Monthly Archives: September 2010
“When we engage in what we are naturally suited to do, our work takes on the quality of play and it is play that stimulates creativity.” by Linda Naiman
Young learners need to learn through games, exploration and experimentation to foster their natural curiosity and love of learning through creative and fun activities. If your main goal as a teacher is to develop autonomous learners allow them to create avatars completely for free and make them describe their own creation. Amazingly most of my learners do not need tutorials to learn how to create the avatars and they work cooperatively because they have to share the computer.
As Albert Einstein said “Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.” Please take a look at the long list of Avatars that we have been working on this year with my students.
Voki: This is the best avatar tool for my students. It´s easy to use and you can embed it into other websites.
Toy Story creator: Make a virtual toy of yourself.
SimpsonizeMe.com: Will turn you into a Simpson character.
GizMoz: Add your own photo into a scene or pick from several famous characters. You can record a message or type in the text to speech tool.
BeFunky: Cartoonize your photos.
DoppelMe Create a very simple avatar. You must log in to be able to make changes at any time. The disadvantage is that you need to download your avatar in order to share it.
Meez.com Create yourself a virtual 3D avatar.
Build Your Wild Self Students created great stories with these characters.
Become an M&M: Choose from a simple variety of accessories and become an M&M.
Unique: Simple avatar creator. Check my students blog to see the avatars they created.
TizMe: Create virtual images of yourself. Embed it into your online pages.
FaceYourManga: Express yourself through your image and share your mood with whoever you want. Allows you to only create a face avatar but you have plenty of items to mix and match.
The Mini Mizer LEGO avatar maker: Create a LEGO version of yourself. There are simple and clear instructions on how to create your personalized avatar.
Planet Creation: Allows you to create a simple face avatar.
MakeWee: Create you own Wii avatar online. To save it hit the “Print Screen” button on your keyboard to take a screenshot and then open up Microsoft Paint to paste it.
Evolver: This is a 3D avatar generator web app that produces video game quality avatars that you can use for free. You need to set up a free account in order to be able to create the avatar. Check this link for detailed instructions on how to create your 3D avatar.