AR Makr, the creative toolbox for Augmented Reality. Bring your drawings and photos to life in the real world.

🔍 What does it do?

AR Makr is an app that lets learners create virtual objects and place them into the world around them using the iPad camera. Pupils can “scan” a 2D drawing they have made on paper or in another app and transform it into a 3D virtual object that they can walk around, resize, and even animate within their own classroom.

🎓 Why is it useful?

• From 2D to 3D: It helps pupils understand spatial awareness by taking flat images and placing them in a 3D environment.

• Storytelling in the Real World: Pupils can build “AR Scenes” for example placing characters from a story onto their school playing field to film a digital retelling of a story.

• Interactive Models: It allows for the creation of virtual museums or science models (like the solar system) that pupils can interact with without needing physical materials.

• Built-in Recording: The app has a simple “Record” button, allowing pupils to film their AR creations and narrate their learning as they move around their virtual objects.

⚙️ How does it work?

1. Launch: Open the AR Makr app and tap ‘Start’.

2. Surface Scan: Move the iPad slowly to let the camera “find” a flat surface (like a desk or the floor). You will see a grid appear when it’s ready.

3. Create an Object: Tap ‘New’ to either draw something directly with your finger, or tap the folder icon to import a photo or a drawing from your Photos library.

4. Place: Once your object is ready, aim the circle at the grid on your desk and tap ‘Place’. You can now use your fingers to pinch and zoom to resize it.

5. Record: Tap the camera icon on the side to take a photo of your scene, or hold the record button to capture a video of your virtual world in action.

🚀 Beyond the Basics

• Retelling Fairy Tales: Pupils can draw the “Three Little Pigs” on paper. They use the camera to “scan” the pigs and their houses into AR Makr, then place them on the classroom floor to film a puppet show where they provide the voices.

• Shape & Measure: Use the built-in 3D shapes in AR Makr to build a virtual tower. Pupils can use their fingers to stack cubes and spheres, discussing the properties of the shapes as they build.

• The Solar System: Pupils can create or import images of the planets. They can place the “Sun” in the centre of the classroom and position the planets at relative distances, walking between them to understand the scale of space.

• Virtual Timelines: Create a “Walking Timeline.” Place images of historical events in a line across the hall. As the pupil walks along the line, they film themselves explaining each event in chronological order.

• Digital Galleries: Pupils can take photos of their physical paintings  or drawings and “hang” them on the virtual walls of the classroom, creating a digital art gallery that parents or peers can walk through using the iPad.

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🔗 Teacher Quick Links

Skill-Builder: Intro to AR Makr!

Create your own Augmented Reality Book Scene in AR Makr | iPad

Create your own Augmented Reality Snowstorm in AR Makr | iPad

Canva for Education is the all-in-one design platform for professional teaching resources and school communications.

🔍 What does it do?

Canva for Education is a premium version of Canva that is free for educators. It provides access to millions of stock images, fonts, and professional templates. While it can be used for simple posters, it is also a powerful tool for building interactive presentations, classroom newsletters, and even school websites.

 

🎓 Why is it useful for staff?

• Instant Professionalism: You don’t need design skills to create high-quality work. Thousands of “Education” templates are ready-made for lesson plans, certificates, and worksheets.

• Brand Consistency: You can set up a “Brand Kit” for your school, saving your school’s specific colors and logos so every letter or poster you make is perfectly on-brand.

• Multimedia Hub: You can embed videos from YouTube, live links to forms, or even record your own screen directly into a Canva presentation.

• Collaboration with Colleagues: You can share folders with other staff members. This allows you to co-design a transition project or share a pack of classroom labels across a whole department.

⚙️ How does it work?

1. Launch: Access via the Canva app on your iPad or through the web browser.

2. Verified Status: For teachers to access the “Education” version for free you need to get verified or added to an existing Canva Education ‘Team’ by an already verified member of your school staff team.

3. Choose a Template: Use the search bar for terms like “P7 Transition,” “Reading Newsletter,” or “Classroom Labels.”

4. Drag and Drop: Use your finger or mouse to move elements around. Add your own photos or choose from Canva’s library of millions of free graphics.

5. Share & Export: Tap the Share button (top right). You can “Download” as a PDF for printing, use ‘public view’ or ’embed’ to create a live viewable version of your design. You can also share custom templates with other uses and download your creations as videos. 

🚀 Beyond the Basics

• Professional Newsletters: Move away from plain Word documents. Use the Newsletter templates to create visual updates for parents. You can even embed “Live Links” that parents can click to open permission forms or school webpages.

• Display Packs: Search for “Classroom Decor.” You can instantly create cohesive sets of labels, birthday charts, and learning walls that all share the same color scheme and font.

• Embed Canva Designs: Use the ’embed link’ to add live Canva designs to your school website or class blog., giving access to a live document that changes automatically when you update or amend it.

• Instructional Videos: Use the “Present and Record” feature. You can talk through your slides, and Canva will record a small “bubble” of you speaking in the corner. This is perfect for creating “flipped learning” videos or instruction guides for parents.

• Canva Sheets: A visual way to track and display data. Use it to create colourful class seating plans or to track (publicly available) data in a way that is far more visual and readable than a standard spreadsheet.

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🔗 Teacher Quick Links

Design School – Learn Design With Canva

Canva Essentials