SOLON — Stop motion – the process of making a movie or video literally one frame at a time, has been around since the early 1900s using various forms ranging from simple drawings through sophisticated clay models. Last Thursday, kids attending the Solon Public Library’s weekly early-out BAM POW event were able to try their hand at stop motion animation.

“I try at Halloween to do a sensory activity that the kids can get messy with because it’s a nice treat for them to get extra messy. Last year we made Slime, so this year, we did Play-Doh™,” said Lily Smith, Youth Services Librarian. The kids created monsters out of the clay and with an assortment of other items. Then, they were able to create a short stop motion video, bringing their monster to life.

“We always try to schedule something that will take the full hour, and we wondered how, and we have this really talented and creative kid in the drawing club that does stop motion, and I thought these kids would be awesome at stop motion,” Smith said. “We give them the materials and they have so many options that their creativity just flourishes if you don’t give them too much guidance, but just give them the materials to work with. Then, they just run with it.”

The BAM POW events have been an early-out Thursday staple in Solon for many years and fills an important need in the community, Smith said. “They (the kids) can walk over here from the school and hang out at the library (until their parents pick them up).”

Upcoming BAM POW activities

“We’ve got painting day coming up and the kids are really excited about the Fort Building Day that we have coming up in a few weeks. They get the tables and chairs, and they have sheets, and then we get pom-pom snowballs out at the end and they do an inside snowball fight. They love it.”