Video and Animation
Easy Stop Motion studio: Introduction to animation
Ideal, easy-to-use way to help kids learn basic animation
Bottom Line: This introduction to digital animation offers lots of opportunities for creativity for young students.
Screencast-O-Matic
Create and edit sophisticated screencasts without breaking the bank
Bottom Line: This is the most flexible screencasting tool, but it requires patience -- and perhaps a subscription -- to unlock all of its possibilities.
Shadow Puppet Edu
Resource-rich video slideshow maker a gem for a variety of classrooms
Bottom Line: Easy-to-use free tool is a must-have for elementary classrooms; just keep an eye on sharing and privacy.
Green Screen by Do Ink
Versatile, easy-to-use moviemaker and photo editor yields great results
Bottom Line: High-quality moviemaker and photo editor has numerous uses for students' projects.
Animaker Video Maker & Editor
Design and present animated infographics and video with versatile site
Bottom Line: A great media creation tool that could be used all year long for everything from posters to videos, but teachers will need to make learning goals clear.
Loom
Create, present, and assess with effortless interactive screencasts
Bottom Line: This intuitive tool is excellent for recording and responding to screencasts of any length.
Screencastify
Screen-recording tool facilitates outside-of-the-box instruction
Bottom Line: This is an instructional tool that could reinvent classroom workflow, especially for classrooms in the Google ecosystem.
VEED
Create and edit high-quality screencasts and videos in record time
Bottom Line: This platform is full of features that blend video creation and screencasting, helping teachers expand and differentiate their lessons.
Binumi
One-stop shop for creating and assigning beautiful video stories
Bottom Line: Set students up for storytelling success with quality content and tools in a safe environment.
Wick Editor
Design interactive games and animations with creative online platform
Bottom Line: A great starting place for aspiring creators to design and share engaging content.
Animoto: Video Maker & Editor
Create stylish slideshows and videos with simple, customizable features
Bottom Line: Slick videos and slideshows are easy to make, but it takes a little work to make it fit for classroom use.
Clips
Create and share videos with cool effects, tons of language options
Bottom Line: This slick video creation app is fun, empowering, and accessible in lots of languages, but be careful with sharing.
Adobe Premiere Rush
Create and share professional-looking videos from nearly any device
Bottom Line: It's an intuitive platform for video creation that also prepares students for more complex software.
Coding and Game Design
Minecraft: Education Edition
Stellar collaboration tools, controls make Minecraft classroom-ready
Bottom Line: An excellent tool to engage students in learning, collaboration, and critical thinking is now more accessible than ever to teachers.
Elementari
Storybook creation tool offers cool blend of ELA, art, and coding
Bottom Line: This is a great storytelling tool for younger kids that also offers an entry point into coding and computational thinking.
Scratch
Creative sandbox opens the door to coding in any subject area
Bottom Line: Scratch draws students of all types into coding and lays a foundation for future learning.
The Infinite Arcade by Tinybop
Simple game-design app has endless creative potential
Bottom Line: Letting students design, play, improve, and share their own games opens up opportunities for learning potential in many subject areas.
Gizmos & Gadgets
Top-notch tool empowers kids to invent, build, and control wirelessly
Bottom Line: Easy-to-use, versatile electronic invention set that works wirelessly with your hand-held device.
SAM Labs
Kids use block code and wireless blocks to program, design, and create
Bottom Line: With some perseverance, it's a great fit for PBL and STEAM, helping students learn programming skills and engineering concepts through invention.
Tynker
Approachable and powerful coding curriculum with a lot of support
Bottom Line: Tynker empowers students of all ages and experience levels to create custom coding projects for a variety of platforms.
MAD-learn
Create mobile apps with extensive help from start to finish
Bottom Line: Intuitive platform encourages students to engage in design thinking and coding with loads of support.
Google CS First
Middle school CS curriculum has stellar resources, room for creativity
Bottom Line: A high-quality introductory CS curriculum where students can be creative, collaborate with others, and express themselves, in the classroom or at home.
Gamestar Mechanic
Engaging manga-themed quest to become a game designer
Bottom Line: Game design quests have everything students want but perhaps not everything teachers need.
Metaverse
Ambitious augmented-reality tool engages users, promotes coding skills
Bottom Line: This dynamic tool allows users to create and experience augmented-reality activities while learning 21st-century skills.
Ready Maker
Fun and easy game design yields surprisingly complex creations
Bottom Line: With teacher support, a creative introduction to coding and game design.
LearnToMod
Modify Minecraft with this fun, applied use of coding
Bottom Line: For students who already know and love Minecraft, this is a valuable way to hook students into coding.
Stencyl
Code-free game development tool helps kids program and publish
Bottom Line: It ups the sophistication of building block coding by connecting student work to major publishing platforms.
Unity Learn
Complete game creation curriculum gives students real-world experience
Bottom Line: It's a slick, fun, and effective way to get students building games right away, with plenty of room for depth.
Zulama
Teach a vast number of CS concepts with quality, depth, and choice
Bottom Line: Zulama will help any middle or high school implement a comprehensive computer science program.
Machine Learning for Kids
Authentic AI-powered projects make kids' creations feel like magic
Bottom Line: It takes a topic that would be difficult to teach in any practical way and makes it accessible for the classroom.
micro:bit
Code games or fun displays with mini piece of hardware
Bottom Line: This versatile tool for learning how to program with blocks or text is a nice fit for STEM classes and clubs.
Thunkable
Build a working iOS or Android app, even without coding experience
Bottom Line: Fun, practical way to get kids programming, though teachers will need a clear plan to support them in the process.
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.
GameSalad
Great interface, flexible publishing options make game-making a snap
Bottom Line: This engaging platform will empower budding game designers, but the price tag could be a deal-breaker for tight school budgets.
Art and Design
3DBear AR
3D design and augmented reality merge in creative, interactive app
Bottom Line: A great fit for classroom or makerspace settings as long as students have clear direction and compatible devices.
3D Slash
Minecraft-like 3D modeling (and printing) made super easy for all ages
Bottom Line: This may be the fastest, cheapest route from idea to 3D printing out there, if you don't mind low-res, pixelated designs.
Tinkercad
Amazingly simple yet powerful online CAD tool turns kids into makers
Bottom Line: Full-featured site and app make iterative 3D design accessible, social, and relevant.
Adobe Capture CC
Magical design tool extracts colors, patterns, and more from images
Bottom Line: The rare combo of "wow" factor and utility, this tool help students recognize and use the designed world around them.
Genially
Create professional-looking media with an abundant library of templates
Bottom Line: It's a treasure trove of well-designed templates and features that encourage creativity and collaboration, but expect some growing pains.
Photoshop Express Photo Editor
Top-notch photo editor helps perfect pics for creative projects
Bottom Line: This is a powerful, free creation tool from the industry leader in photo editing.
Sway
Create dynamic visual presentations on flexible storytelling platform
Bottom Line: A seamless transition from design to presentation makes Sway a great fit for presenting carefully curated content.
SketchUp
Make learning meaningful through 3D design
Bottom Line: SketchUp is a fantastic, subject-agnostic tool that does take time to learn but helps students gain truly useful, transferable skills.
Autodesk Sketchbook
Impressive creation tool for teens serious about art
Bottom Line: Gives students easy access to professional tools for creating digital art.
Piktochart
Create sleek media with cool templates, powerful features
Bottom Line: An easy-to-use tool for producing and sharing great visual content in the classroom.
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.
Music and Recording
GarageBand
Amazingly powerful audio workstation unleashes creativity
Bottom Line: There's exceptional functionality in this solid, all-inclusive audio workstation that's fantastic for high-quality, anytime, and anywhere audio recording and sharing.
Auxy Studio - Music & Beat Maker
Loop beats like a pro with stellar music-maker
Bottom Line: A stellar, approachable tool for constructing your very own digital beats and tracks.
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.
Storytelling
Storybird
Social storytelling site helps kids create, publish storybooks
Bottom Line: A great fit for teachers looking to develop students' writing and digital citizenship skills through storybook creation.
Pixton
Popular comics platform centers students' creativity
Bottom Line: Platform can motivate students to share subject knowledge in a way that blends art and literacy.
Sutori
Build timelines, embed media with cool storytelling tool
Bottom Line: With a super-simple design and tons of flexible features, this is an appealing and intuitive way for teachers and students to organize and share class content.
Twine
Cool interactive story creator can both dazzle and baffle
Bottom Line: Twine is a fascinating tool to build interactive stories, but the "function first" interface means it'll take patience and time.
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.
