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Comics and Cartoons in the Classroom

In honor of the first cartoon appearing in a U.S. paper in May of 1754, this week we are sharing cartoon and comic tools that you can use for learning-centered activities. We begin with tools that use cartoons or comics to teach various content areas. 

Grades 6-12

Teachers' Guide to Cranky Uncle

Try out this game that uses cartoons to engage players as they employ critical thinking skills to earn points and learn how to separate fact from myth. The Teachers’ Guide includes all of the details to help you set up the game for your class.

Grades 6-12

New York Fed's Educational Comic Books

Learn about basic financial concepts and the Federal Reserve's part of the process through two free, downloadable comic books created for middle and high school students. Both are correlated to state and social studies standards and include lesson plans.

Grades 1-5

OneGeology Kids

Explore different parts of geology with cartoon characters that provide information about topics such as rocks and minerals, energy, and earthquakes. Click on the character and go to their page to find an overview, photos, maps, and more.

Grades 6-12

Cartoons for the Classroom

Discover 400 downloadable one-page lessons featuring two or three political cartoons about current events and several related questions for discussion. This is a great way to enhance your current event lessons.

Grades K-2

Alphabetimals

Delight your youngest learners with this alphabet of cartoon letter animals and sounds. Choose from the free assortment of videos, games, and coloring pages to start learning. This would be a great tool to share on your website for use at home.

Create Your Own Cartoons and Comics

Upgrade your lessons in nearly any subject or topic with the power of creating cartoons and comics. In this section, we’re sharing a collection of resources you and your students can use to create your own comics and cartoons! 

Grades 2-12

ToonyTool

Quickly create comics! Choose from one of their background pictures or upload one of your own. Create a title or type part of your message in the Meme text bar. Pick a character or two, add a prop, and select speech bubbles to add dialogue.

Grades K-12

Witty Comics

Use this tool to design a comic with dialogue between two characters (three-page limit). Use the pre-drawn backgrounds and characters, add a title for each scene/page, and write what each character says. No registration is needed unless you want to save.

Grades 3-12

Phrase.it

Add cartoon speech bubbles to a photo in seconds using this tool that requires no membership. Choose a photo from your own collection or from the site's random stock photo collection. Pick one of the 5 types of speech bubbles, a font, and type your word.

Grades K-12

Write Comics

Without needing to register, create your own comics using the figures, backgrounds, animals, aliens, and dialogue bubbles. When you finish, you’ll receive a link you can use to print your comic or upload it to your webpage.

Grades 2-12

Make Beliefs Comix

Make comics to prompt writing, assess understanding, or as digital storytelling. Challenge your students to create comics as an alternative to a quiz or for formative assessment (with some creativity). Teachers can create engaging newsletters with comics.

This Week at TeachersFirst

We invite you to join us for our virtual workshops, which continue this Tuesday evening (read details below). We are also sharing a related blog post and kindly request your input on our weekly poll.