Techno Tools - PicLits

PicLits is yet another great creative writing tool. Very simple to use and very effective in getting the creative juices flowing. Just select a picture (from hundreds of inspiring ones) and write a sentence, a caption, a poem, a paragraph or even a story capturing the essence of that picture. Learners can use the extensive word bank (which changes for every picture) to simply drag and drop nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives on the picture or compose their writing freestyle where they can type away their thoughts, benefiting from 72 keywords provided with every picture. Saving a PicLit or sharing it on a blog/email requires an account. Registering for an account is free but you need to provide email address. You can register with your own email address and let your kids have a go (for multiple kids, you can try writing their names on the PicLits themselves) or just take a screenshot of your PicLit and save it or share it.

  
(The image inspired me to write some poetry where the first line is taken from someone else’s work. I warn you, this can be quite addictive!)

There are so many ways in which you can use this tool. Given the small amount of time it takes to create a PicLit, you can do it multiple times a week. You can just let the kids write their thoughts about the picture or assign them a task (for example write a paragraph, a poem etc). You can use the same picture with multiple kids and yourself and compare the finished works discussing everyone’s choice of words. Keep saving your PicLits and at the end of month/year every one can create a book of their PicLits for creative inspiration. Use the learn it section to find out more about writing simple sentences, paragraphs, poems and different kinds of poetry with great examples.

Super simple, visually powerful and completely free, PicLits is the essence of web 2.0 technology (for me at least).

Leave the comments below to share how you are planning on using PicLits and if you want to share your children’s work.