Resource: Purple Mash

During a recent visit to my SE3 placement school, I was introduced to a website called ‘Purple Mash’ therefore I wanted to share it as I think it is a great way to incorporate ICT into literacy to create multimodal texts.

I was informed that the children were using ‘Purple Mash’ to create ‘talking books’ in literacy and this really interested me. I worked with small groups of children to support them in creating their own ‘traditional fairy tale’ story which enabled me to gain first-hand experience of how ICT can make learning more motivating and engaging for children. The Purple Mash website includes a range of educational games, stories, activities and creative tools to use across the curriculum. One of the creative tools is ‘2create a story’ which enables users to produce their own ‘talking book’. Children can create animated stories by first designing a background, or using one of the templates, and then creating foreground objects. The objects they draw on the foreground can move in many different ways, from travelling across the screen to fading or spinning away. They can also add sounds; record their own music on a number of “digital instruments” provided or even record their own voices using a microphone.

I felt that this was a really effective way of using ICT to enhance children’s writing skills in literacy and it particularly had a positive impact on children who struggled with story writing. The children found it easy to use and were able to navigate it very quickly therefore the teacher did not have to spend a vast amount of time teaching them how to use it. This experience has further developed my understanding of how ICT can be used to support children’s learning and it has also built my confidence in using digital technology with children.

http://www.purplemash.com/#tools/2cas - This is the link to '2create a story' on Purple Mash which enables users to create their own 'talking book'.