Maker Faire Bay Area 2024
Animation Studio for junior makers by SnackNotes
Home: California, United States
SnackNotes presents “Animation Studio for Junior Makers,” a space where kids can have fun making their own drawings come alive! This exhibit is an activity-focused experience designed for young makers. Kids (and grownups!) can try different ways of making animations. Kids learn how to make basic two-frame animations that they can create anywhere with just a pencil and paper. Kids can also make a multi-frame animation viewable on a spinning zoetrope that can be built at home. These activities come with accompanying educational materials, fun animation examples, and templates. This exhibit is part of a new project called SnackNotes, where Brian (dad of 2 and engineer) shares creative projects that kids and parents can try at home.
https://www.snacknotes.com
Makers
Brian Van Osdol
Brian is an engineer and father of two in the Bay Area. As former toy inventor and comic artist, Brian loves finding creative projects to do with his kids, especially when the project encourages creativity and play.
https://www.snacknotes.com
What Inspired You to Make This?
My wife and I love building and collaborating on creative projects with our kids. I first developed this experience for the local 2024 Maker Fair in Piedmont, California. I worked with my two elementary-aged kids to find fun activities that would be approachable to kids of all ages. We landed on animation as an interesting topic where we could combine art with learning about technology. We were inspired in part by a wonderful exhibit at Disney’s California Adventure, which has sadly been removed. We were encouraged by how much some of the younger kids at the Piedmont Maker Fair enjoyed our exhibit. We would love to improve this experience, and we hope to have even more activities that combine making, art, and education in our booth. As a parent, I find Maker Fairs to be wonderfully exciting and inspiring for kids. But they can also be overwhelming and intimidating—a challenging environment for many kids, like those with sensory conditions. This project has the additional aim of being a welcoming environment for younger makers who want to create but may benefit from activities that use their existing skills: drawing and imagination! At the Piedmont Maker Fair, it was a wonderful treat to see kids as young as three working so hard on their animations.
