The theme of this month and next month on this blog is all about creating teaching resources, but this week – we thought we’d do a fun twist and focus on projects that you can do using Canva WITH your students in the classroom.
But first things first: if you’re not familiar with Canva, Canva is a 100% free online tool that you can use to design all sorts of graphics. It is a cloud-based, online website that can be used on any device and from anywhere. It saves all of your work online so you can open up your designs any time and any place.
Canva works for any device that you have in your classroom – Chromebooks, laptops, tablets and they even have an app!
The great news? Canva for Educators is now officially free for all educators which means you get access to the amazing Canva Premium features for free.
Canva is extremely user-friendly, and it comes with countless templates for every type of resource you could imagine to start off from.
Here are some examples:
- Worksheets
- Posters
- Infographics
- Graphic organizers
- Videos, gifs and animations
- Presentations
- And the list goes on and on!
You can see the list of all templates they offer for free HERE.
This is not only fantastic for your creation of teaching resources, but also for guiding students who may have never used this tool before through creating their first piece!
If you haven’t signed up yet, you can check out Canva for Education HERE and sign up for your free account.
And if you’re looking for more Canva training… we maaay just have something that could interest you coming out in the next month or so. Join the waitlist to get first access as well as access to possible special bonuses to our newest resource for using Canva to make teaching resources for the classroom.
Canva is a great way to create some evidence of learning for a project that you have in your classroom. One example is if you’re doing a unit on blues music in your music classroom; you could have your students write an essay, sure… but what about having them also create a poster for a fictitious blues concert for a famous blues musician?
This could be a great and creative way to engage students to learn about the unit from a more visual way! And we also know how motivational having a fun project is in the classroom for your students.
So without further ado… what kind of fun projects can you cook with Canva in the classroom with your kids? Here are 8 ideas to get you going!
1. Create Event Posters
This one is an easy one. If you have any sort of school event coming up, such as:
- A music concert performance
- A play
- A dance show
- An art show
- A bake sale
- A sports competition or race
You can easily have your students whip up a fun event poster! Invite them to get creative. The best thing is – you’ll then have a handful of awesome posters to hang around the school to hype up your event.
For example, here is something I just created off of using one of the ‘Poster’ templates supplied by Canva!
This is a wonderful way to engage students, get them excited about the upcoming event and drum up buzz around the student body.
You can find Canva’s poster templates here.
2. Make a Resume for a Relevant Character
This is another fun one if you’re currently exploring any types of characters in your classroom.
Here are some ideas for each classroom:
- English classroom: the protagonist in the novel you’re currently reading, a student’s favorite character from your reading list this year, or a student’s current favorite author
- History classroom: a historical figure from an event or time period that you’re studying
- Science classroom: a famous inventor or scientist from the past; great way to highlight some scientific discoveries and timeline in the resume!
- Art/Music classroom: a famous deceased or alive artist or musician that you’re studying!
- Foreign language classroom: ask your students to create a resume for themselves in the language that you’re teaching!
The ideas are endless, and this is a great way for your students to get truly creative in what they want to showcase in the resume itself. They can include a work experience breakdown, a brief biography about the person, a section on their education (if they have any!), a headshot, a ‘fun facts’ section using icons that Canva provides, etc..
Here is one example I just whipped up for Juliet from Romeo & Julie in Canva using their… you guessed it… Resume Templates!
You can find Canva’s resume templates here.
3. Make a Wanted Poster for a Literary Villain
I personally think this idea is so fun and a great one for the younger kids.
If you’re currently studying a particular novel, it’d be great to have your students design a wanted poster for the villain of that book. They can include things like their name, a picture, what they’re wanted for and the reward for turning them in… dead or alive!
Here is one fun example of our favorite nose-less villain:
You can find Canva’s WANTED poster templates here.
4. Make a Diagram
This one is highly applicable to all different classrooms.
One example for the science classroom is to invite students to create a diagram showing the water cycle or alternatively, create a labelled diagram of a flower or of a cell!
5. Do a Climate Change Project
This is a unit of learning I’ve seen popping up more and more in recent years.
A great way to engage creativity in a serious topic like climate change is to add a Canva spin to it so students can explore their understanding further.
Maybe you ask them to create a piece of art that, in their opinion, exemplifies climate change.
Here are a few things you can give them as options:
- A poster
- An infographic
- A little workbook of top tips
- A presentation on the top effects of climate change
Here is an infographic template example that Canva provided all about climate change!
6. Make a Cover
This one is vague but it applies to so many classrooms.
- Music classroom: create a cover for a vinyl or a CD
- English classroom: create a book or ebook cover or a cover for their expository or persuasive essay; create a modern or abstract book cover for a classic
Here is a book cover example!
7. Create a Graph or a Chart
Canva also has graphing capabilities built into their website. So now, you can ask students to create a graphical version of their research results in Canva!
Great for the math classroom or any classroom involving the use of surveys, polls, interviews or statistics where students can present their key findings via graphics. This would be a great thing to implement for the science fair or as a creative form of a lab report.
This is also a great way to teach data visualization from an earlier age.
Here is an example idea:
8. Back-to-School Get to Know Me
You can have students make a “get to know me” graphic of themselves!
They can include things like:
- Photos: Collage of their family and friends
- Text: What’s their name? What are their favorite foods? Colors?
Pin up the graphics around the classroom so students can get to know each other by walking around and exploring what others have made.
This is also a great way for kids to really take ownership of their design and show who they are!
Here is an example!
You can find Canva’s photo collage templates here.
If you’re curious for more teaching resources made in Canva…
Sign up to our waitlist to be the first to hear about our brand new online training on creating Canva teaching resources for YOUR classroom! Those on the waitlist will get special early access plus possible special bonuses! Sign up here.
I actually have a free online class where I walk you through how to create teaching resources as well that you can join by clicking HERE. You can also get a PD Certificate after you take the free class!
Here’s also a podcast episode I did a few months ago where I talk through how to create awesome teaching resources using PowerPoint, Keynote or Google Slides.
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