The Zimmer Twins is a neat site for introducing elementary school students to making simple animated video stories. On the Zimmer Twins site students can create a story from scratch or complete one of the “cliff hanger” story starters. Students do not need to have any drawing skills in order to create a story as all elements are added to the video through a simple drag and drop interface. Students select settings, characters, character actions, emotions, and text styles then drag those elements into the storyboard. Students then arrange those elements and type words into the conversation bubbles where appropriate.

Applications for Education
The Zimmer Twins provides teachers with some sample lesson plans for creating movies in elementary school classrooms and ELL/ESL classrooms. If you’re students are having trouble starting a story from scratch, the Zimmer Twins “cliff hanger” story starters could help your students get started.

The Zimmer Twins is similar to Xtra Normal and Memoov which are included in my list of Six Easy Ways for Students to Create Videos Online.