Designed to help children aged 8–12. Animated films from scratch to premiere even with no prior movie experience.Magazine available via retail and subscription to the print and/or digital editions.Ani-Babiling.com and App: host premieres, share creations, contests, collaborative production of real animated series.
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How to Make Cartoons with the Babiling Kit
5 Steps from Idea to “Premiere”
1. Choose a story from the Babiling Animation Kit magazine to film (script, storyboard)
2. Choose your characters and locations (pop them out of the magazine).
3. Start filming (a smartphone and a free app are all you need).
4. Make a poster and premiere tickets (use the templates)
5. Upload to the platform, host an online premiere, and share your cartoon with friends.
Bringing to Life
Stop Motion is a frame-by-frame animation technique — the very foundation of cartoon-making.
It creates the illusion of movement by filming objects in slightly different positions frame by frame. When the frames are played quickly, the “animation” effect appears.
Not long ago, making an animated film required professional equipment, editing and backdrop studios, and — most of all — lots of time and a big budget. With the Babiling Stop Motion Kit, you can shoot an animated film using just a regular smartphone.
Choose Your Style: 2D or 3D
Depending on the young director’s preference, characters can be used for classic 2D top-down animation or as “standing puppets” for 3D-style animation.
It’s important to ensure good lighting and that the camera stays fixed throughout each episode or film scene.
That’s why we recommend using a shooting stand with built-in lighting and camera stabilization. These tools (Ani-Box, Ani-Pod) are included in the Babiling Stop Motion Kit.
Action!
Thanks to the “punch-out” contour technology, the print version of the magazine allows you to make characters in just minutes.
Swap faces, mix costumes, and combine them — enjoy complete creative freedom.
Backgrounds, character templates, and more will also be available in the PDF version of the magazine on the Ani-Babiling website. You can print them at home and cut them out — which can be an exciting part of the creative process itself.
Filming
Your backgrounds are now interiors and “locations,” and your paper figures are the actors. It’s time to bring them to life. Camera! Action!
If something goes wrong — no worries! Just shoot another take and choose the best one later.
You can shoot scenes in sequence, following your storyboard and inserting pre-made title cards along the way to save editing time — or you can film spontaneously. A truly creative approach knows no limits and no rules.
Unpacking Babiling Animation Kit
The story set
First, decide which of the stories from the Babiling Animation Kit you want to film. You can go with a simple sketch or aim for a full-fledged short animated film — depending on how much time you want to spend on production.
Naturally, it’s best to start with something simple — scenes and sketches — and then move on to episodes and complete films.
In the first issues of the magazine, the fairy tale “Babiling and the Dragon's Heads” introduces readers to the royal jester Babiling (our magazine’s namesake) — and shows why being heroic is fun.
With story continuations in each issue, readers will eventually be able to create a full animated series about Babiling — including dragon battles, knightly tournaments, princess rescues, and much more.
With the help of Stop Motion and a spark of imagination, heroes from ancient myths around the world will come to life.
Short animations will feature the feats of Heracles, Noah’s biblical voyage, and the antics of Norse Odin…
Together, these episodes will form an animated anthology of global myths, offering children a playful gateway into their magical worlds.
/ Synopsis of the myth of Heracles, “The Augean Stables.”
Thanks to the animation kit, readers can create their own version of adventures featuring beloved fairy tale characters.
Starring: tiny Thumbelina, Alice and her good friend the White Rabbit, nose-growing Pinocchio, green-haired Little Mermaid, pumpkin-riding Cinderella, mischievous Rapunzel, Beauty and the Beast, Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Puss in Boots, Aladdin, and Sinbad the Sailor…
Literary characters sometimes end up in situations even their creators couldn’t imagine.
But the magic of animation will help them through the most unexpected adventures.
Short, captivating animated scenes will star White Fang, Tarzan, Sherlock Holmes, cowboys and Native Americans, characters from “The Wizard of Oz,” Mary Poppins, and even Dracula — not to mention Bluebeard and Richard the Lionheart.
Directors say you have to see the film in your mind first — then all that’s left is to shoot it.
Animators sketch out almost the entire film in special “windows” in a dedicated notebook before filming — so nothing gets mixed up during production.
These drawings are called storyboards, and the notebook itself is referred to by the same name in the professional world. Each story in the Babiling Animation Kit comes with its own storyboard templates.
Depending on the story’s complexity, the storyboard “windows” will be fully or partially filled in by professional artists. Some windows will be left blank or only partially completed. This gives the young author a chance to invent, draw (and most importantly, film) their own ending.
Creating a storyboard is as fun as inventing a comic strip.
In addition to the storyboards for Babiling’s original tales, each issue will include one completely blank storyboard for making a fully original cartoon.
For 2D filming, the character lies flat and the camera shoots from above. For 3D-style shooting, the character needs a stand that allows them to stand upright.
The Babiling Animation Kit includes both types of characters, so young directors can explore different animation styles freely.
To bring characters to life, they’ll come with different costumes that can be swapped from scene to scene.
The kit also includes sets of facial expressions — so their emotions will look vivid and expressive.
Each scene or film needs its own setting or interior — the background for filming.
Every scene requires a space or interior for the characters to act in. The backgrounds provide the cinematic feeling on screen.
Backgrounds can be used for both flat and spatial filming. For 3D scenes, Babiling includes special layered backgrounds (“panoramas”) that combine surface and elevated objects (like a meadow + castle or parquet + library), with perspective in mind.
Backgrounds can be torn out from the print magazine along perforated lines — and voilà, your filming location is ready.
Animation can be filmed in any genre: period drama, detective story, adventure, romantic comedy — or even a western. Each genre has its own style of titles and posters.
The Babiling Animation Kit includes a variety of poster templates and title cards — frames and stencils to suit every taste.
The kit even contains templates for tickets and premiere invitations, which the young director can fill in and give out to especially valued guests.
They can be punched out from the magazine or cut out from a printed PDF file. And since art is priceless, viewers will surely want to keep them as souvenirs.
In addition to the ready-made stories included in Babiling, subscribers will be able to bring their own animation ideas to life.
The kit includes a blank storyboard and templates for creating personalized characters — their look and personality can be fully invented and designed by the young creator.
Babiling Animation Kit You Can Feel
Paper Kit + Downloadable PDF
Magazine Text Index
The Animation Machine
Features stories about different types of animation — hand-drawn, cutout, clay, puppet — referencing stories and kits printed in Babiling and published on the site.
Time to Transform
The Wonderful Life of Animated Characters
What did bears and mice look like in cartoons from different eras?
Stories of characters and their creators: Winnie the Pooh and Milne, Mickey Mouse and Disney, and many, many more.
Moving Through Genres
A Guide to Animation Genres
Not-so-scary tales (from “The Nightmare Before Christmas” to “Soso”), Japanese anime, Lego cartoons, and much more.
REMOTE TO CARTOON
A Section on Stop Motion Filming Techniques, Equipment, and Software
Key Frame
Stop Motion Filming Tips from the Pros
How to film, how to edit, and tricks to bring your images to life.
Workload Chart
Reviews of New Features in Animation Apps and Recommended Software
Keeping the Pace
Subscriber Tips and Lifehacks
Ani-Babiling. Website and Mobile App
Premiere Screening and Festival Future
Ani-Babiling — safe, moderated content suitable for children aged 8–12
The film is ready. Time to turn off the lights in the screening room, hold your breath, and watch your completed cartoon with the audience. After the premiere — a juice and cookie discussion (not yet included in the Babiling kit).
On the Ani-Babiling website, your cartoon will surely be appreciated by other young directors. There, you can also take part in collaborative filming of a full-length animated series or join numerous contests.
You can even submit your film to a real animation festival for directors aged 8 to 12 — where established professionals will judge the entries.
And of course, you can share your cartoon on social media — naturally. Then get started on your next directorial project. With the Babiling kit, you’ll always have something to say when asked about your future creative plans.
The Babiling Community
Subscribing to the digital version of the Babiling kit means more than access to the online magazine — it also includes:
access to the Babiling animation kit archive;
participation in creating an anthology or full animated series based on an original Babiling story;
the ability to print a complete story or full kit for anthology or series production;
a wide selection of title templates, posters, studio bumpers, premiere tickets, and more to create a real movie atmosphere;
the option to upload your cartoon to the Babiling digital platform where other creators and interested viewers can enjoy it;
connection with other subscribers and the ability to create online studios for collaborative creativity;
participation in the Babiling animation festival for young animators aged 8–12, with a jury of professional animators.
Ani-Babiling. Contests
By uploading their work to the Babiling platform, young directors can enter contests where winners are chosen both by the editorial team and fellow subscribers.
“Open Ending”
Young directors can propose their own original developments and endings for stories printed in Babiling.
“Ba-La-Gan!”
Fans of this contest will see who can most hilariously mix characters and backgrounds from various Babiling stories.
Contests for the best original cartoon and docu-animation entries
“The Author’s Bar”
In this contest, young directors can test themselves by creating the best original animated short of the month.
Not Just Halloween
An anthology series created by Babiling subscribers about the holidays celebrated in their home countries — and how they celebrate them.
Everyday Wonder
This contest invites stories from real life: tales of people with special challenges who achieve more, the adventures of a hedgehog from the next street, or a schoolyard escapade… The modern world is complex, but there’s always room for wonder. Whether it’s an animated transformation or a heroic act against all odds — the young author decides.
Beyond the Horizon
A child’s perspective on scientific and environmental issues. Young directors can propose or choose the topic that excites them most: “Trash-Planet Earth,” “Adventures Inside the Human Body,” “A Drop of Water Saves the World,” and more.
The animation kit can be used for individual or group activities, and are in demand at art clubs, children’s camps, and educational institutions for extracurricular animation courses.
Creating animation — an activity that always yields a visible result — can help improve a child’s self-esteem. At the same time, working together on creative projects can bring children from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds closer together.
Cross-language collaboration helps children adapt to a new linguistic environment. In this way, development continues through an engaging and playful format.
Babiling is aimed at children learning English and offers a playful educational format — storytelling through animation.
Magazine texts are written and edited by a team of English-speaking writers, editors, and English language teachers from European and U.S. universities. A certified child psychologist contributes to the development of content and illustrations.
A typical user of the English-language platform and app is a student in the upper grades of primary school at an international school where English is the main language of instruction.
As language support grows, the audience could expand to include students in grades 3–5 at French, German, and Israeli schools.
The project is also designed for Russian- and Ukrainian-speaking children whose families have relocated to Europe. For many of them, English serves as a bridge into the local culture of their host countries.
The key question in modern parenting — “Childhood or education?” — is resolved by combining both in a playful format. This approach helps develop a child’s ability for self-growth.
Every cartoon is not just about animating an invented character — it is a form of self-expression.
Whether the young director creates a film about Heracles, magical unicorns, or a runaway carburetor — the story always reflects their personality and interests.
One of the most engaging parts of the animation kit is the docu-animation set — which lets children turn classmates and even beloved parents into cartoon characters. Adults are welcome to give it a try, too.
But if parents do have time to join in Stop Motion filming, it’s a great way to bond with their kids — discussing storylines, techniques, and creative ideas.
And from now on, any disagreements can be called artistic — just say: “That’s how I see it!”
The Babiling Animation Kit Team
Our Focus Group
“That’s How I See It!”
Short animated sketches featuring favorite Babiling characters can be made in just a few hours.
But working on original serialized stories can engage a child for days.
Creating an animated film usually requires help only at the beginning.
By the second or third film, kids often ask their parents to step aside — returning only to help upload the finished footage.
Still, parental support is a crucial part of success.
Of course, no one starts out as Tim Burton — results improve with experience.
Keep that in mind when they ask you at the premiere: “So, what did you think?!”
Animation can be filmed in any genre: period drama, detective story, adventure, romantic comedy — or even a western. Each genre has its own style of titles and posters.
Kits for Docu-Animation and Original Cartoons
