Using Keynote to Make a Digital Animation - Step by Step Guide

 Today I’m sharing a simple way to bring your Keynote slides to life using one of my favorite built-in tools - Magic Move. This is a great starter animation activity for students or teachers exploring creative storytelling on iPad.

Here’s how I built a simple day-to-night animation using Keynote:

1. Start fresh: Open Keynote, choose a basic white theme, and delete all the text boxes for a blank canvas.
2. Set the scene: Tap the paintbrush, select Background → Color, and choose a blue sky.
3. Add shapes: Use the Shapes tool to search for mountain, stretch it wide, and recolor it green to make rolling hills. Layer multiple greens for depth.
4. Build the story: Add a sun, maybe a volcano or moon — whatever fits your scene.
5. Animate with Magic Move:
6. Add a Magic Move transition.
7. Duplicate the slide.
8. Change the sky color for night, lower the sun, and add a moon.
9. Duplicate again for sunrise.
10. Preview and Export: Tap Play to see the animation, then Share → Export → Movie or GIF to save it to Photos.

✨ Pro tip: Turn off Constrain Proportions when resizing shapes for more creative effects.

Here’s a short sample video of the final animation (sunset to sunrise):

Example Animated GIF

I’d love to see how others are using Keynote for animation - especially with students exploring science, storytelling, or digital art.

#AppleEDU #Keynote #EveryoneCanCreate #iPadLearning #AnimationInKeynote

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