Many apps are designed to help young people organize their assignments, projects, and tests such as My Homework.

A growing number of creativity tools are available online. These tools are often available at no cost and can be accessed anywhere, anytime. However keep in mind that because the resources are free, they may not be available forever. Always has a 'back up' plan when using online resources.

Interactive Tools

Paint brushes, virtual pianos, mind maps, and graph makers are just a few of the tools available online. Most of these tools are designed specifically for young people and are easy to use.

Go to the following online interactive tools related to art and have some fun: Artist's Tool Kit, Cloud Dreamer, Destination Modern Art, Hands-on Crafts, Make Your Own Art, NGA Kids, Professor Garfield ArtBot, Red Studio.

Go to the following online interactive tools related to music and have some fun: Arizona Opera, Arts Alive, Freaky Frank's Music Machine, Professor Garfield MusicBot, San Francisco Symphony, and New York Philharmonic.

Go to the following online interactive tools related to math and have some fun: Analog Clock, Create a Graph, Grapher, Fraction Paint, and Super Sequencer.

Go to the following online interactive tools related to writing and have some fun: ReadWriteThink tools. The website has links to their many organizing tools.

Programming Tools

Over the past 20 years, many tools such as Lego have provided students with computer programming experiences.
Minecraft is an increasingly popular tool for world building and great for practicing programming.
Read!
Read Gauquier, Erica & Schneider, Jessica (January 1, 2013). Minecraft programs in the library: if you build it they will come. Young Adult Library Services, 11(2), 17-19. Available through IUPUI.
Scratch is the latest addition. Produced by MIT, this free tool allows students to create blocks of commands and put them together to create stories, games, and animations that can be shared online. Explore some featured projects.
Read Scratch: A New Approach to Programming for Young People by Annette Lamb. Explore Scratch, a free easy-to-use programming tool that addresses 21st century skills while promoting creativity, problem solving, reasoning, and collaboration across grade levels and content areas. Consider a school or public library programming club!
Today, the creation of mobile apps is a popular programming activity. Lots of tools are available for creating high-quality apps. This is a great activity for a teen club, afterschool activity, or class connection.
Read!
Read Braun, Linda W. (June 1, 2012). Building apps the teen way. Young Adult Library Services, 10(4), 14-16. Available through IUPUI.

Social Media Tools

During the past several years, a growing number of social technologies has been introduced. These resources allow users to share text, graphics, audio, video, and animations with the world. People from around the world can then make comments and seek personal connections. Although these are wonderful tools, it's important to help young people make wise decisions about their use. In particular, it's easy for teens to get caught up in using tools such as Facebook.

Social Networks. Social networks provide spaces where people can connect with each other. Tools are provided for posting discussions, embedding images, videos, and links, and other features. You're probably familiar with Facebook.
Set up an Edmodo to create a safe area for teaching about social networking.

Although blogging is often thought of as a social activity, it originated as a journaling tool. While some people use it as a tool to share their experiences, inquiries, and thoughts, others use it as a tool for reporting and sharing with the world. Blogging is also a great way to connect to the world and see outside comments and ideas.

Blogs are web logs that arrange postings (i.e., text, graphics, audio, video entries) in reverse chronological order. Most allow comments.

Blogs. Designed for longer postings that can include text as well as audio, video, images, and interactive elements.
Microblogs. Microblogs are designed for short, concise entries.

Seek ways to use these tools in productive ways. For example, students at Barrett Elementary School post creative projects on their blog. You can see their drawings, read their writing, and watch their videos online.

Explore other examples of how young people are using blogs in learning such as Student Reflections on Night by Elie Wiesel.

Explore student examples including Sarah D and Sarah M.

Back Channels. Back channel sites allow users to ask questions, discuss, and post ideas.
Go to TodaysMeet. Try it as a quick way to gather class ideas. Rather than answers, ask questions that promote thinking, ideas, and alternative solutions. Create one and ask others to add to it.

Citation Services

It's important for students to cite the works they use in their assignments. Citation tools make this easy.
Create the same citation using each tool. Compare the tools. Select one that best matches the need of your grade level or school.

Storytelling and Project Creation Tools

From animation creators to postermakers, a wide range of online tools are available for youth to share their understandings.

Animation Creators

Animation tools allow students to create short animation projects and share them on the web.
Go to the GoAnimate school version and the lesson gallery. Think about how you might use this tool in a library program with youth.

Audio Creators

Consider the needs of your project. Is voice recording necessary or will computer-generated audio work? Are visual elements such as avatars or visuals needed? Would a movie or slide show tool accomplish the same goal?
Basic tools allow voice recording or computer-generated voices.

Neighborhood Mapmachine 2.0 Free Download

Advanced tools provide features such as audio commenting, slideshows, and other enhancements.
Neighborhood Mapmachine 2.0 Free Download
Explore Ms. Wilson's 5th grade Voki biopoems and Blabberize projects.

Comic Creators

Although the software package Comic Life is very popular, there are many free, online options too. For those services that don't provide an option to print or save, consider creating a screen shot.
Ask youth to create a comic on the topic of digital citizenship dealing with an important teen issue such as texting and driving, privacy, use of passwords, social networks, copyright, etc. Check out a Pixton example below.

Concept Mapping Creators

Concept maps are a great way to visualize all kinds of youth projects.

Graphing Creators

Although Microsoft Excel is a popular tool for creating graphics, it can take time to learn. To save time, consider some of the following easy to use online tools.

Infographic Creators

Infographics are very popular with youth. Keep in mind that you can create simple infographics with tools like the SmartArt and SmartCharts in the Microsoft products. Or, try an online tool.

Image Editing Creators

Many tools help students create or edit images. These are free alternatives to expensive software packages like Adobe Photoshop.

Interactive Image Creators

Interactive images are created by making hotlinks on an image.
Explore examples of online interactive image projects:
Go to Thinglink for an example using a work of art.

Map Creators

Add your own ideas and resources to popular maps or create your own.

Poll and Survey Creators

Encourage youth to create their own polls and surveys.

Poster Creators

Rather than focusing on copy/paste activities, look for ways to promote deep thinking through digital posters. Online poster makers can incorporate text, images, audio, video, and links onto a single page. Notice the elements found in The Constitution.
Go to the 'best glogs' page. Also, Mrs. Lesa's Sixth Grade Glogs.

Presentation Creators

From basic presentation tools to full-featured multimedia authoring tools, you can find many options online. Keep in mind that many of these tools are intended to sells memory books or online services.
Basic presentation tools provide options similar to Microsoft Powerpoint online.
Intermediate presentation tools provide additional features such as interactivity, animation and other features.
Go to Ms. Wilson's 5th grade class prezi projects.
Create a presentation in Powerpoint or another tool and share it on the web.

Spreadsheet Creators

Online spreadsheets are great for collaboration.

Storytelling Creators

Tools are available for all ages who want to create online stories.

Timeline Creators

Help youth visualize chronology through online timeline tools.

Video Creators

Video production doesn't need to be time consuming or expensive. Follow these rules:
Most of the online tools are now subscription services. However try the following options.

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Examine student productions for inspiration.
Once youth have created projects, use one of the following video sharing sites.

Virtual Walls

Sticky, or virtual walls are like interactive bulletin boards where notes and ideas can be posted and moved around.
Go Consumers through History padlet example. Notice how students can post their primary source document and brainstorm questions.
Go to Then and Now. Add an idea related to this image.

Web Page Creators

Although it's important that youth learn HTML and programming skills, web-based development tools are wonderful for quick projects.

Word Cloud Creators

Word clouds are an interesting way to visualize ideas using text. The result is a graphical representation of word frequency.
Go to Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Australia, English, and Sewing. Think about what types of word clouds you could create with youth.

Word Processing Tools

Basic word processing and collaboration. Sometimes you want a quick, one-shot tool for student collaboration.
Advanced word processing tools allow collaboration, saving, and options for access and publishing.

Collaborative Tools

Online tools are available for writing, calculating, creating concept maps, and many other activities. Most of these tools are easy enough for young people to use.

Google Docs & Spreadsheets are collaborative tools for writing and calculating. It also has a Presentation option that's compatible with Microsoft PowerPoint. If you're looking for a collaborative web develop tool with social aspects such as comments, try Google Sites.

Bubbl and Creately are tools for creating collaborative concept maps.

Wikispaces and PBworks are tools for creating wikis. These collaborative web-building environments are a great place for students to work on building original, collaborative projects.

Generators

A generator is a tool that helps you create something.
Go to The Generator Blog. It's a great way to learn about these cool tools.
There are some fun tools available for making certificates, flashcards, and puzzles. Discovery's Puzzlemaker is very popular.

Elementary

For each of the following activities, students build, save the image, and insert into a word processor. Then, write a story, create a problem to solve, or create directions. Design activities that ask one child to work from the creation of another student.

Middle/High School

Lots of software, apps, and online tools are available for youth creators of all ages. Let's explore some of the possibilities for your library.

Open Source Software

Software can be expensive. Increasingly, librarians are seeking open-source solutions to meet their technology needs.

Try It!
Go to GeoGebra and download free mathematics software. This tool is a great way to make a teacher connection.

Consider identifying a set of open source software that can be installed in your library and that patrons can also download at home.

Explore five tools that are popular with young people and can be downloaded at no cost:

The graphic on the right was created in Tuxpaint.

Promotional Software

An increasing number of companies are creating software applications that accompany products. For instance, Lego became famous for their plastic bricks for construction. In the 1980s, the company began connecting computers with their construction materials so young people could create robots and other computer-based materials.

Neighborhood Mapmachine Online

Known as Lego Mindstorms, these tools continue to be popular today. Check out winners of the robotic pet contest. Today's version can even be controlled with an Android smartphone using the MINDdroid Application.

Today, the company has expanded into games for popular game systems such as Lego Starwars. Think about ways you could connect the Harry Potter books, movies, games, and Lego resources.

Lego also provides software tools that can be downloaded FREE for designing projects. Users can then build the designs using their own Lego bricks or purchase the materials online. Designers can even create the cover for their Lego project box.

Try It!
Go to Lego Digital Designer for either Windows or Mac OSX. Download and try to software. It's lots of fun making virtual lego projects.

Proprietary Software

Regardless of whether you run the Macintosh or Windows operating system, you'd be surprised how many 'freebies' come with your system. Be sure to check out Photostory for Windows and iPhotofor the Mac. These are two wonderful tools for creating simple, yet effective projects with photos.

Read!
Read Freedom or Nightmare: The Implications of Open Source Software by Annette Lamb to learn more about the implications of using open source software. Also, explore ten treasures of open source.

Starters

While some young people love the thought of using Microsoft Word to write a paper or Tuxpaint to draw a picture, others are overwhelmed by the choices. Think about ways that you can help young people by providing prompts, pictures, and other starters to help facilitate their work.

For example, let's say students are learning about alternative perspectives on social issues. Rather than a traditional paper, how about recording audio reflecting two different perspectives. Provide photos that young people might use to represent 'characters.' Then provide a tool such as Microsoft PowerPoint where students can paste the photo, add bubbles, and record audio.

Try It!
Go to Desktop Learning Spaces to find examples of PowerPoint Starters. Think about how you could use PowerPoint in new ways.

Curriculum Connections

Use creativity tool as tools to create learning experiences as well as tools to help learners express their understandings.

The Daring Librarian creates 'At-a-Glance' Comic Tutorials to teach teachers and students to use basic online tools. An example and link to more is on the right.

Try It!
Go to At-A-Glance Comic Tutorials and explore a few examples. What could you create to help others learn?

Combine creativity tools with curriculum area standards to create powerful learning experiences.

Just for Fun

Sometimes learning apps are just plain fun. Create MadLibs on your mobile device.

Increasingly companies are creating apps for product promotion and character visibility. For instance, the Dora Explorer Apps provides a fun creativity tool, but it also promotes the Dora the Explorer television show and other programs and products. For instance Disney Apps include movie connections like Tron and television connections like Handy Manny.

Project Ideas

Neighborhood Mapmachine 2.0

Sometimes youth come to the library with a general idea about a project they'd like to complete. They may need some help visualizing their idea. Or, you might have a teacher who wants to get out of the rut of assigning old-fashioned term papers. Encourage youth and adults to think of themselves as storytellers regardless of whether they're working with language arts, social studies, or even science content.

To help students become more effective storytellers...

Neighborhood Map Machine 2.0

Use the following activity starters to practice the role of storyteller:

Neighborhood Mapmachine School

  1. Entertain. Convey a story, imagine a world, illustrate an idea
  2. Emote. Express a feeling, illustrate an abstraction, move an audience
  3. Inform. Analyze information, explain causality, visualize ideas
  4. Instruct. Show strategies, explain concepts, teach others
  5. Challenge. Create dilemmas, envision problems, kickstart projects
  6. Engage. Announce events, document experiences, reflect on lessons
  7. Provoke. Arouse emotions, heighten awareness, change attitudes
  8. Persuade. Support arguments, show perspectives, convince others

Download Neighborhood Mapmachine

Use the following product ideas to practice the role of storyteller:
  1. Debate. Create an online debate following official debate rules.
  2. Experiment. Share the entire process of a science experiment from idea to conclusion.
  3. Encyclopedia. Create an encyclopedia for a particular topic. Explore Wikibooks Wikijunior.
  4. Field Guides. Build field guides for a specific flora and fauna. Consider a project that focuses on a local area, habitat, or biome.
  5. Glossary. Create a visual glossary including definitions, images, animations, and videos.
  6. Inquiry. Share the process of a personal inquiry from questioning to reflection.
  7. Legislation. Track legislation and create your own fictional bills.
  8. Literature Circles. Share the progress of your literature circle.
  9. Local History. Create a local history project. Collaborate with the local library, genealogy group, or commuity members.
  10. Maps. Share biographies on maps.
  11. Mock Trial. Share a mock trial online including text and video.
  12. Mystery. Pose a mystery, provide clues and background information, the provide the solution.
  13. News Service. Create an online news service with articles, photographs, cartoons, and video.
  14. Oral History. Create an oral history project. Focus on a particular topic such as a time period, occupation, or geographic area.
  15. Portfolio. Create a portfolio that reflects your best work in a particular class or series of classes.
  16. Presentation. Create a multimedia presentation.
  17. Reader's Guide. Build a guide to your favorite book including summaries, chapter questions, insights, and new ideas that extend the book.
  18. Recipes. Create a recipe file. Consider a theme such as family, culture, healthy eating, or other topics.
  19. Reviews. Share reviews of books, articles, movies, and other types of entertainment and information.
  20. Scrapbook. Use collage, news, photos, and other ideas to create a scrapbook for a class or topic.
  21. Speech. Use video to record, edit, and share a speech.
  22. Storytelling. Write a story. Try some collaborative approaches such as a 'choose your own adventure,' multiple author story, chain story, add a chapter to a favorite book, or other approach.
  23. Study Guide. Help others by creating a study guide for some aspect of your class.
  24. Trace. Track the history of a person, place, or object.
  25. Tutorial. Create step-by-step instructions for completing a task.
  26. Virtual Field Trip. Record experiences in a local place and create a virtual experience.