Go Ahead and Get Artsy With These Fun iPad Apps!
By: Todd Cherner and Alex Fegely
Do you want to bring more technology into your art classroom? App Ed Review has made the process easier for you by vetting art apps and brainstorming ways to incorporate them into your instruction. Your students will be able to experience and create art in ways that expand the classroom for the 21st Century art lovers.
Remember, each and every app reviewed by App Ed Review is analyzed against a comprehensive rubric in a consistent, informative manner by a panel of state-certified teachers. In addition, each review includes 3-5 instructional ideas for how to integrate the app into your teaching!
- Let’s Create! Pottery HD Lite is one of the most innovative apps for arts! With this app, users are actually able to throw pottery and then glaze it using a variety of colors and patterns. Once the piece of pottery is fired, users are able to auction it off, and the price they receive for the piece is supposed to equate to its quality. By allowing students the experience of throwing pottery, this app is very engaging and is a perfect fit for the art classroom. Based on our review, this app scored highest for its design because of its ease of use, how it lets students share the pottery they create, and the way it presents its content to student. In addition to these high scores, there are a variety of ways art teachers can integrate this app into their classroom. For a complete review of Let’s Create! Pottery HD Lite, click here!
- Vincent van Gogh Art Gallery is a one-stop-shop for anything van Gogh related. With this app, users can peruse van Gogh’s art work, read about his life, and learn interesting facts about him. With its interface, users are able to navigate the app’s content easily. Plus, the images of van Gogh’s artwork are high quality, which helps students see van Gogh’s technique and builds their excitement to study his works. With high scores for its design and potential to engage students interested in art, this app is sure to be a hit in the art classroom. For a complete review of this app and to read instructional ideas for using it in the art classroom, click here.
- Louvre HD is the next-best thing to hopping on a plane and visiting Paris to see over 2,300 of the famed museum’s masterpieces. Every piece included in Louvre HD has a title and description of the artwork. Users can search for the name of the artwork desired, and Louvre HD finds the piece. In addition, users can enjoy more of an e-fieldtrip feel and browse Louvre HD’s collection of art. Favorite art pieces can be saved for easy reference at a later time with Louvre HD’s star function. Louvre HD artwork can be downloaded for projects and shared through a variety of platforms. With its core strength being its interface and design, Louvre HD scored a 7.2 on our comprehensive rubric. For the complete review, follow this link.
- Frustrated that the mistake you made on your painting is permanent? Wish you had an undo button in the art classroom? Paper by FiftyThree is for you! Paper by FiftyThree provides an unlimited canvas for users to experiment, sketch, draw, outline, write, or watercolor using just a finger or stylus. Users can switch between a wealth of art tools and even zoom in on the canvas to draw or color. A freemium app, Paper by FiftyThree offers an arsenal of art supplies users can purchase to ink astonishingly beautiful art pieces. Art created through Paper by FiftyThree can be saved to the tablet’s camera roll or shared via social media, email, and with custom-printed portfolio Moleskin notebooks through FiftyThree’s website. Scoring a whopping 8.8 with high scores in the design and engagement categories, Paper by FiftyThree is certain to be a hit with your students. Check out the full review and instructional ideas here.
That’s all for this month’s Roundup. If you would like more information about any of the apps mentioned in this Roundup or that are on the App Ed Review website, please contact us at info@appedreview.com. And remember, pairing art apps with crafty artistic projects will be a sure way to ignite your students’ inner-artist!