If you are not already using Canva with children why not? Totally FREE to education, Canva is a user-friendly online design platform that empowers anyone to create stunning visuals without needing professional design skills. It offers a vast library of customisable templates including social media posts, presentations, posters, and even websites.

Canva allows children to effortlessly personalise your designs by adding your own text, images, and colours. The platform also provides a rich collection of design elements, fonts, and stock photos to make your creations stand out. Whether you're a student, entrepreneur, marketer, or simply someone who wants to enhance their visual communication, Canva is the go-to tool for creating professional-looking designs with ease.

Canva also offers a variety of premium features, such as access to exclusive templates and design elements, the ability to remove backgrounds from images, and the ability to create animated designs. These premium features can be accessed through a FREE educational plan.

At Aldwyn Primary School children start using Canva from Year 3 onwards. It is is an exceptional tool for nurturing young minds through design. Its simple interface and vast array of creative elements make it accessible and engaging for even the youngest users.

Beyond the sheer fun of creating colourful and imaginative designs, Canva helps children develop a range of crucial skills. It fosters digital literacy as they learn to navigate a computer program and understand basic digital concepts. Creativity flourishes as they experiment with colors, fonts, and images to bring their ideas to life. Problem-solving is enhanced as they figure out how to achieve their desired visual outcomes.

Furthermore, Canva can spark storytelling abilities as children arrange images and text to convey narratives. It's also a platform for collaboration, encouraging teamwork and sharing ideas as they work on projects together. By incorporating play and exploration, Canva transforms learning into an enjoyable experience, making it a valuable asset in a child's educational journey.

Canva's AI features are rapidly transforming the design landscape, making it more accessible and efficient for users of all skill levels. At the core of this transformation is the Magic Studio, a suite of AI-powered tools that streamline various design tasks.

One standout feature is Magic Design, which generates multiple design layouts based on your text input. This is a game-changer for those struggling with creative block or needing to rapidly produce multiple design options

Beyond these, Canva offers Magic Animate for adding dynamic elements to static designs, and Magic Grab for isolating subjects within images. These, along with other AI-driven functionalities, are continuously evolving, making Canva a powerful and versatile tool for designers and non-designers alike.

A list of some of the AI tools built into Canva is shown opposite. All are easy to access and even easier to use.

• Magic Design: This tool generates design ideas based on your text input. Want a social media post about a new product? Input details, and Canva suggests various layouts.

• Magic Write: Need compelling copy? This feature can generate different text styles, from formal to casual, based on your requirements.

• Magic Edit: This allows you to replace objects in an image with AI-generated elements. Imagine swapping a person's outfit or changing the background.

• Magic Eraser: Quickly remove unwanted elements from images with precision.

• Magic Enhance: Improve image quality with a single click, adjusting brightness, contrast, and more.

• Magic Resize: Automatically resize designs for different platforms without compromising quality.

• Magic Animate: Bring static designs to life with simple animations.