How to address violence in the news with your students.
TOP PICKS | 29 TOOLS
Websites and Apps for Making Videos and Animation
Top Picks
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Video Editing and Remixing Tools
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.
Grades: Pre-K–12
Price: Free
Flipgrid
Pose questions, spark thoughtful video responses with stellar tool
Bottom line: This accessible, approachable tool offers connection, multiple means of expression, and creativity to apply to almost any topic.
Grades: K–12
Price: Free
PlayPosit
Interactive video creator has great question variety
Bottom line: This tool strikes a nice balance, offering teachers an easy intro to interactive video mixed with a large set of features that can lead to increasingly sophisticated lesson design.
Grades: K–12
Price: Free, Paid
WeVideo
Solid cloud-based editing site makes video creation simple and social
Bottom line: With two levels of editing tools and an easy-to-use interface, students of all ages should have no trouble creating and editing their video content to demonstrate learning.
Grades: K–12
Price: Free, Free to try, Paid
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.
Grades: 3–12
Price: Free, Paid
Coach's Eye - Video Analysis
Robust video analysis for sports, science, fine arts performances
Bottom line: Cool video-analysis tool is great for the sports field and beyond, but prepare for an onslaught of hidden costs to access all features.
Grades: 2–12
Price: Paid
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.
Grades: 3–8
Price: Paid
Animaker Class
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.
Grades: 3–12
Price: Free, Paid
Edpuzzle
Crop, customize, and remix online video content with interactive tool
Bottom line: This is a valuable tool that teachers can use to flip classrooms or support student-led creation.
Grades: 3–12
Price: Free, Paid
Screencastify
Easy screen-recording tool facilitates outside-the-box instruction
Bottom line: This is an instructional tool that could reinvent classroom workflow, especially for classrooms in the Google ecosystem.
Grades: 3–12
Price: Free, Paid
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.
Grades: 3–12
Price: Free, Free to try
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.
Grades: 4–12
Price: Free, Paid
AndroVid - Video Editor
Versatile must-have creation tool for classrooms using Android devices
Bottom line: Easy-to-use tool enables Android users to create movies or slideshows.
Grades: 5–12
Price: Free, Paid
iMovie
Movie editor will satisfy beginner and intermediate creators
Bottom line: Despite some limitations with editing, it's the perfect tool to get teachers and students started with digital video production.
Grades: 5–12
Price: Free
Adobe Spark
Super-flexible design tool for crafting fab images, videos, and sites
Bottom line: This one-stop shop for creating sleek graphics, web stories, and animated videos is incredibly easy to use and challenges students to think critically about visual presentation.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free, Free to try
TouchCast Studio
Cool tool takes videos to the next level
Bottom line: It's a creative tool for teachers to make interactive video content and for students to present information, but teachers should monitor use.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free
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.
Grades: 8–12
Price: Free to try
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.
Grades: 8–12
Price: Free
InShot Video Editor
Social media-aimed creation app has cool features, some pitfalls
Bottom line: For students, there's a lot of fun to be had and valuable editing skills to be gained, but teachers will need to do all the instruction and deal with the ads.
Grades: 8–12
Price: Free, Paid
Animation and Slideshow Tools
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.
Grades: K–2
Price: $3.99
Toontastic 3D
Flexible tool hands kids the reins for creative animated storytelling
Bottom line: Despite some lack of variety and simple drawing tools, Toontastic 3D remains a terrific, versatile storytelling tool.
Grades: K–5
Price: Free
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.
Grades: 2–12
Price: Free
Animation & Drawing by Do Ink
One-stop animation tool for beginners through experts
Bottom line: Accessible entry into animation for beginning students, but with enough depth to satisfy more advanced artists.
Grades: 3–8
Price: $4.99
Animatic
Ultra-simple starting point for animation has its uses
Bottom line: This animation app can be a great starting point for learning the essentials of animation (sequencing frames of drawings), but ultimately it has a small feature set compared to others.
Grades: 3–12
Price: Free to try
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.
Grades: 4–12
Price: Free
Looom
Whimsical animation app is beautiful, tricky to implement
Bottom line: After jumping through some initial hurdles, teachers will find Looom to be a useful tool for some students.
Grades: 5–12
Price: $9.99
Explee
Build slick, engaging whiteboard animations with Web-based tool
Bottom line: A stellar -- if somewhat pricey -- creation tool for the classroom.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free, Paid
Animoto
Create snazzy video slideshows with simple, flexible features
Bottom line: Slick music videos and slideshows are easy to make, but students need more controls to personalize them.
Grades: 7–12
Price: Free, Free to try, Paid
Vidcode
Cool coding tool tuned to teen girls' passions aids creativity
Bottom line: Learn-to-code programs for youths often too narrowly define what can be done with code; Vidcode expands the options, helping girls see code's value in culture and express themselves.
Grades: 8–12
Price: Free, Paid
