A great way to integrate coding with digital storytelling for beginners
Community Review for Elementari
My Take
Overall, I think this is a powerful and engaging teaching tool, especially for introducing students to coding and design thinking in a way that feels creative and purposeful. My students were genuinely excited to use it, and even those with limited coding experience (myself included!) found the platform intuitive and easy to navigate. The animations, customization options, and problem-solving components really helped bring their ideas to life in a way that felt accessible and fun.
That said, I did notice that some of my struggling readers had difficulty engaging with the tool at the same level. Despite some helpful scaffolds built into the platform, it still relies heavily on reading and following multi-step directions. For students who need more support with decoding or comprehension, this presented a real challenge. They often needed more direct teacher support to navigate the interface and understand what was being asked of them at each stage.
On the flip side, more independent learners thrived with this tool. Once they got going, many of them were able to explore, iterate, and problem-solve on their own, which was amazing to watch. For teachers, there are also helpful scaffolds like the ability to set the difficulty level of a project, which can make the experience more manageable for students who need additional support.
In short, this is a great tool with a lot of potential, particularly when teachers are mindful of differentiating the experience based on student needs. With a few tweaks to further support accessibility for struggling readers, it could be even more impactful.
How I Use It
had a unique opportunity to collaborate with the founder, Nicole, on a project I brought into my classroom that focused on solving real-world problems within our school. We worked together to adapt the concept based on essays my students had previously written, and she ultimately developed a project tailored to their ideas.
Although my students, and I, had limited coding experience, the app was incredibly intuitive and user-friendly. I was especially impressed by how engaged my students were, even in a class where behavior can sometimes be challenging. They were captivated by the animations, design options, and the creative problem-solving involved in bringing their stories to life on the back end.
We’ll definitely be using it again!