Hi! It’s Saturday, February 20, 2010 and time for Art at ClickSchooling!
Recommended Website:
Inkscape
Age Range: 9 and up (4th grade and beyond)
ClickScholar Cie discovered this website that offers a free, downloadable vector graphics editor with capabilities similar to Illustrator or CorelDraw. What does that mean? It means you can use your computer to draw, create digital designs, and more.
Inkscape is being used successfully by 4th graders in the Los Altos School District in California. You can see a gallery of the students work by clicking HERE.
I suggest you check out the students’ art gallery first, to get an idea of the possibilities which are sure to inspire the tech-savvy artists in your home. Click on the link next to each of the images to view the corresponding sub-galleries too.
Then, head back to the Inkscape website featured in this review to download the editor. (Just click on the “Download Now” button located in the upper right corner of the homepage.)
Note: You can learn a lot about Inkscape, system requirements, and how it works by reading the FAQs located on the menu on the left side of the homepage.
I’ve used Inkscape a little bit and am really impressed at what this software really can do. I do think that it might be slightly above a 4th grade level if you plan on doing anything besides just circles and squares.