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Courtroom Forensic Animation

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Grades 6-860-75 minSource: Creative Dad Company

Students recreate a pretend accident scene as a simple stop-motion or diagram animation. They must clearly mark every place where the animation is a guess instead of a fact. It is visual storytelling with honesty built in.

Budget levels

Amazon prices checked Oct 9-10, 2026 and may change

Materials links go to Amazon. Prices are estimates and may change. As an Amazon Associate, Creative Dad Company earns from qualifying purchases.

Quick Start

Digital downloads only.

$0 to buy. Printing noted separately.

Student time: one class period, one day.

Teacher prep / build-ahead: separate from student time.

Scale it

The default plan is one class period on a single day.

Scale back: Fit it into a shorter period, use fewer effects, or run a demo instead of a build.

Scale up: Add one extra effect, or spread the share-out across another day.

Ambiance video

Ambiance video coming soon from Creative Dad Studio

  • school device for slow-motion videoBorrow or school hasuse what you have

Full Experience

Required materials for the class.

About $6.80 (estimate, some items still being priced) per class (class of about 30, 6 groups).

Student time: one day.

Teacher prep / build-ahead: separate from student time.

Scale it

The default plan is one school day.

Scale back: Fit the build into one period with fewer effects.

Scale up: Spread the work across days, or add more effects.

  • Toy carsRequired1price not confirmed
  • rampRequired5price not confirmed
  • clayRequired1price not confirmed
  • strawsRequired1100 count$1.84Amazon
  • foamRequired1price not confirmed
  • rubber bandsRequired10.5 lb assorted$4.96Amazon

Total Transformation

The bigger kit, with every optional item included.

About $6.80 (estimate, some items still being priced) per class (class of about 30, 6 groups).

Student time: one day (one session, one-day event).

Teacher prep / build-ahead: separate from student time.

Scale it

The default plan is one session, a one-day event.

Scale back: Shorten the event, or run a demo for a smaller audience.

Scale up: Spread the build and the event across days, or invite a bigger audience.

Materials

Pretend accident report (teacher-prepared; not in the pack); Simple figures or clay; Camera or device for stop-motion (or paper for a diagram animation); Toy cars; ramp; straws; foam; rubber bands; school device for slow-motion video

Materials links go to Amazon. Prices are estimates and may change.

As an Amazon Associate, Creative Dad Company earns from qualifying purchases.

  • Simple figures or clay

    Simple figures or clay

    No link

  • Camera or device for stop-motion

    Camera or device for stop-motion (or paper for a diagram animation)

    No link

Steps

  1. Read a pretend accident report about two colliding vehicles and predict the order of events.
  2. Recreate the crash with two toy cars on a ramp. Film it in slow motion and measure how far each car moves after impact. Put a clay passenger on one car.
  3. Build a stop-motion or diagram animation of the crash, adding force arrows that show each car pushing on the other with equal and opposite forces. Mark any moment that is a guess instead of evidence.
  4. Learn Newton's Third Law. Explain why both cars feel the same force and why a bumper that spreads the impact over more time protects the passenger.
  5. Design a bumper with criteria (passenger stays seated, clay dents less) and constraints (only straws, foam, rubber bands, paper, under a set mass).
  6. Test the bumper in the same crash, record passenger damage and how far the cars move, and improve it over at least two rounds.
  7. Show the animation and bumper results to the group, explaining which parts are confirmed facts and how Newton's Third Law shaped the design.

Standards mapped

  • NGSS · MS-PS2-1

    Apply Newton’s Third Law to design a solution to a problem involving the motion of two colliding objects.*