February 15, 2014
Kids love it when they get engaged in hands-on activities and there is nothing better to help them do that than to use the digital gadgets they are familiar with and which they use in their everyday life and iPad is one of these gadgets. At the core of creative practice is drawing and digital storytelling and fortunately there are a slew of great drawing and storytelling apps you can try out with your students in class and for free. I have curated some suggestions for your below :
Apps for creating drawings and doodles:
1- Skitch
Skitch is an iPad app that allows you to snap anything online and draw on it. Skich also provides a free blank canvas where users can draw and doodle using a wide range of drawing tools.
2- Doodle Buddy
Doodle Buddy Gold is the most fun you can have with your finger! Finger paint with your favorite colors and drop in playful stamps. Connect with a friend to draw together over the Internet.
3- Kids Doodle
“Kids Doodle” is a pretty easy-to-use painting application that is designed specifically for little kids to enjoy doodle freely on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. It supports more than 10 brushes, such as glow/neon brush, rainbow brush, crayon brush, oil brush, etc. The brush size and color is randomly adjusted to let kids entertained all the time.
4- How to Draw
Step-by-step drawing instruction application for kids aged 4 to 7. By repeating the moves on the screen you learn to draw. Listen, follow the instructions and draw on your screen. See how easy it is. You may start with a cat. It’s really simple. If it goes well don’t be afraid of the “Skeleton” episode! It’s the most difficult but you can do it.
5- Drawing with Carl
This app allows you to make beautiful drawings. you can import pictures and draw over them.You can even play with talking stickers that repeat anything you say with a funny voice!
Apps for Digital Storytelling :
1- Toonastic
Toontastic is a creative storytelling app that enables kids to draw, animate, and share their own cartoons with friends and family around the world. With over 7 million cartoons created in 200+ countries, parents and teachers rave about the app… and kids can’t stop creating!
2- Storykit
This is an app that lets you create digital storybooks. To create your story you need to :
- Write some text.
- Illustrate by drawing on the screen, taking a photograph of something you see, or drawing on paper and then photographing the paper, or attaching photos from your album.
- Sounds can be recorded for telling your story or as sound effects.
- Layout the elements of your story (text boxes, images, and sound clips) freely by dragging them or pinching to resize.
- Add, reorder, or delete pages from your book.
Puppet Pals HD enables you to create your own unique shows with animation and audio in real time! Simply pick out your actors and backdrops, drag them on to the stage, and tap record. Your movements and audio will be recorded in real time for playback later.
4- Tellagami
Tellagami is a mobile app that lets you create and share a quick animated video called a Gami. A Gami can be an exciting tweet or status update. It can be a fun way to tell a story. It can be a thank you message or a vacation postcard. It can be a birthday greeting, party invite or cool way to share photos. The possibilities are endless!
5- Shadow Puppet
Record a puppet and talk through your photos. Quickly and easily create a narrated slideshow to share your stories with family, friends and on social networks.
6- Sock Puppets
Sock Puppets lets you create your own lip-synched videos and share them on Facebook and YouTube. Add Puppets, props, scenery, and backgrounds and start creating. Hit the record button and the puppets automatically lip-synch to your voice.
