we painted rocks gold and put glitter on them.

Here was the video I made about this project to share with my neighbors. Even with kids, it gives a pretty good synopsis.

TWO WAYS TO PLAY

PRE-MADE CLUE METHOD: Since I was surprising my neighbors with this packet on their doorstep, I wanted to give as little instruction to the parents as possible. I decided all the clues would work together and point the detectives to the base of their mailbox, where the gold was hidden.

The mailbox was the simplest place I could hide stuff in all of my neighbor’s yards. I figured everyone had a mailbox, so everyone got the same four clues: clue #1: “Look”, clue #2:“Under” clue #3:“The” clue #4:“Mailbox.”

We told the parents they were the “head detective” and had to look at their envelope first. Inside their envelope was 26 pieces of paper/code and their directions. Their directions told them to hide the 26 letters, give the “Case Instructions” envelope to the detectives. and then give all four clues to the detectives after the detectives found the evidence.

CUSTOM CLUE METHOD: When I created the game the first time for my cousin’s kids (I had to google the technical term here…they are my first cousins once removed, but I digress…), I worked with my cousin to create long, elaborate clues, like: “go to the brown bench built into a stone wall” and each clue led to another envelope with another clue until finally they led to the kitchen where there were cookies. If you are doing custom clues for older kids you could make the clues into rhymes and riddles that need to be solved to add a level of fun and challenge to the game.

So, to create a custom clue method, you will probably want to use an easier ABC code than the one I made for the “Pre-Made Clue Method”, especially one that you can just write by hand. I wouldn’t want to cut and paste pictures or icons in a word document for every letter if I’m writing lengthy clues. AND being able to write the clues by hand means you don’t have to print out your clues. So, I have included a different Code for the Custom Clue Method.

YOU WILL NEED

Here are all the supplies, BUT I forgot to lay out the “Detective Instruction Letter” AND my plastic evidence bag. You can actually see the letter in the first image in the blog. (And see the bag in the attached video)

• Scissors

• Tape

• String or Yarn to wrap about the packaging and make it look official

• Ziplock bag or any type of Bag for Evidence (detectives must collect items in each color: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.)

• GOLD! (get creative, in the past I have (1) made gold cookies with edible gold sprinkles and on a separate occasion (2) painted rocks gold and covered them with glitter - With younger kids you may want to involve them in the process of making the gold and THEN hide the gold and give them clues to find it…with older kids, it may be more fun just to surprise them all together with the activity and treasure at the end)

• Printer (OR you could just hand write on envelopes and make it more DIY…like I did the first time)

• 5 Business size Envelopes (I used #10 Size)

• 1 A6 Envelope or similar

• 1 Manila Envelope

• A Secret Code (handwritten or icon option or make your own)

• Top Secret Agency Page (Cover Page)

• 4 Clue Envelope Covers (Clue 1 & 2 and Clue 3 & 4)

• 4 Clues (create your own or print this optional one)

• Envelope Cover for the Detective “Case Instructions” (print)

• Detective Case Instructions Letter (or edit mine using this google doc)

• Envelope Cover for the Head Detective (OPTIONAL)

• Instructions for the Head Detective (OPTIONAL)

MORE INFORMATION ON THE DOWNLOADABLES

• Detective Agency (Alphabet) Code -

  • WITH ICONS and cut lines (jpg)

  • WITH ICONS in Google drive (so you can copy and edit and create to make your own clues on the computer)

  • WITH EASY HANDWRITTEN CODE (so you can use to hand write clues)

  • WITH BLANK CODE (so you can write your own)

• Detective Agency (Alphabet) Code - WITH easy Handwritten Code w/cut lines

• OPTIONAL: Pre-Made Clue Sheet from ICONS with cut lines

  • (this spells out “ Look,” “Under,” “The,” “Mailbox”)

• Top Secret Agency Page (Cover Page)

  • This gets taped to a large manila envelope or wraps around all of the other envelopes with a piece of tape or ribbon.

• Clue 1 & Clue 2 Envelope Covers

  • These are each taped to the front of a long business envelope. You will stick the clues you either print or hand write in their correct envelope.

• Clue 3 & Clue 4 Envelope Covers

  • These are each taped to the front of a long business envelope. You will stick the clues you either print or hand write in their correct envelope.

• Case Instructions & Head Detective Envelope Cover + Instructions for Head Detective

  • The Case Instructions will be cut out and taped to the front of a long business envelope. Inside the envelope you will put the Detective Instruction Letter.

  • The Head Detective Envelope Cover + Instructions are OPTIONAL and only used if you are giving this packet to someone else and don’t hide the code yourself.

  • If you are giving the packet to someone else, you would put this in a regular sized envelope with the Head Detective Cover taped on line and the instructions cut out and placed inside with the 26 piece code.

• Detective Case Instruction Letter

  • If you want to customize this letter, I have included a google doc here. You can copy this and create your own.

Below you will find photos from our most recent Rainbow Detective Agency Project with designed printables:

Below you will find photos from the first time I created this project. It was all hand written and I put the Alphabet code inside Easter Eggs.