How to Use Cartoonify to Create Digital Avatars
Guest post by: Ann Tracy
Hello Techie Teacher readers! My name is Ann Tracy and I am an elementary school librarian in New York. I am blog hopping today from my blog, Little Library of Learning. I wanted to share with you how you can easily get your students to create digital avatars using Cartoonify. They can make realistic or fantasy avatars that can be used for profile pictures, or as part of an "All About Me" assignment. You could post the avatars around the classroom and have other students guess who is who. Students could use the avatars in conjunction with writing prompts such as "Letter to My Future Self" or "The Me Nobody Knows". Lots of possibilities for academic tie-ins (as well as fun!)
First, I created my own avatars to serve as an example for students:
The kids need to select a face shape, skin color, hair style, hair color, eyes, eyebrows, mouth, nose, clothing, and background. There are standard colors and there is also a "color picker" (the circle) to customize. For example, I told them there were only two shades of red hair (both dark auburn). My hair is lighter, so I used the color picker. I had them focus on how the position of one's eyebrows or shape of one's mouth conveys emotion.
Students used Chromebooks to access cartoonify.de (as I tell the kids, the "de" stands for Deutschland, or Germany). The site does not require an email or log-in. The kids can download a PNG of their avatar to put in a Google Doc, or use as their profile picture.
The kids need to select a face shape, skin color, hair style, hair color, eyes, eyebrows, mouth, nose, clothing, and background. There are standard colors and there is also a "color picker" (the circle) to customize. For example, I told them there were only two shades of red hair (both dark auburn). My hair is lighter, so I used the color picker. I had them focus on how the position of one's eyebrows or shape of one's mouth conveys emotion.
Some students created realistic avatars; some fantasy figures. Others were obviously their future selves, complete with Wall Street style suits or hipster goatees!
Give Cartoonify a try by clicking HERE.
Technology + Learning = FUN!