This multi-award winning app caught my eye in an open search for comic creating apps. I quickly downloaded the free app and began playing. Toontastic is engaging, easy to use, and addicting! From the first click, there is narration that helps guide the user in creating a well thought out toon. The narration explains that strong cartoons have a setup, conflict, challenge, climax and revolution. Yes! Story elements. Perfect! To create the cartoon, the student must click on each of the elements, one at a time. With each element, the student chooses a setting and characters. Honestly, the choices with the free app are limited, though students do have the option to draw their own. I highly suggest buying the “all access” for 19.99 (there is a school price too) to get more selections that look fun, but I haven’t purchased yet. Once the setting and characters are chosen, the narration guides the students again to learn how to animate. The simplicity is amazing. Students just move the characters with their fingers while they narrate what is happening. The app records the speech and movements. What is even better than engaging students in plot elements? Engaging students in understanding mood! Yep, mission accomplished with this app. Once students narrate and manipulate their characters they get to choose the background noise that happens during the scene. This is such a great opportunity to talk about mood. Once students complete each of the elements, the app puts the elements together into one movie or moving animation in a fun entertaining movie format.
Teaching points – Have students create a storyboard before creating a “toontastic”. Here are some suggestions http://goo.gl/mtcSjR or http://goo.gl/iHevNF
Final thoughts – this app is worth all the awards it received. It is simple, engaging, and entertaining. Check it out!
Title: Toontastic by Launchpad Toys
Cost: Free for starter characters and backgrounds
Grades: K-8
Link to app: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/toontastic/id404693282
Developer’s Website: http://launchpadtoys.com/toontastic/
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