Storyboard That {Review}

The word “storyboard” is defined as “a panel or panels on which a sequence of sketches depict the significant changes of action and scene in a planned film, as for a movie, television show, or advertisement.” But what if you could use it to outline a book? Or a self-made story? Or a historical timeline? 

Storyboard That offers just that. A place to create your own panels to tell a story – whatever that story is.

First, you choose a style of storyboard. There are a few different options: traditional, timeline, and charts. Once you’ve done that, you can get started. Storyboard That has an extensive collection of graphics you can choose to use in your creation. Everything from backgrounds, props, characters, and nearly everything else you can think of. Simply drag, drop, resize, and add text as needed to each square and keep on going until you’ve finished everything. It’s straightforward and fun.

I chose to try a timeline and started off with one for Canadian history. The biggest challenge I had was figuring out how best to represent a moment of history in a single frame. There were tons of choices and options for me to pick from and personalize. You even get to choose character features like colour of eyes and clothing, and how to position their body in that frame. It’s very detailed!

Another homeschooling mom tried it with me. She was telling me how she thought this could be a creative way to do journalling for kids who don’t enjoy writing or a fun way to practice English for ELA students. My boys were making comic book style adventures.

In addition to all the do-it-yourself storyboard options, Storyboard That has an elaborate section for teacher resources. Especially strong in options for Language Arts for the K-2 and 3-5 grade levels, lesson plan ideas and how to use storyboards as novel studies are provided. I found them super creative. Right now, I have a boy reading Stuart Little, so I checked out the lessons. From using the program to do chapter summaries, character studies, and other great ideas!

But it isn’t just limited to language studies. Honestly – you can use this program for just about anything you can think up. There are lesson ideas for geometry, fractions, history, email etiquette, brainstorming, and even for special days like Hallowe’en, Black history month, and Earth Day.

I’ve been pretty impressed with the creative options of this program – from free storytelling to structured learning. It’s a unique way to tackle subjects.

To find out more, or to give it a try yourself, visit the Storyboard That website.

I was given an account to use and try out this website for review purposes.