In my quest for useful home schooling apps, I've been checking out the "Hello Drawing" series by Raysoft. Specifically, I downloaded the "Hello Crayon" and "Hello Pencil Crayon" apps, both of which include an array of colours and a few options for drawing and colouring with fingers, namely crayons, pencil crayons, markers and water-colour-like paint, as well as a smudger, which I first thought was an erasor.
The series seems aimed at children; the apps include both blank paper and a colouring book with a limited selection of outlined images to colour (additional options may be downloaded for 99 cents a "book").
Both the apps I downloaded feature a row of intuitive buttons along the top: Included are things like "new", "save" and the all-important "undo"!
The series seems aimed at children; the apps include both blank paper and a colouring book with a limited selection of outlined images to colour (additional options may be downloaded for 99 cents a "book").
Both the apps I downloaded feature a row of intuitive buttons along the top: Included are things like "new", "save" and the all-important "undo"!
I decided to try this app out in my classroom this afternoon, and let a few students loose with it.
We'd been using pastels to create Koru Spiral Plant-inspired images on large sheets of paper. The results were splendid, but rather messy: Bits of pastel were crushed into the floor and smudged across the tables. Students' hands (and in some cases, faces) were covered in pastel. The clean-up was laborious at best.
So, After two students finished early, I sent them off with the iPad to try their (clean!) hand at some Koru Spiral art using the much neater virtual pencils and crayons offered by the "Hello Drawing" apps.
We'd been using pastels to create Koru Spiral Plant-inspired images on large sheets of paper. The results were splendid, but rather messy: Bits of pastel were crushed into the floor and smudged across the tables. Students' hands (and in some cases, faces) were covered in pastel. The clean-up was laborious at best.
So, After two students finished early, I sent them off with the iPad to try their (clean!) hand at some Koru Spiral art using the much neater virtual pencils and crayons offered by the "Hello Drawing" apps.
Given that this was their first time using this medium, I think the results are decent.
I especially like how work can be stored and saved for later completion, without taking up all kinds of premium real estate in the classroom. And the best part... NO PASTEL ALL OVER THE TABLE, FACE AND FLOOR SURROUNDING THE ARTIST!!! (Yes, yes, I know it's important for students to have the kinaesthetic experience of the actual medium, but still, sometimes it's nice to have minimal clean up after a project!)
When I got home, I used the program with my own kids, as simple virtual paper so they could show their work with a math problem they were working on. They loved the ease with which they could sketch out their solutions, and "undo" careless errors before "submitting" their finished work to Mommy!
I'm definitely going to try to integrate this app more into my program, both this year at school, and next year when I am home schooling the boys in Argentina.
I especially like how work can be stored and saved for later completion, without taking up all kinds of premium real estate in the classroom. And the best part... NO PASTEL ALL OVER THE TABLE, FACE AND FLOOR SURROUNDING THE ARTIST!!! (Yes, yes, I know it's important for students to have the kinaesthetic experience of the actual medium, but still, sometimes it's nice to have minimal clean up after a project!)
When I got home, I used the program with my own kids, as simple virtual paper so they could show their work with a math problem they were working on. They loved the ease with which they could sketch out their solutions, and "undo" careless errors before "submitting" their finished work to Mommy!
I'm definitely going to try to integrate this app more into my program, both this year at school, and next year when I am home schooling the boys in Argentina.
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