Schoolboy, 12, creates animation to make those stuck indoors smile

A 12-year-old boy has created a stop-motion animation to make those stuck indoors self-isolating smile.

Aaron Rich, from York, is now hoping to create more movies, with the proceeds going to his local hospital.

He created the minute-long video, entitled “The Sweet Thief”, as part of his IT homework.

The clip was shared on his dad’s Twitter handle @BenRich66 and quickly went viral — amassing more than 638,000 views in less than 24 hours.

The movie features a sneaky pink hamster who keeps stealing sweets from a monkey.

Among those to praise the video was award-winning animator Peter Lord, co-founder of Aardman Animations, best known for its clay-animated films including Wallace and Gromit, and Chicken Run.

Lord wrote: “That’s really great. And it works too.”

Aaron’s dad, Ben Rich, told the PA news agency: “This was a piece of homework from his wonderful IT teacher Mr Dring, who asked his class to make a video to cheer up anyone who was stuck at home.

“My wife has done a brilliant job of working with the kids, working out timetables and planning their days, and this was his first task. He has made lots of animations in the past using iMovie and Animator, normally with his little rubber animals or Comic Relief red noses.

“He sat down and did it completely on his own in about an hour and a half.”