Adobe Express
Enjoyable and practical design tool supports creators of all ages
Bottom Line: Beautiful templates and user-friendly tools empower students to turn their creative ideas into professional-looking media.
Artsteps
Immersive virtual exhibit tool is attractive and versatile but fussy
Bottom Line: For teachers and students who can invest the time, Artsteps provides a compelling, free option for presenting and exploring images and audio of any kind.
Google Arts & Culture
Well-curated art and history site inspires curious learning
Bottom Line: A beautifully presented one-stop shop for compellingly curated and contextualized art, history, and culture resources, but it's lacking educator supports.
Procreate
Outstanding art tool supports the workflow of seasoned digital painters
Bottom Line: For iPads, this is a best-in-class tool with enough pro-level features and technology, and some nice support resources.
Anchor
Podcasting app is super easy to use, if you can do it all in one take
Bottom Line: There are few easier ways to publish a podcast, but that ease of use comes at the cost of one-take creation and few tools for post-production.
Flat
Compose, perform, and practice with powerful music education tool
Bottom Line: This digital companion for in-person music study is an excellent tool for beginners and pros alike.
GameMaker
One of the best creation tools available for aspiring game developers
Bottom Line: Great choice for a full unit or class on game design; fuels students game-making dreams.
Vidcode
Cool coding tool tuned to teens' passions aids creativity
Bottom Line: Women-created platform expands the traditional scope of coding to visual elements students interact with online everyday.
Gimp
Free, full-featured photo and image editing app impressive, daunting
Bottom Line: It's a great choice for students and teachers with needs beyond simple tweaking, cropping, and color correction, but requires significant self-directed learning.
Snapseed
Extremely powerful photo editor will equally delight pros, amateurs
Bottom Line: It successfully walks the fine line of photo-editing features, offering satisfying experiences for those making quick edits and those crafting perfect images.
