TOP PICKS | 10 TOOLS
10 Best Arts Tools for Middle School
Top Picks
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DIY.org – Creative Challenges
From cardboarding to cooking, this app helps kids find the fun in DIY
Bottom line: Fabulous way for kids to get skills and share their projects digitally.

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.

Tayasui Sketches
Slick and satisfying illustration app on par with the competition
Bottom line: This tool, while a bit of an adjustment from pen and paper, gives students ample room to grow creatively.

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.

Canva
Create snazzy designs in seconds with flexible, cloud-based tool
Bottom line: With stable internet access and enough time to get started, this is a flexible, accessible way to create beautiful designs in your classroom.

WURRLYedu
Sharp music program has popular music, standards-based curriculum
Bottom line: Since it features a standards-based curriculum and good skills-building for students, this is worth a look for teachers.

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.

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.

Soundtrap
Powerful online audio production with built-in collaboration features
Bottom line: Soundtrap is a uniquely collaborative sound-production environment, but if you want the top-quality EDU version, you have to pay top dollar.

GameMaker Studio 2
One of the best creation tools available for aspiring game developers
Bottom line: Provides teachers with the best choice for a full unit or class on game design, and gives students a tool to help them realize their game-making dreams.