What happens slowly?

The Basic Idea

In small groups, the children decide on one area to set up a time lapse to watch for changes in nature over a short period of time outside.

Decide in class what would make a suitable subject to make a time lapse of. Allow some groups to chose what they think will make a good subject and guide others to subjects that will make better videos- puddles drying in the sun, an area with lots of ‘mini beasts’, stream/river, sea etc.

Practise using the app in class- there are many different alternatives and some free but most of these have limits on the length of video and if you are able, if at all, to export the videos. Depending on which tablets you are using, the battery life will vary significantly: do a test in class to see how long tablet’s battery will last.

Lapse It does have a paid version but the free version is fine for this activity. Android version iOS version

Decide how long you want to record for and also the interval between photos. Make sure that the tablet is in a secure stand (so that a stray gust of wind etc. doesn’t move it).

Once completed you then have the option of ‘zipping to iTunes’ which will then save the video to your camera roll.

From previous experience, having a full battery to start is imperative!

MS

How to take it even further or make it more challenging

It is possible to start and stop the time lapses. This means that the same subject is recorded over a period of a week, before turning into a video.