Toontastic is one of the best iPad apps for children to use at home, a perfect way to pass some time indoors away from the heat during the dog days of August. They can spend hours plotting and planning and editing their creations.
Kids can arrange every point of their production. Setup, Conflict, Challenge, Climax, and Resolution are all laid out for kids in what Toontastic calls the Story Arc. They are guided to create each scene as they narrate their story, add their own take on animation and finally add fabulous background mood music.
By being asked to follow the basic plot line, kids are encouraged to think, plan, execute, sequence, and follow the core elements in storytelling. Also, this app gives kids the opportunity to make believe, something that seems to be oddly absent from many of our kids’ lives.
As for in the classroom, this is such a great tool for teaching, one that the kids will really enjoy too! You will be amazed at the endless opportunities for assignments in any curriculum area.
The ability to learn in an interactive fashion is built right in as well as having an awesome share component. Kids can work individually or collaboratively creating their own cartoons or “films,” and share them with other students around the globe.
Educators are always challenged to create new opportunities for kids to become producers of creative expression using what they have learned. This app is the perfect writing tool and promotes sequencing in a “no brainer” kind of way.
Kids are guided through the writing the process of Toontastic story arc, which is really a storyboard. The option to use the given characters and backgrounds is there as well as doing your own illustrating with a virtual sketchpad. Or you can use just one or two slides and make a mini presentation, or your own math problem, illustrate a scientific theory – seems that the possibilities are endless!
Talk about authentic assessment, it doesn’t get much better than this! This is one awesome classroom tool for those teachers lucky enough to have iPads available.
Do you have any other educational apps that you love? Let us know in the comments!
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Jayne Clare
Jayne Clare is Co-founder of Teachers With Apps, a site specializing in reviewing Five Star Educational apps, she is also an app developer and has four educational apps in the iTunes store. Her day job is as a Special Education Teacher in Southampton Public Schools. She is also the mother of three wonderful kids. Keep the conversation going with Jayne on Twitter at @iitch_inc.
