Field Trips Starring Clay Animation

"Dream up a story, create your own clay characters, and bring them to life in an animated movie."

At Zeum: San Francisco's Children's Museum, the clay animation field trip offers students a crash course in the basics of classic stop-motion animation. With the help of talented Zeum educators, students go through the process of producing a short animated movie. From story board to sculpture to filming, groups of students work together to create content that demonstrates their field of study or any idea that they seem fit.

The clay animation field trip encompasses various skills that help students in the long run. While the students are obviously developing their visual art and technological skills, they are enhancing their literacy and math skills in the process of creating their movie. Students have to work together in writing and developing their storyboards. During filming, students have to calculate the frames to determine the length of their movie. All the skills come together and in two hours, everyone will be able to enjoy their movie on DVD.

Check out these examples:
"The Lemon Tree"
Stage Write, a San Francisco based non-profit that brings theater to public schools, collaborated with a group of 2nd graders to create this piece of animation. The story follows a young woman who finds a magical lemon tree.


"Journey to Mars"
A group of 6th graders from Sacramento Adventist Academy in Carmichael, Ca decided to let their imaginations flow freely. As a space ship lands on Mars, they discover a whole other world outside of what they know is possible.


"Romeo and Juliet"
It just shows that Zeum isn't just for children when a group of 9th grade English students from Hercules High School take on the clay animation field trip. A group of students took on the classic balcony scene from the Shakespeare tale and reimagined it for today's audience.