Lego Vines

via Mark Weaver on Vine

"Lego Vines is a stop motion art project using Lego bricks and Vine." 

Videos like this can be a prompt for conversation and exploration with children.  This particular video could prompt a group of lego lovers to dig deeper into that medium.  There are also interesting possibilities here to talk about pattern, color, and sound!

In Context

• Show this, or one of the other Lego Vines, to children.  What comes up in conversation?  What do they wonder about?  
• Find or make a flip book, and explore those with children, encouraging them to make their own.
• Bring your research with them all the way back to the phenakistoscope!  Think about your local resources - is there a film museum that might have one?  Make one as a class!
• Think about claymation, and share a few simple clips as examples.  If the children are used to using digital cameras, work together on an example and then set up a camera, tripod, and clay for them to create their own.
• Are the legos an engaging part of this exploration for them?  Set up the tripod and camera with the focus on lego building.  Encourage children to create a storyboard and plan out their film.
• Think about other blocks to use in a Vine or stop motion animation film.  Can the children plan one with unit blocks?
• Use people in stop motion animation!

I'll be sharing more about Vine as part of the class blog series in the coming weeks.  Do you have any more ideas about how you might extend this?