The colors would include two not used on the first side. A distinct pattern could be a lightning bolt. Once the students understand the two sides working together we move onto using both sides while understanding top and bottom. Drawings, collage, or both work well. Students create and cut the thaumatrope shape, determine and punch the hole location for spinning the thaumatrope, and calculate the location of the images so both sides work in unison.
Skills involved include estimating and math measurement.
We have found zoetropes to be an effective introduction to animation. The zoetropes are constructed from five gallon ice cream tubs and lazy susans. The students are provided with a 12 frame zoetrope strip on a letter size paper which they cut and tape. Initially the students create several zoetropes from teacher directed lessons on the overhead. They are introduced to movement and size variations in different lessons.