Kid Pix 3 & 4
Teaching Tips, Project Ideas, and Technical Notes
from Sunday Software

Thank you for purchasing Kid Pix from Sunday Software. Your support allows us to build new Christian software, keep other Christian software available, provide free teaching support online and over the phone, and provide free Teaching Tips like these. This document was printed from www.sundaysoftware.com/kidtips.htm

I've been teaching with programs like Kid Pix in the church since 1990. Many of the ideas here come straight from my own computer lab and those who have used creative writing and drawing programs for many years.

Note: You may have version 3 or 4. These tips apply to both. The two versions are nearly identical.

Occasionally, someone isn't sure how a program like KP "fits in" to the curriculum. With KP, your students will be creating, relating and reflecting on Bible content. KP allows them to make their own multimedia presentations. They'll be giving it their own personal spin and then sharing their presentations with others. Creative writing and drawing are powerful learning tools to drive the message deep into their hearts and minds.

It's the READ ALOUD feature! This is what the kids really like about programs such as KP. Whatever they type, the computer can read aloud. You can get creative with it too. On a Psalm 23 project several years back, we assigned each computer a different verse and then played the computers one after the other, each speaking in a different voice. In another class, we had the kids rewrite it in their own words and then run the computers one after the other. The effect was terrific and it focused everyone on writing, rather than just drawing.

If you like the Text-to-Speech capability of Kid Pix to help your student express their thoughts, then take a close look at Sunday Software’s “Let’s Talk CD” at sundaysoftware.com. In Let’s Talk, students and/or teachers can create their own talking lessons, and speak aloud their responses to questions they create onscreen. They can “instant message” each other with speak aloud responses. Let’s Talk is the next step beyond Kid Pix” that will especially appeal to your older students.   

Learn to IMPORT Bible graphics into the program. It's easy! Import photos, graphics, Bible clip art and more. There's an excellent manual on the CD if you're unfamiliar with importing graphics. Digital photos are easy to import into Kid Pix. Kid Pix can import several different image types, including jpeg, bmp and gif.

Editing and Pasting pictures into Kid Pix is easy. See Bildad the Bible Explorer in the picture above? That picture was actually made using TWO imported graphics: one from Footsteps of Jesus CD, and the other from Good Sam the Samaritan. I have a web page describing how I did it (simple really). www.sundaysoftware.com/kidpixgr.htm

Technical Help: Your Kid Pix CD has a very helpful manual on it. Sunday Software has also provided some technical helps/troubleshooting at www.sundaysoftware.com/kidpixhelp.htm

The Key to Teaching with Kid Pix: Sit down with your students as they work on their creations. Discuss ideas with them. Ask them about their work while it's in progress. Make suggestions while they are working, don't wait til the end. Computers and fun software put them in an attentive state and they'll be open to talk with you. Encourage students to work together on ideas (more on collaboration in a moment). At least HALF of your teaching opportunities will occur DURING the creative process. Don't wait til they're done! After they are done, ask them to show the class what they've created. Ask them to explain it. Ask them questions about their work. Ask them to compare their content/reflections to other presentations on other computers.

Kid Pix can be used with just about any subject. Kids can rewrite Bible stories, reflect on meanings, illustrate key verses, etc. Kid Pix can be used with just about any AGE group. I've enjoy kicking around with it! The tools possess sufficient complexity for older students to grab onto and yet presentations can be simple enough for younger kids to quickly create. Preschoolers and Early Readers can also use KP, even though they don't know how to type or read.

A typical lesson plan with Kid Pix:

Step 1. Begin with a Bible Study and discussion of key points.

Step 2. Open up Kid Pix to create a project that REFLECTS on what you've learned today. Draw a key scene and add new dialog. Create several pages and turn them into a slideshow. Assign various story characters to different kids at your workstations and have them draw that person, and make their character express questions, support, doubts, a point of view. Do an expressive art project, expressing the emotion of the story (Example... Illustrate the phrase: "How Majestic is Your Name in All the Earth.")

Step 3.  Go around to each workstation encouraging improvement. Then have each workstation show off their creation. Ask more questions. Follow-up.

Other Project Ideas for Kid Pix  (other than recreating the Bible story)

• I wonder how the Prodigal Son story ended? Jesus didn't say but your kids could write and illustrate it.
• How might the story have ended differently if Adam and Eve had not hidden but confessed? Write the dialogue.
• Write a modern day version of the story.
• Rewrite the story telling it from God's point of view, ....from ______'s point of view.
• Make a newsletter announcing the strange happenings at Bethlehem.
• Create a 3 frame "cartoon strip" project. Use "thought bubbles" and "dialog bubbles." Print sheets and tape together.
• Older kids create storybooks then show or give to younger classes
• Students interview each other, each typing their questions and responses about a subject, such as, what you would have done if you had been David facing Goliath, or been by the fire with Peter when the soldiers identified you.
• Create journals, prayer journals, etc. (there are journal graphics built-in to the program)
• Design "Commercials" about the church budget, a mission project, or "Elijah's miracle cures."
• Import your own pictures, and bible graphics clip art. (I recommend you load it before the kids come).
• Rotate kids to different computers each adding a thought or answer to a question or comment posed by the teacher.
• Use a digital camera to take pictures of the kids re-enacting parts of the story, import into KP and add "thought bubbles" over their heads. (Many digital cameras can also take short videos).

One of my favorite lesson ideas using Kid Pix is to "translate" scriptures into a "new language" using the typing and read aloud features. "Surfer Dude" language is one of my favorites. Pirate language, Baby language. No, KP doesn't have those languages built-in, the kids CREATE them. "Yo Dude, Surf's Up"  "Avast ye scurvy Pharisees" --Rethinking the words and their meanings in different ways creates some fun lesson moments and great discussion fodder. Note: our "Let's Talk" CD takes this read aloud functionality of the computer to a new level that older children and youth especially like. Read about it at www.sundaysoftware.com/lets-talk

You will find several more Kid Pix lesson ideas associated with specific Bible stories in "Neil's Brain Dump." This a collection of story ideas located in the Teaching Tips section of www.sundaysoftware.com. Here are two such ideas from Neil's Brain Dump that mention Kid Pix 3. How would a Disciple share the Gospel to pirates on Pentecost? Hearing the results of their rephrasing is a lot of fun and it makes them think. What would the "Call of the Disciples" sound like if Jesus had found them building a house instead of fishing? "Come with me and I will make you _____ of men." There's even a lesson plan idea for creating a "magic eye" puzzle in Kid Pix. Check out the Brain Dump at our website.

Don't let the "slideshow" title in the program trap you into thinking "we can just create picture slides." You don't have to use the slideshow feature. KP can be used to create booklets, cards, posters, letters, etc. There are many templates in the Backgrounds section.

MOST of the time, students will start their project by selecting a Background. Click the BACKGROUND icon (seen above)  and then scroll through the list of Background categories. Kid Pix also has tons of nature/outdoor backgrounds and animated pictures, but it also has many other categories. Here are some you’ll find that are of particular use in Sunday School:
A Scroll –found in Mystery backgrounds. Family Trees and Photo borders -found in family
Holidays- including card templates Maps –outlines of countries including Israel
My Journal, Nature, Self Portrait, Thank You templates, Thankfulness, Travelogue, Pictures of the World, Countries, Flags.

• When you're in the Slideshow screen, click the icons underneath each frame. One allows you to select which file to play as that slide. The other allows you to make changes to the SLIDE TRANSITIONS. It's very useful for slowing down the presentation, allowing animations to run smoothly before changing slides, etc.
• The default slideshow setting for each slide is 7 seconds. If your typed text takes longer than 7 seconds to read, it will cut it off and switch to the next slide. To MODIFY this setting, click the Movie Camera Icon in the Slideshow screen. This will reveal the phrase "7 seconds" below each slide you have put in the slideshow. Click on that phrase and a Options Box will appear. You can change the duration of each slide, or you can select "Read Text Done" so that the slide won't change until all the text is read on it. A graphic of this screen is provided below.
• Don't use the paintcan tool with imported graphics. The paintcan fills areas with color and often "breaks out" of the boundaries of imported graphics. In order for it to stay within a bounded area, the area must have an unbroken circle of color around it. A lot of hand-drawn graphics have broken lines/boundaries which allow the paintcan to "leak" across the page.
• Teach your older students how use all the features in Kid Pix 3. They make excellent teaching and program assistants.
• Younger students who can't read CAN type simple words -if you show them the word. And remember, Kid Pix reads the words aloud.
• Teach students to make pages rather quickly and focus on content.
• Hold a "training day" for your teachers to learn how to use Kid Pix 3. Have some students there to help them ;-)
• If you press your printscreen key on your keyboard in most programs you are using, Windows saves that screenshot to the invisible Windows clipboard. Open up a new page in Kid Pix and go to the EDIT menu (on top toolbar) and click paste....and there's your screen. You can crop it from there and fuss with it.
• Kid Pix 3 can install entirely on your harddrive and you can put the CD away for safe keeping. Please remember, however, that you cannot use the CD to create multiple copies of Kid Pix on other computers. That is stealing. If you're going to do that... quit teaching kids.
• Access the File taskbar at the top of the screen and change the voices and text appearance for Kid Pix.
• Access the File taskbar to teach Kid Pix how to say words like "Gethsemane."
• PRINT in Economy or DRAFT MODE to save color ink. When you select Print in Kid Pix 3, a printer dialog box should appear, open up it's "properties" selection and look for the controls which change color vs. b/w and full ink mode vs draft mode. With many printers "draft mode" is all you need to create projects good enough.

Using a graphic we imported, we had the kids create their own Paul's Journey map. First we studied the maps found in Life of Christ CD, then opened KP to make our own. It really cemented this essential understanding in our kids about Paul the traveling preacher.

Budget your time and printer expenses with KP. Tell your kids exactly how long they have to create. Less time and shorter presentations will force them to think more concisely and keep them from doodling. Doodling is exactly what they will do if you do not give them specific time and content goals. Smaller projects will also take less time to print out (color inkjet printers can be slow) and cost you less color ink (which is expensive). Other time savers: Tell them which tools they can and cannot use for a certain project. Have them draw quick stick figures. Have older students there to help younger ones.

Kid Pix  works well in conjunction with other software too. For years, many of us have started a Bible study in another program (such as Bibleland.com or Play and Learn Children's Bible) then gone in to our writing/drawing program to reflect on what we learned in that other program. Many Christian software programs have short stories in them that don't take much class time to go through. By adding a KP project to the lesson plan, we spend more time at the computer (which makes the kids happy) and end up focusing on the story for a longer period of time (which makes the teachers happy). You can see examples of lesson plans that do this in the Teaching Tips section of www.sundaysoftware.com.

Share KP at a computer. The typewriter and mouse appear built for one but can easily be passed if the kids won't switch chairs. If needed, buy inexpensive keyboard and mice extension cables. A simple rubric such as shouting "switch" every two minutes will help them get in the spirit and force them to consider each other's ideas. Here are a few more collaborative pointers: Be right there with them to monitor use. Create projects that require kids to value and seek others input (such as interviewing). Split up tasks such as drawing, typing, playback. Remember, the kids like to type, but they REALLY like to doodle. Limit the doodling. Limit the number of pages to create -it will reduce the printing time, and many color printers are slow.

SlideShow Tip: If you type a lot of text in each illustration you will need to change the default time a slide is display so all the text can be heard.

Need importing help, or cut and paste help?  Go to www.sundaysoftware.com/kidpix.htm and follow the links on that page.

TECHNICAL NOTES:
We have link to a technical page for Kid Pix 3 located at www.sundaysoftware.com/support.

If you get a "Can't find JPEG compressor" error message while trying to save or print your Kid Pix picture, do this: Reinstall Quicktime from the Kid Pix CD selecting the "Recommended" installation, rather than "Minimum." Quicktime is located on the Kid Pix CD.

If the animated pictures or clipart appear as empty boxes, see our Tech Notes for how to fix that.

Kid Pix Teaching Tips Copyright 2003-07 Sunday Software and Neil MacQueen. These may not be distributed beyond local classroom/teacher use. Printed from www.sundaysoftware.com