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Tools for National Comic Book Day

National Comic Book Day, celebrated on September 25, offers educators a unique opportunity to harness the engaging power of comics in the classroom. This visual medium combines storytelling with art, making it an excellent tool for promoting literacy, creativity, and critical thinking across various subjects. Incorporating comics into lesson plans can captivate reluctant readers, enhance visual literacy, and provide a fresh approach to traditional curriculum content. Explore the resources shared this week to discover innovative ways to spark student interest and facilitate learning with this dynamic and accessible format.

Grades 2-12

Make Beliefs Comix

Use this great online tool to create web-based or printed comic strips from a selection of characters and voice bubbles—with your own text! In the center of the homepage, you can change the website text into fourteen different languages.

Grades 2-12

Comic Creator

Create comics quickly with Comic Creator—no registration required! Choose panel layouts, characters, bubbles, and props, then click, drag, and type to build your comic strip. When finished, print your comics —you cannot save comics on this site.

Grades 6-12

Phrase.it

Add cartoon speech bubbles to any photo in seconds using Phrase.it. No membership is required! Choose an image from your device or from the site's stock photo collection, pick one of the four types of speech bubbles, and add your text.

Grades K-12

Witty Comics

Use this tool to design a comic with dialogue between two characters. Select a pre-drawn background, add a title for each scene/page, and type dialogue between the two characters. You only need to create an account if you want to save the comic.

Grades 8-12

XKCD

XKCD is a webcomic of “romance, sarcasm, math, and language.” Find stick figure comics that feature mathematical, scientific, and cultural humor. Scroll down the page and select Comics/Enjoy to explore the archives and find the perfect comic for you!

Grades K-12

Printable Comic Strip Templates

Get your students to create comics with the comic strip templates on this simple yet helpful site. Choose from templates with various numbers of panels, then select whether you want squares or archtops. Click on any template to view and print a PDF.

Grades 6-12

Cartoons for the Classroom

Cartoons for the Classroom offers more than 400 downloadable one-page lessons. The assessments feature two or three political cartoons related to real-world events and several discussion questions about those cartoons.

Grades 2-12

ToonyTool

Create single-frame comics, comic strips, or animations easily without registration. Choose backgrounds and drag and drop characters, props, and speech bubbles, then enter your text. Share a URL, print, or download your comics when finished.

Grades 8-12

Webcomics Web Archive

The Library of Congress presents this collection of comics created explicitly for the web between 2014 and the present day. Selections include award-winning comics and those that have significance in the comics field.

Grades K-12

Comic Strips Templates

Design and share high-quality comic strips using Canva's many free comic strip templates. Choose from numerous colorful designs in various formats, including single strips or comics with multiple frames. Download or share via a URL.

Grades 4-12

Free Comic Maker.Com

Students can create comics quickly and easily using this step-by-step comic template. Choose from a list of pre-made templates to begin. The site provides ready-made clipart characters and speech bubbles, but students can also upload their own pictures.

Grades K-12

Free Comic Strip Maker

After choosing a template, use the dashboard to add and modify the comic strip's contents. Options include changing backgrounds, adding text and images, adding shapes, and much more. When finished, download your design as a JPG, PNG, or PDF.

This Week at TeachersFirst

We’re excited to invite you to register to attend our fall OK2Ask virtual workshops and a special webinar this Thursday! We’re also eager to share a collection of posts from our Infusing Technology Blog. Finally, we’re delighted to share an opportunity to apply to join our team as a part-time consultant. Read the details below!