A couple of weeks ago in my weekly newsletter I explained why I value having students create simple animations. The short version of the explanation is that I agree with the premise of Dan Roam’s Back of the Napkin. The premise is that if you really understand a complex topic you can explain it in a series of simple sketches. Turning those sketches into an animation is a good way to illustrate a concept from start to finish. 

For a few years now I’ve been using Brush Ninja to create simple animations. Here’s something I wrote about using Brush Ninja a few years ago in an eighth grade class. This video provides a demonstration of how to use Brush Ninja which is free and doesn’t require registration. 

Brush Ninja is still a great tool for creating animations. Recently, I started experimenting with the features of Wick Editor for making animations. One of the things that I like about it is that you can add sound effects to your animations. Additionally, you also have the option download your animations as GIF or MP4 files. In this short video I demonstrate how to use Wick Editor to create an animation.

This post originally appeared on FreeTech4Teachers.com. If seen elsewhere it has been used without permission.