Shadow Puppet is an excellent, new free app for iOS devices that lets students narrate photo slideshows and create a digital story. It's incredibly simple to use and has a lot of potential in education. It would be a great app for any grade level (elementary and secondary) and could be used in a ton of different subjects as well. Let's check it out!
Before we get into the review and discussion of Shadow Puppet in the classroom, let's check out an example of what the finished product looks like:
Essentially, you can use Shadow Puppet to create a narrated digital slideshow of photos and videos from your iOS device. And, as you saw in the example, you can also zoom and pan around the pictures, and tap to add a yellow indicator. The app is very simple in its execution, but it's a powerful tool nonetheless.
After you download the app and open it up, you'll be presented with the basic steps of creating your story as well as the option of watching a quick "How-To" presentation.
The Basics
To get started making your slideshow, just click "Create New" and select the photos, videos, or GIFs you want to use. If you want to use photos that aren't on your iOS device, you'll need to add them to your camera roll (through email, or dropbox, or the internet, or something along those lines).
Click "Create New" To Get Started
Once you have all your pictures or videos selected, click "Next" at the bottom right and you'll be taken to the recording interface. Here, you can record your voice, use two fingers to zoom, use one finger to pan, and tap to add a yellow highlight to the image. On the right, you can click the arrow to go to the next image or just swipe the screen.
The Recording Interface
And when you're all finished you can share your slideshow via email, facebook, twitter, or embed it on another site, all with a few simple clicks! Plus, a copy of each finished slideshow is also saved to the camera role as a video (for uploading to a video service like YouTube or saving a copy).
Share Your Finished Product
Version 2.0 Updates
With Shadow Puppet 2.0, the team has significantly expanded the scope of the product based on feedback from teachers and early users. The updates have turned Shadow Puppet into a lightweight but powerful video creation tool. This update let's users:
- Add video clips, not just still images
- Easily search the web for images and animated GIFs to add to your videos
- Add music from your iTunes library or choose from our background tracks
- Draw on screen to point things out or highlight ideas
- Overlay animated text
Plus, if you're looking for lesson ideas, you can check out their idea bank here!
And you can check out this great tutorial from the team for some helping getting started...
And you can check out this great tutorial from the team for some helping getting started...
And that's the app! Yes, it's incredibly simple, but I think that's perfect for this application because it can be used at all ages without much difficulty. It takes less than 30 seconds to figure out how the application works and it can be integrated in a huge variety of subjects.
Students can narrate their understanding of virtually any topic and then share those narrations with the class or the teacher. It's an excellent, easy way to get students talking and sharing what they understand about a particular idea.
Overall, I love the simplicity, I think it's an excellent app for the classroom, it could be used in all subjects and grade levels, and to top it all off, it's completely free!
Students can narrate their understanding of virtually any topic and then share those narrations with the class or the teacher. It's an excellent, easy way to get students talking and sharing what they understand about a particular idea.
Overall, I love the simplicity, I think it's an excellent app for the classroom, it could be used in all subjects and grade levels, and to top it all off, it's completely free!
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