Thing 22 - Discovering Apps - Best of Apps

I currently have the Apps Gone Free app on my phone and iPad, but I don't check it everyday.  When I first downloaded it I would look, but I think too often most of the apps that were free I was not interested in, so then I stopped looking.

For this Thing, I went in search of the Best Apps.  I went to the AASL Best Apps for Teaching & Learning 2013.  What I liked about this list is that they were categorized and only had five apps in each category.  At the end of June, I believe, a new list for 2014 will be coming out as well.

I decided to try Toontastic.  On the AASL website this was the description they shared:

Toontastic by Launchpad Toys

Level: K-5 (ages 5-10)

Platform: iOS

Website

Characters and backgrounds come to life while students record their own stories with Toontastic. Original drawings and art can also be animated and turned into cartoons and then shared with classmates, friends, and family members.

Quick Tip: Students can create their own animated cartoons to write stories, animate concepts, and share their ideas.

One of the first things I liked is that it shared the plot line of any story with the creator.  Reminding them of all the different elements that belong in a good story!  The app provides step-by-step directions of how students should create the story which was extremely helpful for little ones not able to read yet. On a negative note, most of the good characters that I wanted to include required me to pay to have that character in my story. I did discover that students could draw their own character which I am sure some students would like to do.

I love the ending how it appears like the view is going to the theater to see the video!  Students would love this app as they create stories for a variety of content areas.  The video was easy to export to the camera roll so that it could be shared with classmates or the teacher.  This was a fun app to explore!