Educational video maker
Educational video maker: turn a lesson into a narrated, drawn video
AnimatedBoard is an educational video maker that turns a lesson into a narrated drawing. Paste your explanation, give our AI a topic and a length, or, on a paid plan, upload your notes as a PDF or Word file. Our AI draws each idea on the board as the voice explains it, and you download an MP4 to share with your class. Writing the script is free, all 22 looks are on every plan, and your first minute of video is free.
No card required. Your first minute of video with AnimatedBoard is free.
Updated on October 27, 2026
1-min video, ready in ~1 minVideo made by our app
Our app made this video of about a minute from a plain-text script, in about a minute: our AI drew and narrated every scene. Nothing edited by hand. Longer videos take a few minutes more.
Read the transcript
Why do we have seasons? Many people think it's because Earth gets closer to the Sun in summer. It doesn't. In fact, Earth is closest to the Sun in early January, in the middle of the northern winter.
The real reason is a tilt. Earth's axis leans about twenty-three and a half degrees, and it keeps pointing the same way all year as we travel around the Sun.
When your half of the planet leans towards the Sun, sunlight hits it more directly and the days are longer. That's summer.
Six months later, your half leans away: the light arrives at a low angle, spread over more ground, and the days are short. That's winter.
That's also why the seasons are reversed in the two hemispheres. When it's summer in Spain, it's winter in Argentina.
Quick check: if Earth had no tilt at all, would we still have seasons? Barely. The tilt does almost all the work.
Why a drawn explanation helps students learn
A lesson video works when the picture and the words tell the same story at the same time. That is the core of Richard Mayer's research on multimedia learning, summarised in The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (2nd edition, 2014). Several of its principles read almost like a description of a whiteboard lesson; the table below shows how each one turns into a decision about your video.
The whiteboard format has also been tested on its own. In a 2016 study published in Computers & Education, Selen Türkay of Harvard University randomly assigned 621 online participants to learn advanced physics topics from a whiteboard animation, a narrated slideshow, audio alone or text alone. The whiteboard group remembered significantly more than the audio and text groups and responded most favourably to the lessons. Its retention was not significantly different from the narrated slides, and the author does not rule out that part of the effect is novelty.
The honest reading: drawings with a voice teach better than listening or reading alone, and a clear script decides the rest. That is why AnimatedBoard never rewrites your script: the explanation stays yours, and our AI does the drawing and the timing.
What multimedia learning research says, applied to a lesson video
Principles from The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (Mayer and colleagues, 2014), in plain words, and what each one means for your video.
| Principle | What the research found | In your video |
|---|---|---|
| Temporal contiguity | People learn more deeply when animation and narration are presented at the same time rather than one after the other | Each element is drawn at the moment the voice names it: by a hand in the whiteboard looks, without one in textured looks such as chalk |
| Modality | People learn more deeply when the words are spoken rather than printed on screen | The explanation lives in the voice; the board holds drawings and short labels, not paragraphs |
| Coherence | People learn more deeply when extraneous material is left out rather than included | One drawing per idea on a plain board, with no stock footage. Background music is optional and off by default: for a lesson, leave it off |
| Signaling | People learn more deeply when cues highlight how the essential material is organised | Say "first", "second" and "so" in the script: each part becomes its own scene |
| Segmenting | People learn more deeply from learner-paced segments than from one continuous unit | Make a short video per idea and let students pause between them, instead of one long lecture |
How to make educational videos using AI
The same flow for a 1-minute definition and a 15-minute lecture. Only step 5 spends minutes.
Pick one learning goal
One video, one thing students should be able to explain afterwards. "Why we have seasons" makes a 3-minute lesson; "the solar system" makes a whole course.
Write the lesson, or let our AI draft it
Paste your own explanation (up to 20,000 characters, narrated word for word), give our AI a topic, a length and notes such as the age of the class, or, on a paid plan, upload your notes as a PDF or Word file. The "Create a lesson" template in My videos gives our AI the structure described below.
Choose the look, the voice and the language
Pick one of 22 looks and a format: 16:9 for a projector or your platform, 9:16 for phones. Paid plans can use every voice in all nine languages, or upload your own recording; the free minute uses one voice per language.
Review the scenes before anything is drawn
"Scenes only" splits the lesson into scenes for free, so you can check where each scene starts and what our AI plans to draw before generating anything.
Generate, preview and fix
Generate the drawings and the voice, then watch the free preview of each scene. If a label or a symbol comes out wrong, redraw that scene or change only the part of the drawing you select.
Download and share
Download the MP4, and its .srt or .vtt caption file if your platform accepts captions, and put it wherever your class watches: your learning platform, a shared drive, or YouTube as an unlisted video, which doesn't appear in search and is seen only by people with the link (on a paid plan, AnimatedBoard publishes it there for you, captions included). Or switch on the video's own public link, which is off until you turn it on: students open it in the browser, with no account.
A lesson structure that works in three minutes
This is the structure of the "Create a lesson" template (goal, three ideas with an example each, a question and a recap), and it works just as well when you write the script yourself. Word counts are for a 3-minute video with an American English voice, which reads about 160 words a minute.
| Part | What it does | Words | Example: why do we have seasons? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. The goal | Tells students what they will be able to explain at the end | About 20 | By the end, you'll know why summer and winter happen. |
| 2. First idea | The first building block, with a concrete example | About 120 | Earth's axis is tilted, like a spinning top leaning to one side. |
| 3. Second idea | Builds on the first, with its own example | About 120 | For part of the year the northern half leans toward the Sun, so its light arrives more directly. |
| 4. Third idea | Clears up the usual misconception or adds the key detail | About 120 | It isn't distance: Earth is closest to the Sun in January, in the middle of the northern winter. |
| 5. A question | Checks understanding. It is spoken, so students pause the video and answer | About 30 | If Earth's axis weren't tilted, what would happen to the seasons? |
| 6. The recap | Repeats the goal in one or two sentences | About 70 | Tilt, not distance: the half leaning toward the Sun has its summer. |
The science in the example follows NASA's explanation of the seasons. A 5-minute lesson keeps the same six parts at about 800 words: add examples, not ideas. By default our AI also adds a 3 to 5-second closing scene that sums up and says goodbye; if your recap already does that, switch it off.
Which look suits which subject
Every look is available on every plan. These are starting points, not rules.
| Subject | Look to try | Why it fits |
|---|---|---|
| Science: physics, biology, geography | Midnight Chalk or Chalk Lights | Chalk on a blackboard, the classroom look; Chalk Lights adds cyan, pink and lime to connect concepts |
| Maths | Whiteboard or Midnight Chalk | Clean lines and labels. Keep each formula short, say it aloud and check it in the scene preview |
| History and art history | Ink Heritage, or a story look such as Paper Mosaic | Fine ink for buildings and maps; a story look when the lesson is a narrative with people and chapters |
| Language classes | Whiteboard or Freehand Flow | Simple drawings of everyday things, narration in nine languages, and a 0.75× download for slower listening |
| Technology and engineering | Blue Draft | Blueprint lines for machines, circuits and structures |
| Processes and cycles | Idea Atlas | Connected diagrams where each step leads to the next: the water cycle, digestion, how a law is passed |
| Study skills and exam preparation | Margin Notes | Blue ballpoint and red annotations on cream paper, like a good student's notebook |
| Younger children | Wax & Wonder | Storybook pencil and wax textures; story looks can carry burned-in captions for early readers |
The looks teachers reach for first
Real 30-second samples, narrated and uncut, straight from our engine.
Chalk Lights
Cyan, pink and lime on black. Luminous, expressive diagrams.
Connected conceptsMidnight Chalk
White chalk on a blackboard. Detailed diagrams that develop gradually.
Science and explanationMargin Notes
Blue ballpoint, red annotations and observational sketches on cream paper.
Learning and studyIdea Atlas
Connected diagrams that make processes and relationships visible.
Processes & lessonsInk Heritage
Fine black ink, crosshatching and detailed drawings on ivory paper.
History and architectureWax & Wonder
Layered pencil and wax textures with the warmth of a storybook.
Education & storytelling
How to make a video for a class presentation
If you're 16 or over (AnimatedBoard isn't meant for younger users) and you have a topic to present, a short drawn video is a good way to open or close your presentation. The key is that the script is yours: if you paste it, it's narrated word for word, so what the class hears is your work and not a generic text.
If you start from your class notes or a handout instead, on a paid plan you can upload the PDF or Word file (up to 5 MB and 80 pages; scanned pages and photos of a notebook can't be read) and our AI writes the explanation at the length you choose. Read it and rewrite anything that doesn't sound like you before generating the video.
Your first minute is free, once, after you confirm your email: enough for a 1-minute introduction that presents the topic and the three ideas you'll cover. With the free English voice, a minute is about 140 words. Without a plan it narrates in any of our nine languages, with one voice each; a longer video, a second one or one written from a document needs a plan.
- Write one idea per sentence and name things that can be drawn: a scale, a map, a factory.
- Use the video to open or to close, and present the rest yourself: the presentation is yours, the video illustrates it.
- Check every scene before class and download the MP4: it plays offline from your laptop or a USB stick.
- Cite your sources in your presentation; the video carries no bibliography.
What teachers and students make with it
Use material you have the right to use: your own, your school's, or content whose licence allows it.
A flipped-classroom introduction
Students watch a 3-minute explanation at home, and class time goes to questions and practice.
A revision video before the exam
A whole unit in 5 minutes, one idea per scene, with the recap at the end.
A video for a class presentation
Students aged 16 or over can script a topic themselves and play the video during their presentation: the research and the words are theirs, our AI does the drawing.
Listening practice for language classes
Narrate a short text in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Arabic or Hindi, with the voice set to Calm on a paid plan, and download it at 0.75× as well for beginners.
A course, module by module
The same look and the same voice in every video, with your school's logo in a corner, so the series feels like one course.
Your notes, explained
On a paid plan, upload a handout or lecture notes as a PDF or Word file and our AI writes the narrated explanation from them. Our PDF to video guide explains what it keeps and what it skips.
Educational video maker for free: what costs nothing
Writing never spends minutes; writing from a document comes with any paid plan. Minutes are spent only when drawings and voice are generated.
| What you do | Cost |
|---|---|
| Draft a lesson script from a topic | Free |
| Write a script from your PDF or Word notes | No minutes, on any paid plan |
| Split the script into scenes and review them | Free |
| Your first minute of video | Free, once, after you confirm your email; no card, with our watermark |
| Scene previews, speed downloads, going back to an earlier drawing | Free |
| Caption files (.srt and .vtt), background music, a public link to the video | Free |
| Drawings and voice beyond the first minute | Plan minutes: Starter is $29 a month for 30 minutes, about ten 3-minute lessons |
Creator is $79 a month for 100 minutes, Pro $149 for 250 and Studio $299 for 550; yearly plans cost at least 30% less. Each scene counts at least 4 seconds; with characters or an inspiration image, twice its length.
Make your first lesson video for free
Choose the "Create a lesson" template, type a topic and the age of your class, and read the script before anything is drawn. First minute free, no card.
Good to know before you make a lesson
What a lesson video from AnimatedBoard includes, and what it doesn't.
No quizzes or SCORM
You get an MP4. The comprehension question is spoken, not interactive, and there is no SCORM package or LMS integration: upload the file to your platform and add the quiz there.
Captions
Every video comes with .srt and .vtt files taken word for word from the script, for YouTube or any platform that accepts captions. If students need them on screen, you can burn them into the video in any look; in whiteboard looks they're off until you switch them on.
Length and resolution
Up to 15 minutes and 60 scenes per video; for a longer unit, make a series. 16:9 renders at 1920×1080 and 9:16 at 1080×1920.
You are the teacher
Our AI drafts and draws, and it can make mistakes. Read the script and watch every scene before sharing, especially labels, numbers and formulas.
Students' privacy
Don't put students' names, grades or other personal data in a script. To generate a video, the project's text is sent to the AI providers listed in our privacy policy.
Your own voice
On a paid plan you can upload a recording of yourself reading the lesson, and the drawing follows it word by word.
Frequently asked questions
How do I make an educational video with AI?
Pick one learning goal, then paste your explanation, give our AI a topic and a length, or, on a paid plan, upload your notes as a PDF or Word file. AnimatedBoard splits the script into scenes, draws each one, narrates it and renders an MP4. Writing and splitting the script cost nothing; minutes are spent only on the drawings and the voice.
Is there a free AI video generator for teachers?
AnimatedBoard gives every new account one free minute of video, once, with no card and with our watermark, and drafting or writing scripts never spends minutes. After that, Starter costs $29 a month for 30 minutes, which is about ten 3-minute lessons.
Can I make a lesson video from my own notes or a PDF?
Yes, on any paid plan, if the file contains text. Upload a PDF or Word file of up to 5 MB and 80 pages and our AI writes a narrated explanation from it at the length you choose. Scanned pages don't work because there is no text to read. With the free minute, you can paste a short part of your notes as your own script, narrated word for word.
Can I add a quiz or export the video to SCORM?
No. AnimatedBoard makes an MP4 video, without interactive questions or SCORM packages. Upload the MP4 to your learning platform and add the quiz there; a spoken question in the script still works as a moment to pause and think.
Can students use it to make a video for a class presentation?
Yes, for students aged 16 or over: AnimatedBoard isn't meant for younger users. A student can write a short script (or, on a paid plan, upload their notes as a PDF or Word file), choose a look and download the video to play during the presentation. The free first minute is enough for a 1-minute introduction from their own script.
In which languages can the lesson be narrated?
English (US or UK accent), Spanish (Spain or Latin America), French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Japanese, Arabic (Modern Standard) and Hindi, with eight AI voices per accent on paid plans. The free minute uses one voice in each language.
Can the voice read more slowly for younger students or language learners?
Yes, in two ways. On a paid plan, set our AI voice to Calm: it is asked to speak more slowly, not slowed down afterwards, so it still sounds natural, and the drawing and the captions keep pace with it. You can hear each speed on each voice before choosing, and the length estimate accounts for the longer video. On any plan, free included, you can also download the finished video at 0.75× or 0.5×, picture and voice together.
Do whiteboard lesson videos have subtitles?
Yes. Every video comes with a .srt and a .vtt taken word for word from your script, ready to upload to YouTube or to a learning platform that accepts captions. Whiteboard looks can also burn them into the video itself: switch them on (they're off by default) and pick one of five caption styles. The captions can even be in a different language from the narration, which helps in a language class.
Your next lesson, drawn while you explain it
Create a free account, type a topic or paste your lesson, and download your first minute.
Make my first lesson videoNo card required. Your first minute of video with AnimatedBoard is free.