It takes a tremendous amount of patience to create an entire film using stop-motion animation techniques, but this simple spinning zoetrope toy makes the process a whole lot easier. You’ll only end up with about a second of animation after posing all ten of the bendable figures, but the results are still really satisfying given how much work is still needed to create every individual pose.
To ensure it’s safe for kids to play with the $US25 BusyBody is made entirely of plastic, including the mirrors so they won’t shatter if the zoetrope falls off a table. And the individual figures all work kind of like Gumby did, with a thick wire inside the body and limbs allowing them to be bent and hold a specific pose.
It even comes with guides showing you how to pose each of the figures in order to create a specific animated move, because few kids are lucky enough to have already taken a beginner’s class in animation. However, this could certainly put a child on the path to becoming the next Walt Disney. [Eye Think Inc. via The Awesomer]