Struggling to find an activity that would bring you a little bit closer together? Sure, it’s getting more and more difficult to engage your kids into doing something fun with their parents. Seems that you have tried it all. Hiking, concert going, ice fort building, painting, crafting – the list goes on. There might be, however, one activity that you haven’t tried. It’s creating a family photo slideshow. What is it in a nutshell? Well, making a slideshow implies turning a bunch of your still pictures into a dynamic and visually gripping video. Such an activity is sure to engage your kids – after all, you can make them in charge of all the artistic decisions, from image culling to effects application. Sounds appealing, huh?
If you have never tried to make such a video before, keep your chin up. It’s not that difficult. In this article, we’ll tell you how to make a family slideshow with and featuring your kids. There is no rule to the theme of your video. You can use pictures from some recent celebration or just a collection of the goofiest images of your family you can find. But more on that later. Now, here are our tips on making a family slideshow.
- Find the Concept
The first you and your kids need to do is to find the underlying theme for your slideshow. Have a little brainstorm and write down all the ideas that come to mind – there can be no bad ones. A steam-punk themed video? Why not? A serene and tranquil slideshow with your kids’ baby pictures? Nice! A slideshow based on your favorite movie franchise? Now we are talking! Once you determine the theme for your family slideshow, you will be able to do the rest – pick the best fitting images, find the perfect soundtrack, and so on.
- Set the Perfect Running Time
The longer your slideshow is, the more time you will need to spend on it. The idea of spending hours of their free time on one project might scare your rugrats off, so don’t go breaking records for the longest family picture slideshow ever. Consider making your video as long as 5 minutes. This way you’ll be able to fit enough images into it and the making of it won’t become an unpleasant chore.
- Choose the Best Soundtrack
There can be no family slideshow without awesome music. But here is the problem – how do you find a track that suits all of you. Well, this is the time when your kids can practice finding a compromise. Once again, all of you can brainstorm the issues to come up with a short list of fitting songs. Then you can eliminate track by track based on your decisions as a family. The track that ends up being a winner can not only be used as the soundtrack, but as your family anthem as well – after all, you all chose it.
- Unleash Your Inner Visionary
Slideshows are a great way to show off your visionary, what with all those effects, transitions and whatnot. If there is an artist at heart among you, then give them a chance to decorate your video the way they want. Let them use nature and transition effects, create their own animations, use dynamic collages and insert brightly colored title cards. This way your family photo slideshow will be truly one of a kind.
- Use the Ideal Software
To make all the things in the last tip possible, you need to use the right program for your family slideshow. Since you’ll need a program that even kids will be able to master, go with SmartSHOW 3D. This family slideshow maker is perfect for making awesome videos with little effort. It comes packed with templates for almost any occasion and with hundreds of effects that are as spectacular as they are easy to use. What’s more, SmartSHOW 3D offers you complete freedom when it comes to animating and decorating your photos. You are free to create your own animation and nature effects and make cinemagraphs (living photos). As for music, there are over 200 tracks that you can use to liven up the mood of your video. Once you finish, you’ll have dozens of export options. So you’ll be able to show your combined slideshow effort on TV, social media or video hostings. Isn’t it fun?
And that’s it. That’s the easy way to not only create a piece of visual art, but also grow closer as a family. Slideshow making is an engaging and immensely rewarding process that will both teach your kids a new skill and develop their artistic touch, but will also give you the pleasure of spending your time with your children.