App review by Amanda Bindel, Common Sense Education | Updated March 2013

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Kids Paint Free

Name: Kids Paint Free
Item: Kids Paint Free
Rating: 2
Author: Amanda Bindel

Basic drawing app overly limits options

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Learning rating

Editorial review by Common Sense Education

Community rating

Based on 2 reviews

Privacy rating

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Grades

K–12 This grade range is based on learning appropriateness and doesn't take into account privacy. It's determined by Common Sense Education, not the product's publisher.

Subjects & Skills

Arts, Health & Wellness, Creativity

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4 images

Kids can send their creations to the photo gallery on their device.

Students can upload photos to manipulate with color.

The colors are randomly chosen and change across the screen. Tapping the color cycle button causes the colors to cycle through changes.

The two-finger drawing feature allows kids to experiment with lines.

Pros: Colors are vibrant, and watching the colors cycle is entertaining.

Cons: With no color control and no tools beyond drawing and erasing, kids won't find much depth or engagement here.

Bottom Line: Kids Paint Free is a bright, colorful art app, but it lacks the basic functionality kids need to truly express creativity.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

Overall, this is a pretty basic drawing app that doesn't necessarily add to traditional lessons. At best, it could be a challenging experiment for some students: how to create art in a restricted environment.

What Is It?

With Kids Paint Free, your students can create drawings with random colors or draw on top of photos they either take from within the app or select from their device's gallery.

They draw on the black touch screen or change the background color to a gradient shade of purple, blue, green, or orange, or change the background to white in the settings. Choosing the color wheel cycles the drawing through different colors, changing each line. If kids use two fingers, they can create a series of colorful lines. Kids can undo their last motion with an undo tool. When they're finished, they can save their creations to the device's photo gallery.

Is It Good for Learning?

Options are basic, but some are interesting. For example, the ability to draw on top of personal photos is appealing. The two-finger drawing option is particularly fun, and when students tap the color wheel to cycle through colors, it feels like animation.

Since the color changes when the artist lifts his or her finger, kids can experiment with writing or drawing without doing so. But kids are seriously restricted in what they can create. You get no tools to change shapes or change the textures of lines beyond thick/not thick, and background color choices are equally limited, as are the colors of random lines.

Learning Rating

Overall Rating

Engagement Would it motivate students and hold their interest? Is it visually appealing? Would it inspire teachers to try something new or change their instruction?

Drawing on top of their own photos will be entertaining for kids. Watching the color wheel spin can be mesmerizing, and the two-finger drawing feature ramps up the fun.

Pedagogy Does the tool help teachers promote a more student-centered experience? Will students gain conceptual understanding or think critically? Does it deepen teachers’ pedagogical thinking?

The lack of options beyond line-width selection and photo uploads hinders the learning potential. Many apps, including free ones, do a better job of empowering kids to express their creativity.

Support Can students and teachers get assistance when they need it? Is it created with people of different abilities and backgrounds in mind? Is learning reinforced and extended beyond the digital experience?

Kids can save their creations to their device's photo gallery.

Common Sense reviewer

Amanda Bindel Classroom teacher

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Featured review by
Donald P. , Classroom teacher

Classroom teacher

Simplistic, frustrating drawing and coloring app.

There are plenty of other drawing apps available to choose from that do offer the ability to choose colors and have many more options than this one. The controls that are available (which are limited) can be difficult to figure out what they do and how they work. Even closing the app can be confusing and took me almost 5 minutes to figure out. The drawing tools are less than limited and the responsiveness of the app itself is spotty at best. Look at other apps for your artistic needs.

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