Tux Paint is a free, award-winning drawing program for children ages 3 to 12 (preschool and K-6). It combines an easy-to-use interface, fun sound effects, and an encouraging cartoon mascot who guides children as they use the program.
Mineral Elementary School District, California, USA
"The kids at our school regularly skip over KidPix 3 and head for Tux Paint. Kid Pix is just a big mess of fancy nonsense, whereas they can actually create pictures in Tux Paint. Good stuff!" - James Mayfield, Mineral Elementary School District
An Elementary school, California, USA
- "I recently installed Tux Paint on 60 Macintosh computers and have been having a lot of success with it. It's been especially popular with the girls who haven't had quite as much interest in using the computers until now. It definitely taps into the creative side of children without requiring any extensive technical skills." - Adam Lowe, Tech
Lubbock Independent School District, Lubbock, Texas, USA
"I just thought I would let you know I really like TuxPaint and I am installing it on 26 school computers in my lab. ... It's a great alternative to Kid Pix (since Kid Pix doesn't work properly on Windows XP). Anyway, thank you for being involved with this. I can't wait to start using Tux Paint!" - Theresa Slemmons, Lubbock Independent School District
Lesson Overview
This lesson uses Tux Paint to give Younger Children a fun introduction to computers.
GRADE LEVEL
- This activity is appropriate for K-6.
DURATION
- Unknown at this time.
MATERIALS
- Computer lab with Tux Paint software installed
TIPS AND SUGGESTIONS
- Go through the activity at least once yourself prior to giving it to students
- Consider whether working individually or in groups will be better
- At some point, encourage students to share information with another student or group.
- Download and modify the handout to fit your needs (i.e. spit it into two separate activities)
Goals
- To introduce young children to artistic possibilities with computers.
Procedure
- When introducing students to new software, it is beneficial to set aside time for students to explore the software on their own prior to beginning the activity. This would be most effective if it was a separate day. This could be an activity in and of itself with students being asked to make two or three "discoveries" and writing about them.
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