I used to make animated films as an 8 year old child, and show them to my friends. I used a paper roll (the type that goes in a register/till) that I drew the animations on, and I cut slits and a window in a shoe box, put a torch in it and ran the paper through the slits in such a way that when the paper was pulled through the slits in the shoe box by hand, the animation ran with the torch illuminating it from behind. It was a wonderful contraption that I had got the idea of from a book, and we spent many a nights making and viewing these very basic children created animations.
Never did I suspect that over 40 years later I would be still making animations, but this time the shoe box and torch has been replaced by a computer and screen!