Do you have a budding artist or scientist on your hands? Pixar in a Box is a FREE tool kids, parents, and educators can use to explore topics like Math, Science, Computer Science, Arts and more! This free online program, housed at Khan Academy, provides video lessons straight from Pixar artists. While the majority of the curriculum is geared towards children from 5th grade and up, the intro videos are suitable for any age, and provide inspiration to children everywhere.
More about Pixar in a Box
Q&A with Elyse Klaidman and Tony DeRose from Pixar
While in San Francisco earlier this year, I had the opportunity to tour Pixar Studios, and learn about this fascinating program. Elyse Klaidman Director, Exhibitions and Educational Partnerships at Pixar Animation Studios and Tony DeRose, Research Group Lead, presented the Pixar in a Box presentation.
Here’s a few highlights from that Q&A:
Oftentimes Pixar University, their internal education program at the studio, would receive phone calls from educators on every level asking questions about incorporating animation into their curriculum. Tony chimed in to share that because of those questions, it sparked a national talk called “Math in Movies” several years ago, however because the talk included Disney and Pixar assets, it wasn’t something he could hand out.
Fast forward several years, and Pixar in a Box is created with 3 years of curriculum for kids and educators! They approached Khan Academy with the idea of partnering to tell the story of math, science and art in the production of Pixar films and Disney Corporate Citizenship, the philanthropic part of Disney, agreed to fund it.
The first year was focused mostly on math related topics. The second year was focused mostly on science related topics including computer science and the third season (which they are 1/3 of the way through) is focused on the art of storytelling.
Pixar in a Box Lessons
Want to check out this free curriculum for yourself? Head to pixarinabox.org and begin with the Introduction video (with the start here button). This five minute video will give you and your child/students an overview of the Pixar in a Box website. Then select a topic of interest, like The Art of Storytelling, Patterns, Animation, and much more. Each lesson has a contents overview, and will take you through the different steps to complete the lesson. These in-depth lessons from Disney Pixar artists provide really cool insider info and steps to learn how to all sorts of tasks.
My boys are ages 6 and 9, and extremely intelligent for their ages. Both have advanced a grade level and are in gifted programs. I can see Pixar in a Box being a wonderful resource to grow their knowledge, and hopefully spark an interest in these topics, in the coming years. I’m really looking forward to checking out this free curriculum program with them!
Do you think your children or students would enjoy learning about Math, Science, and Arts through this online learning program? Check out Pixar in a Box today!
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