Balloons Over Broadway Thanksgiving STEM Activity Stop Motion

Float into fun this Thanksgiving with a digital STEM activity! This resource pairs perfectly to the beloved read aloud Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet.

If you have ever had your students create a green screen Thanksgiving day parade, or marched down the hallways with your students and their hand-crafted balloon floats, you know what an engaging, hands-on activity it is. This is a similar, but digital, option. This activity works best on laptops/Chromebooks.

✅ Your students will create a stop motion animation of a Thanksgiving day parade using Google slides (and hone their tech skills along the way!).

✅ Students can work independently or in pairs to create an animation of a balloon/float as it travels down the city street. Students can then view their animation to see their work.

✅ When all of the animations are complete, you have the option to compile them all into one video (either you can do it or enlist the help of a student). For the overachiever, you could even announce each float just like they do at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

Watch the video preview above to see a sample animation or watch one on Instagram (thanks to @teachinginroom6 for sharing this awesome animation sample!)

What You'll Get

• 5 Instruction Pages for Students You do not need to know how to do digital stop motion animation before trying this!
• Background City Page and Balloon Float Elements Students can used the components provided, create their own, or do an image search to create just the right float! Includes animals like the one shown plus twisted balloon animal designs.
• Teacher Instructions to create a compilation video (optional).
• Video Example that shows an animation being built, as well as how to view the animation.

Digital Stop Motion Animation Projects

• Halloween Scene Animation
• Thanksgiving Parade (can use with Balloons over Broadway)
• Snowman Winter Scene
• Christmas Scene Animation
• Winter Train Scene
• Leprechaun Trap Animation
• Animal Life Cycle
• Insect Life Cycle
• Plant Life Cycle

Looking for a Physical Stop Motion Resource?

Stop Motion Animation STEM Project

❤️ What Teachers Are Saying ❤️

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "I rarely ever write reviews but this is the best money I have ever spent on this site. It was step by step, fun, and engaging. My kids struggle with a lot but they didn't want to stop on this assignment. My lowest felt confident and couldn't wait to share. They are already starting to make new ones for Christmas on their own. I can't love this more!!!!!"

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "I bought the book and was so happy to see that you had loved the book as much as me! My students loved the literature tie, but loved learning about the traditions of balloons and tied my West Coast kiddos to the East Coast parade. I loved the stop-motion lessons and the creativity that was absolutely unleashed! They actually asked if they could work on more of their own ideas over Thanksgiving Break. I set up a Flipgrid topic for movies and creations; they posted them to share with fellow classmates. Thank you so much for creating such a fun activity that encouraged perseverance and collaboration so near to the holidays, when some might be losing focus!"

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "What a great technology lesson to go along with the book. It was also a great way to review the shortcut commands for copying and pasting as well as introducing new features such as stop motion. My students were amazed at what they were able to accomplish during library time!"

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "The kids loved learning how to make Stop Animation with Google Slides! We created our own Thanksgiving Day Parades and shared them with the school. It was a huge hit! The kids are looking forward to sharing them with their families. Easy to follow directions and very thorough. Quickly and easily able to share with students and immediately start working. Start to finish in about an hour!"