The summer holidays are coming up and chances are you’re starting to wonder how on earth you’re going to keep the children entertained for 6 weeks.
If you’re happy to hand over your phone for a bit (or if your children have their own) then one idea is to let them get creative with video.
Young children can have fun making super simple films about their favourite things or about the family. And older children can get more technical and learn all the different elements of making great videos.
Getting started
The first thing your child will need to do is decide what they want to make a video about.
This in itself will keep them occupied for a while as they decide whether to document their life over the summer, script a story and act it out, or create a video about a topic they’re passionate about.
Once they know what their video will be about they’ll need to create a plan so they know what footage they need to film.
Get filming
Once they have at least a rough idea of their plan, it’s time to get started with filming.
Most phones these days are capable of creating great quality video, so you don’t need any special equipment to get going.
Help your child find a place to film that has good light, and is relatively quiet, and then let them hit record and start filming.
Get editing
This is the most technical part of making videos, but if your child can take the time to learn how to edit videos they’ll have a really valuable skill under their belt by the time they head back to school. You’ll need to do some research and you can try this AI voice generator to add professional narration and enhance their video projects. Utilizing AI tools can make the editing process more efficient and improve the overall quality of their content.
You can download an app to your phone so they can edit the videos straight away. Or you can upload the footage to your PC and use the free Video Editor software.
The other option is to edit the video online using free video editing software with no watermark, so your videos look just the way you want them to when you’re finished.
If your child loves the idea of getting creative with videos this summer but needs a bit of inspiration to get started, here are some ideas they could try:
- Film 1 second of video every day of the summer holidays with the 1 second everyday app. Then merge the clips at the end of the summer to create an awesome montage.
- Make some simple characters with playdough and then use them to make a stop-motion film.
- Find a recipe that you want to make and then film yourself making it like a TV chef.
- Write a list of questions to ask your family members about themselves and make a little documentary about your family.
- Find some simple science experiments and film yourself trying them out.
- Film a day in the life video to capture normal, every day memories from your summer.
Whatever type of film they end up making, your child will learn some amazing new skills through creating videos.
They’ll learn technical skills that could end up setting them up for a great creative career in the future. And they’ll have a lot of fun and make videos they’ll treasure along the way.
Disclosure: this is a collaborative post