StoryboardThat is a relatively new tool that offers an attractive, inexpensive option for creating simple cartoon outlines.

I’ve been playing with the free plan that allows for three free saves per day and I love the easy drag-and-drop storyboard creator with the libraries of more than 325 characters, 225 scenes, 45,000 searchable images and the ability to upload your own (in the premium version), and a wide variety of text option.  Items may be resized, rotated, repositioned and layered.

And though it is supposed to be a storyboarding tool, and indeed it does allow students to easily structure and plan a story that might be filmed or digitally created, the finished storyboard is actually final cartoon story itself.

You and your students can certainly create your own story outlines, but you may be interested in the list of digital articles covering such topics as Shakespearian Plays and special education-oriented Social Stories.

A variety of useful writing articles demonstrate how StoryboardThat  might be used to reinforce ELA concepts:

Advanced Grammar Email Etiquette Ethos, Pathos, and Logos Homophones Intro To Story Telling Punctuation Social Stories Denotation vs. Connotation School Bullying What is UBD (Understanding By Design)?

Storyboards may be downloaded as images, PowerPoints or embedded.  StoryboardThat is available as an app and has partnerships that allows it to play nice with Edmodo and Schoology.

Educators may opt to subscribe to a premium version that offers a private classroom environment for up to 50 students starting at just $5.95 a month.  Additional subscription options are described here.

Here’s a little round-up of other comic making and storyboarding choices.

Other cartooning options (both free and premium) include:

ToonDoo and ToonDoo Spaces BitStrips for Schools ComicLife (a great, inexpensive download!) Pixton for Schools MakeBeliefsComix Toonlet ReadWriteThink Comic Creator Kerpoof PowToonEdu GoAnimate for Schools (for professional animated videos) PimPamPum (uses Flickr photos) CommonCraft (create with membership) Chogger Buncee (review in next post!)

Some Toon Apps include:

ComicLife Toontastic SockPuppets Tellagami PowStrip Designer ComicBook! (uses photos) FrameArtist with Photo Templates Bookabi Toonia Storymaker Superhero Comic Book Maker

Other Storyboarding options include:

ACMI Storyboard Generator Celtx (not free, but great for sophisticated scriptwriting and storyboarding) Storyboards 3D (app that allows you to rotate 3D objects and add audio) Using PowerPoint for storyboarding Xinsight Storyboard Template