5 Mobile Apps for Drama Learning
To Support Learning for Elementary School Students
Why use Mobile Apps in Drama?
Toontastic
Toontastic allows young learners to build storytelling skills through animation. Through the app, children can create, save, and share stories that come to life through the animations. Students can use a prompt to build their own stories and characters to explore a specific emotion or motivation.
Schmuppet
Schmuppet allows users to record virtual puppet shows using a stock of provided puppet characters. In a drama classroom, Schmuppet could be used to focus on development of character voice. Students could be given a piece of dialogue to express as the different puppet characters. Use of this app could also lead to useful reflection on difference in character voice in relation to differences in character motivation.
Talking Tom and Ben News Reporters
Talking Tom and Ben News enables students to create interesting news stories that can then be repeated back by Tom and Ben. Similar to a sitting down drama, this app could be used to explore a specific event from a unique perspective. In a drama classroom, students could work in partners to control Tom and Ben and report on a news story as new "information" becomes available. Students could even conduct interviews and research in-role before returning to the app to make the official news report.
Fotobabble
Fotobabble enables its users to caption photos with dialogue. This could be especially useful when working to build skills in making meaning through literacy and dramatic expression. Photos should be careful selected to reflect a multitude of human experiences, emotions and motivations. Once chosen, students can participate in a "though-bubble" activity where they caption the photo with the thoughts of one character in the photo.
For more ways to utilize Fotobabble in the classroom, please read the Fotobabble blog at http://www.fotobabble.net/?p=55
Feltboard
Feltboard allows anyone to explore and manipulate a multitude of settings, stories and characters from their fingertips. While a willing suspension of disbelief is vital to drama learning, this app may be helpful for those students who have more difficulty with playing pretend. Students can create their sets, stories and characters digitally as a storyboard through the app before engaging in true performance.