Put your kids on the fast track to film school with a toy that will exercise their story-telling talent while honing their directing and producing skills. Budding auteurs, ages 8 to 12, can create a stop-motion movie using a cellphone or digital camera with Animation Studio by Candlewick Press.
The boxed set includes a reversible, fold-out stage set (a spooky laboratory!), press-out props and puppets, storyboard sheets to plan the action, and a director’s handbook penned by Helen Piercy, who runs animation workshops in London schools. There are even pieces here to help a child make their own 19th century optical toys, a zoetrope and a thaumatrope! This box contains hours of entertainment for your little B-movie director, and a super fun way to spend reel quality time together!
Animation Studio by Candlewick Press, $19.99, www.amazon.com.
