Draw + Tell
A creation and presentation app that children will LOVE! This app can be used on smartphones or tablets. The best part is that this app is FREE! Draw & Tell is designed for younger ages because of the graphics on the app. Older elementary aged children could use it but they may not be as engaged in the app as the younger elementary and preschool aged children. Draw & Tell is an app where students get to create drawings on their device using cool backgrounds, paint brushes, crayons, colored pencils, and stickers. But teachers, this is not just “Paint” for a device. Students can record their voice over the drawings they create to tell a story. As the students are recording their voice, they can manipulate the stickers that they use to give emphasis to that part of the story. When they are finished with one drawing, they can create more drawings to tell more of the story and group them together. If you group the drawings together, they will play back as if it were a storybook, automatically playing the voice recording for each page. This is a great tool to help students get over their fear of speaking in front of peers. For students that are scared to talk in front of the class, they can record themselves with the drawing and push play rather than having to do all the talking in front of their classmates.
Negatives: The graphics are juvenile which limits the audience to younger ages. The apps are not linked to any specific account so other students have access to other students’ drawings/creations. Be sure to watch to make sure students do not mess up other students’ work.
Lesson Ideas: (1) Since it is still the beginning of school, have students use this app to tell a story about themselves to share to the class. Have them draw at least 2 drawings that tell the class something important about them. Teachers complete one on yourself for an example first. (2) If you have moved to content already and do not want to backtrack, have the students work in groups to retell a story that was read during Reading Workshop or during your Read-Aloud time. This works on the skill of retelling a story by using their own drawings and own words. (3) You could also use this in social studies. Each grade level is different for the content of social studies, but you could have the students recreate an event that they learned about by creating a children’s book through the Draw & Tell app. If you are learning about a person, have the students create a children’s book about the person that they learned about including the details on why they are important.
This screen comes up when the user selects the blank paper on the Home Screen of the app. The right side is the tool bar with all of the options that you have to create your drawing. The top icon (the bird) is for all of the stickers. There are hundreds of stickers to choose from including letters. The next icon is where you can have funky designs in your paint. The third icon is the eraser in case you need to delete only a small part of your drawing. The next icon is the paint brush and this looks like water colors when you use it. It is not a solid line of color. The next icon is the colored pencil and this is the most clear tools. It is the easiest tool to write with. The last icon on the right is the crayons which colors like a crayon would in real life- rough edges. There is also a tool bar at the top of the screen. The icon on the left side (the arrow) takes you back to the home screen. The butterfly icon is an icon that I have not seen in my research. The next icon, the reverse arrow, is the undo button in case you messed up completely on the line you just drew. The pink icon with the microphone is used when you are ready to record your voice over the drawing. It gives you the instructions and counts down for you to start talking. The play icon button is where you can preview your drawing with the voice recording together. It turns green when you have a recording to play. The icon on the right is to bring the right tool bar back on the screen if it goes away.
When you select a blank page from the home screen, the first choice you have is to choose a background. Here you can pick from any of the preset backgrounds or you can take a picture using the camera app on the device. This can be used to take pictures of a students work and have them explain it by drawing over their work and by using the voice recorder.
The second option from the home page is to select a coloring page. This is what the menu looks like when you choose that option. I don't think this option has a whole lot of educational value, but you could use it as an incentive for good behavior. For example, I had students that could buy different fun things in the classroom, like sitting in my rolling chair or having my rocking chair during independent reading, using their school-wide behavior incentive money. This could be an option that they could "buy" from you and they could do it at the end of the day during dismissal or when they first come in during the morning.
The last option on the home screen is the your drawings option. This is where all of the drawings are saved. This is also where you can group drawings together to make a storybook. To do this, all you have to do is drag one of the drawings over to the other drawing that you want to link it with. The app will then put a gray box around those drawings and you can rearrange drawings like they are pages in a book. There are also two icons at the top right corner of the screen. The first icon on the left is how you can save drawings to your device's camera roll. The trash can icon will delete drawings that you do not want on the app anymore. If you want to delete a drawing, click the trash can first and then it will ask which drawing that you want to delete. It will then confirm the deletion once you have chosen a drawing.
