Did you know that your child can hear even before he or she is born? The ear is the first sensory organ to be formed during pregnancy.
Hearing also plays a special role in baby and toddlerhood. Babies can recognize mom’s voice at an early age. Hearing is important for perceiving the environment and learning to speak. Since young children cannot yet read, they are especially dependent on hearing. They like to be read to or listen to radio plays. As soon as children begin to speak, they narrate to themselves while playing.

Audio projects are easy to implement

Especially at kindergarten age, children can be inspired with audio media. It doesn’t always have to be movies and videos. From the age of about 3 years, you can produce small audio games together or play games with sounds. This trains accurate listening and helps to learn to speak well.

Prick up your ears when you go for a walk

With small children (about 3 years), you can just take a walk and listen carefully: What do we hear? What actually makes a noise?

On a sound safari

If your child is already a little older (from 4 years) you can go on a sound safari together. Every smartphone has a built-in microphone, and many also have an app for recording voice memos. Go outside, e.g. to the forest, collect all kinds of sounds together. When you listen to it afterwards, do you or your child recognize what the sounds were?

The own radio play

Produce your own radio play (suitable for children from approx. 4 years). Almost every child has a favorite book or story. Make a little radio play out of it together. Read the dialogues with divided roles and think about how to implement sounds. What does it sound like when it’s raining or storming outside? An overview of how you can create sounds yourself can be found here.

Listening puzzles and more

If the weather doesn’t invite you to go outside, your child can solve audio puzzles at audiyoukids.de or Planet Schule, set a story to music themselves or put together an audio play. Accompany your child in this process – especially if he or she cannot yet read. Older children (elementary school age and up) also learn to edit sound recordings here.

Also, check out the reading tips further down this page. There you will find more ideas for creative media projects and more.

Then let’s get to the ears and have fun listening and making sounds together!

Creating your own animated film is great fun, but it is also time-consuming and you need the right technical equipment such as a tripod and a tablet. There are alternatives to the cartoon studio in the children’s room on the net, with which your child can create their own cartoon on the computer.

Create your own animated film with just a few clicks

With an online animation studio you can quickly create your own movie. In a preview window, you can edit the individual images that will later be played back one after the other. Only very small changes are made to the figures and objects per frame so that movements appear smooth when played back. With a mouse click all objects can be dragged and moved smaller and larger. There are three online animation studios, all of which invite you to make animated films on the net and some of which have different functions.

Juki

In the animation studio of JUKI on Kindersache there is a variety of colorful figures and backgrounds. Here your child can also insert music and add sounds to the actions; whether snoring, footsteps or hiccups. There are even elements that move: With falling leaves or pattering rain, your child has the opportunity to determine the season in their own cartoon.

Trickino

In Trickino, not only can existing characters and objects be accessed, but your child can also draw objects themselves in the drawing studio, which other children can then use for their animated film. Finally, the animated film is created in the animation studio. With Tickino, your child has the additional option to upload audios and even edit them on multiple audio tracks.

Trixmix or trixmix.tv

This page was developed from an animated film project with students: Trickmisch – The mobile language laboratory. They drew their own figures and objects and created animated films using the Legetrick technique. At trixmix.tv, all children can create their own animated film online.

Your child can use an infinite number of drawings here: from the stovepipe, to the lawn mower, to the screwdriver. The icons are sorted by topics, and there is also a search function. Of course, there is also a large number of colorful background images and some audios and sounds that can be inserted.

On all the presented sites your child can publish their own cartoon and also view the works of other children. Overall, the platforms offer a simple, yet creative alternative to traditional animation. Maybe that’s a good place to start before you start filming in your own child’s room.

Digital media and analog leisure activities can be wonderfully combined with Quiver. If your child likes coloring and you want to show them the possibilities of digital media at the same time, this app is a lot of fun.

What is Quiver?

Quiver is based on the principle of augmented reality. This is called augmented reality. You may know this from the game Pokémon Go. You look at something through the smartphone camera and figures and objects appear on the screen against the real, filmed background. Quiver brings to life characters that you have previously colored on a sheet of paper. There are dancing bears, speeding cars and some more.

Quiver is recommended for children between 6 and 8 years.

How does it work?

If you want to try this out, you will need the Quiver coloring sheets (Coloring Packs). These can be downloaded and printed for free or for a fee from the quivervision.com site. Also, the “Quiver – 3D Coloring App” must be installed on the smartphone or tablet. The app is available for free for Android and Apple devices. For special coloring templates, there are additional free apps with “Quiver Fashion” and “Quiver Masks”. The app “Quiver Education” costs money and is intended for learning and school.

First, your child should color the printed coloring pages. Then open the app and allow camera access. Also, you have to choose which Coloring Pack you want to play in the app. These can be selected and then automatically load into the app. Then you get started by tapping the butterfly icon at the bottom center. The image appears on the display of the tablet or phone and the character comes to life. Certain symbols in the picture make the character do things like score a goal when you tap the soccer ball.

What is there to consider?

Quiver is an app from New Zealand that is available in German. The app is simple and easy to understand. The website is only in English, but still easy to understand.

The providers of the app quite openly cooperate with various companies. That’s why there are painting templates from car manufacturers, a cafe chain and other companies. If you would like to print these templates for your child, you can use this as an opportunity to talk to him about advertising.

However, there are also many ad-free templates. Look at them beforehand and make a pre-selection for your child. When selecting, look for the icon at the top right of each template package. This indicates whether you can download it for free (FREE) or not ($). Payment is made via the respective app store. Certain templates (Fashion and Masks) can only be played with the special Quiver apps.

The app is a lot of fun and a great introduction to virtual worlds, especially for younger children. With your help, they can learn that not everything you see on the screen has to be real.

Children of daycare and elementary school age especially like animated films. And the great thing is, it doesn’t take much to make your own at home: smartphone or tablet, construction paper and pens, and the kids’ room becomes a film studio.

Animated films are based on the stop motion technique. You know this from flipbooks, for example. Many images that differ only in details are shown in quick succession. One perceives the small changes on each individual image as a whole as movement. The opening and closing credits of “Sandmännchen” and the stories of “Shaun the Sheep” are also produced with this technology.

Does your child like to paint or tinker, or does he or she prefer to play with Duplo and Lego? Such things can also be used wonderfully for the production of the first own film. Then you’re ready to go!

1. Together with your son or daughter, think of a short story out. The story should be simple and quick to tell and have a manageable number of characters. These figures can then be painted on and cut out or even kneaded. Or you can use figures that are in the children’s room: Lego or Playmobil, small animals and others. Almost anything is possible!
2. In addition to the characters and other objects with which the story is told, you now need the technique for filming. The best way to do this is to use a smartphone or tablet with a corresponding app. Stop Motion Studio (for Android and iOS; free in the basic version) or iStop Motion (only for iOS; free) are recommended. You can take photos one by one directly in the app. Automatically it becomes the movie that you can edit at the end. The smartphone or tablet should be stable. A tripod or tablet holder are particularly helpful. But you can also build a fixation from books and other objects.
3. Then it’s on to preparing the film locations. If you’re making a layering film with painted or handmade figures, the filming is done from above – in two dimensions, so to speak. Then you need a base on which to move the figures. This can be colored or depict a specific background. If a film with Lego figures or similar is planned, filming should be from the side from above. Then you can think of a small movie set and assemble it from objects and colored paper. Lego houses and other playground equipment can also be used for this purpose. It is always important that the camera has a good distance to the scenery, so that all figures have space, you can move them well and everything is visible on the display. Also pay attention to the lighting conditions and make sure that they do not change.
4. … and action! A little patience is required for the “Film shoot” is needed, because you need many photos to make only a short film. You should expect about eight frames for one second of film. On each image, a little something has to be changed. For example, when a Lego man waves, you have to move your arm up a little bit each time. Of course, it is possible that other figures or objects are moved in parallel. It is best if one person takes over the camera, i.e. takes the photos, and another moves the figures. A third person can make sure that everything is done correctly and announce when what is to be done – he or she is the director. It is always best to look directly at the display to see if the photos are successful.
5. After the film shoot, it’s time for post-production. Titles, texts, music and much more can be added. Images can be deleted, moved or their display duration changed. If you want to give the characters a voice – i.e. if you don’t want them to remain mute – the dialogs can be recorded afterwards with distributed roles.
6. Presentation and release: What is a film without a premiere? You can celebrate that with your kids, too – with soda and popcorn in a darkened room. Maybe grandma and grandpa and the neighborhood kids will be invited too! In addition, a publication on a children’s platform such as JUKI on Kindersache or trickino.de is conceivable.

And now… have fun trying it out!