Educational Videos for Children

Teachers must be creative when preparing teaching aids for children. As teachers, there are millions of ways we can use to teach children - games, songs, books, PowerPoint presentations, etc. But have we ever came across using self-made videos as our teaching aids?

Many of us will think that to make a video needs to have a very good preparation. I would not agree with this statement. As long as we have a video recorder - such as Camcoder, digital camera, or maybe your handphone - it is enough for us to start using our creativity to produce an interactive teaching material. So, Why do we keep giving excuses when we have a 3.2-megapixel Nokia handphones or 7.1-megapixel Sony Cybershot camera?

Here, I would like to share some tips for you to produce a good video material for children.
~ First, set the length for the video.
~ Prepare a good script.
~ List out how many actors in the video.
~ Think of how many scenes/frames you would like to insert in the video.
~ Do a timeframe for the scenes, so that we know which one should start first and which one should start later.
~ Then, start working.



If you do not know what to do or how to start, you can always look for fresh ideas in YouTube.com. If you have recorded the video, you might want to edit your video using Windows Movie Maker - its interface is very user-friendly.

A tip when you are using Windows Movie Maker: If you start your project using computer A, complete the project with computer A as well. If you start your movie at computer A but in the middle of the assignment, you want to use computer B, you will not be able to do that. I have experienced this, and it was very frustrating. So, my advise is, better to use your personal computer rather than computers in UM labs.