TuxPaint

Subject Area: Visual Arts, Literacy

Recommended Grade Levels: 1 – 6

Figure 4 : Tux Paint Screenshot

TuxPaint is a paint program for ages 3 to 12 – it combines an easy-to-use interface, fun sound effects, and an encouraging cartoon mascot who guides children as they use the program. Kids are presented with a blank canvas and a variety of drawing tools to help them be creative. The drawing canvas is a fixed size, so the user doesn’t need to worry about “pixels” or “inches” when making a new picture.

Ontario Elementary Curriculum Expectations for Arts (2009), Grades 1 - 8

Visual Arts D1 - apply the creative process to produce art works in a variety of traditional two- and three-dimensional forms, as well as multimedia art works, that communicate feelings, ideas, and understandings, using elements, principles, and techniques of visual arts as well as current media technologies.

For more information: http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/arts18b09curr.pdf

Ontario Elementary Curriculum Expectations for Language (2006), Grades 1 – 8

Writing: draft and revise their writing, using a variety of informational, literary, and graphic forms and stylistic elements appropriate for the purpose and audience.

For more information: http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/language18currb.pdf

How can TuxPaint help?

TuxPaint is an activity that inspires creativity, where students can use their imagination to create a character as the protagonist of their story. Allowing students to illustrate their own scenes of a story using software displays their feelings, ideas, and understandings as well as introduces them to basic art software. Afterwards, students can use their artistic creation to draft a story and revise it, creating a work that incorporates both the graphic and written element.