The first thing that I wanted to do was to create a Jigsaw puzzle. There are several sites that will create this effect. Big Huge Labs and Dumpr both were easy to use.
I have used Wordle many times before. It is a great opportunity for students to share what they have learned with a word collage. You can check it out at http://www.wordle.net/. I was unsuccessful when I tried to copy/paste my wordle art, but it is so much fun.
I really enjoyed using Big Huge Labs to turn a photograph into a sketch. It was incredibly fast, and I was so excited until I showed my son his image. He looked at me, shrugged and said, "Mom, I can do that on my phone." Obviously I am an immigrant, and he is a native. Dumpr also has the capability to turn a photo into a sketch.
I think the easiest of the applications to use is the Happy Face Generator. This example was so quick to create.
It took me forever to create a comic strip. I couldn't find a picture that was exactly what I wanted. I love the one on Library2Play. Here is mine. We've had 3 straight days of over 100 degrees.
This "thing" was a lot of fun and a very creative avenue. I spent two days just exploring the sites. The Kid Friendly Image Generator would be a lot of fun for kids to explore, but I don't think I would ever take them there because the Barbie image is not acceptable. What were they thinking? I think Glogster would be a great opportunity for older elementary through high school for a visual sharing of any kind of reading.
I noticed that many of the image generators offerred several of the same opportunities. Some sites were easier to use than others, but it was all fun.
