Automatoon

Automatoon is a great Web 2 tool to use in the classroom for free. There's no authoring software to install and you can share your animations online. You can also export your animations and embed them in your own websites (e.g. classroom blogs), all for free! These could also be used in other web 2 tools such as Glogster or 280 slides. What a great tool to use as a reading activity for example - certainly would give motivation for some readers. I used animation in my classroom as a reading activity where the children designed an activity (simple) that one of the characters from the story was likely to do. They could then make the animation for others in the group to guess who it is and what they are doing.

This video shows you how to use it.

Sqirlz

I am not sure if many people use Sqirlz to animate water reflections from a still image. Here is a great example.

It is a simple programme to use in the classroom. Once the reflection is complete you have the options of saving as a gif, swf or avi.

I have used this programme for some time now and find it great to create water effects. The completed files can be used in PowerPoint, web pages for example.

I have often used this with my students when they are making a multimedia presentation as it is so quick and easy.

Flash animations

Geoff Dellow, a retired lecturer from the UK, is working with teachers to help them using Flash animation with their students. This is a FREE service! How fantastic is that?

You can find some video tutorials .

His main page. He is also a member of ICT in Education.

He appears to work with teachers from all over the world so I am sure that he would love to hear from anyone interested in using Flash with their students.

Thank you Geoff, it is so nice to see others willing to share their knowledge with others. This is something we, as educators, are good at doing - hopefully this is setting a role model for others to follow.