My Year 3 & 4 students loved making their own emojis this week. While there are specific ’emoji creation’ apps you could use throughout this task, my young learners were asked to craft a distinctive design using a considered colour palette and a combination of shapes, using Assembly app on their iPads. The open-ended nature of this app means that the skills developed and this creative toolkit can be extended and used across tasks.

The principles of art and design took centre stage during the production of this purely visual piece of communication. Students were presented with an opportunity to create expression and character using visual language (colour, shape, etc). They also needed to work with layers, to think in stages, and use overlapping shapes to develop design complexity.

Our first investigations gave students a chance to explore the potential of the Assembly app. Students were asked to explore the tool box and create an emoji that represented themselves in a particular mood.

The next challenge prompted students to create a fantasy pet emoji…

The students designed a final challenge for themselves, jumping into a competitive fashion-fest! With the timer set at 15 minutes, the girls worked to design a ball gown that was judged after the buzzer. Fabulous!