iPad App Review: Art Maker

Art Maker, developed by ABC's PlaySchool, is a great app for children to increase their visual motor skills while also developing their ability to tell stories and create.  Finding apps for kids with special needs that encourages creativity while also embedding language and fine motor abilities is a real find.  The child with good finger dexterity can easily manipulate photos of  real objects into 6 backgrounds including: a beach, bedroom, farm, kitchen, moon, or underwater.  For the child with special needs that requires assistance completing more creative, abstract activities, Art Maker has a feature that allows users to take a photo from their own album as a background to bring app characters into their world. Students can go further and create movies by animating the characters in their scenes to their own narration and songs.  Teachers and parents can also encourage sequencing and storytelling opportunities by making a story slideshow using the child's pictures and animations.