Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Create Your Own Comics on Toondoo.Com!

Hi, friends! It's Blair from One Lesson at a Time here. Can you believe it is already OCTOBER?! Time sure does fly, huh?! Today, I wanted to share a fun website with you called Toondoo

Kids LOVE comics - so creating your own comic books is a great way to hook kids into whatever lesson you are teaching that day. This website allows you to create your own little comic books! 

Disclaimer: This website requires a fair amount of trial and error - it's fairly user-friendly, but you will need to do a lot of playing around in order to really get the hang of it. 

I like to create comics based around one character - my dear, made-up friend, Buster Bluepants. Buster Bluepants helps us learn all sorts of things throughout the year! Here is a comic that I created about choosing a "just right" book.

The easiest way to use them in the classroom (I think) is to project the comic on a SmartBoard or other projection device. (I had a cable connecting my computer and TV, which allowed me to show what was on the screen that way.) You can also print them out - and I have - but you will need to do some cutting and pasting to get them formatted with multiple images per page. 

In order to get started, you'll need to create a free account. Then, once you are logged in, hover over the "Toons" link in the top bar and click on "create toon". 

From there, you can select your layout:

 The images at the top have all kinds of different options for you to play with. Here is where the trial and error really comes in - spend some time just playing around and seeing what you can do. The first box has all kinds of different characters that you can use:

You can choose different backgrounds, add in speech bubbles and text, and create a fun and interactive supplement to any lesson! My kids LOVE it! 

I've thought about having kids try it on their own - but it's a little too involved for my third graders to do on their own, in the time we have for computers. If you had older kids, though, it might be a great way to publish quick writing assignments or review specific content! Check out Toondoo.com and see if it could work for you!

Thanks for stopping by ATUE today - and Happy October!

1 comment:

  1. Blair, would you advise ToonDoo for fifth graders who want to create a newspaper and write comics. Work would be done outside of school. Would ToonDooSpaces be better to secure environment and can it be used on individual laptops at home? Am a parent, not their classroom teacher.


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