If you’re like my family in Ontario, we are stuck in lockdown during the April Break that was supposed to be in March. It’s raining. The kids have no schedule. Parenting wins are non-existent. Here’s one idea that could help fill a bit of time with some new skills and education. (If you can tear them away from Minecraft/COD/TikTok.) Everyone Can Create is a series of free digital books from Apple. You download them from your Books tab, and instead of the boring, monotonous courses on how to use an app, how to make a movie or mix music, you do it through doing rather than watching someone else do it.

In the drawing book you can design an emoji. In photography, make a normal photo into something suspenseful. They are short activities that give you a skill. (Maybe I won’t have to keep asking my teen how to do video effects now). These guides help students, teachers and parents learn how to create and express ourselves in wide range of subject areas. In a nutshell, kids can engage with, and take charge of the directions of their own education. Here’s a rundown of what you learn in the Photography book:

For music, they partnered with Justin Timberlake, who explains how he writes music. This can ease you into garage band – like with training wheels. You start with drums. Touch to select speed, which drums to use. Then you select instruments and play by touching the screen. From there, mix the tracks. And guess what? You have your very own original track to use in iMovie, as a podcast intro or on a social post.

This month (just in time for a break with nowhere to go), the Drawing guide has been updated to include motion graphics and animation in Keynote, while Photos now covers the creation of animated GIFs using Keynote, and the Camera and Photos apps. The Video guide will explore creating short films using a green screen and other special effects, and Music adds new podcasting features using GarageBand.

There is also a free teacher guide, and new Apple Teacher Portfolio. (Because our teachers need ALL the help we can give them). This is a new recognition badge that educators can earn through Apple Teacher Learning Center, the self-paced professional learning platform. This helps educators make the most of Apple technology through each phase of their lesson planning to help students activate prior knowledge, explore a topic more deeply, and apply understanding. There are 21 templates and lesson ideas inspired by the Everyone Can Create project guides. This way, educators can enhance their work with engaging everyday lessons for students, using apps like Keynote, GarageBand, and iMovie.

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100 Summer Activities for Kids
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