What it is: Kerpoof is one of my favorite creation tools for elementary students, it allows them to draw, create pictures, cards, books, and even movies. My original post about Kerpoof can be found here. Kerpoof has added some new features that make it worthy of another post. Students can now save their pictures, cards, stories and drawings locally (on their computers). On each canvas is a JPEG icon that will allow any picture to be saved to the computer locally. They are working on making it possible to download the movies locally soon. Kerpoof also introduced info bubbles. In the Make a Picture object library, students can drag out a picture onto the canvas. Now there is a new question mark button that shows up on an object. When students click on the question mark, a little bubble of information pops up. Students will gain all kinds of information from these little fact bubbles. They can learn everything from: who wrote Treasure Island, to learning the national animal of Australia.
How to integrate Kerpoof into the classroom: Kerpoof is an outstanding creativity program for the classroom. With there education accounts and these new features, it is even more useful in the classroom setting. Now that students can save their pictures created on Kerpoof locally, they can use their Kerpoof creations in new ways. Upload the saved JPEG to the class website, blog, or wiki, or add illustrations to a word processing program.
Use the new information bubbles to start a Kerpoof scavenger hunt. Ask students specific questions ahead of time or instruct students to research broader topics like “dinosaurs” or “Mexico”. After students have found answers to their assigned questions, they can do more in-depth research using library or Internet resources. After research is completed, students can come back to Kerpoof to create a picture, story, essay, or movie including information that they learned.
Tips: Be sure to check out Kerpoof’s lesson plans, they have just added a new lesson called “Programming Wizards” designed to teach students about how computers work and how to build, design, and test a program. Very cool.
Leave a comment and share how you are using Kerpoof in your classroom.
A useful update. Saving creations will save a lot of hassle and give teachers more flexibility. Thanks for the heads up.
Thanks for the post about this site. I found it at the end of last year but hadn’t used it with students yet. Of course with all that’s out there it’s easy to “lose” a good site even if it is bookmarked! Now it’s back on my radar.
Students love Kerpoof and saving locally helps extend in-class application. Info bubbles allow students to have fun and be creative while applying and sharing their research.
Thank you for keeping us posted on the updates. The kiddos in the classroom will love playing with this!
Interesting site. Do you think it has many applications for the middle or high school classroom?
What a great tool for the kids to use. Very engaging and the education accounts make it that bit safer. Thanks for sharing.
I think that middle schoolers and high school students would appreciate the movie making portion of Kerpoof to make animations. This might be a fun way to “show what they know”.
I have that same problem! There are so many amazing sites out there it is hard to keep track of, and find time, to use them all.