To animate means to bring to life and communicate feelings through storytelling. Students of all ages can create animations with new technologies. Telling a story that communicates emotions to an audience involves deep thinking, creativity and reflection. The old saying, "A picture says a thousand words," is very true with animation because the picture moves, and is alive. And there is usually other media such as sound to add another layer of meaning. The simplest animation is usually the most effective and often takes detailed planning and creativity. 2D animation using Flash and Swish can produce sophisticated presentations, demonstrations, simulations and stories.