DrawBird for the class
Using DrawBird in class is very easy. No accounts, no email, no setup. A browser projected on the board and the students' tablets or computers are enough. Every student draws a bird and they all fly in the same sky. When kids find their own bird, the mood in the room changes.
Which ages?
The drawing part suits everyone from preschool up. The pages with bird facts are for 2nd grade of primary school and above. In middle school you can connect it to topics like "classification of living things", "migration" and "habitat".
A 40-minute lesson plan
- Warm-up (5 min): Ask which birds they have seen in the school yard or through the window and write them on the board. Then read one together from the Birds of Türkiye page.
- Observation (5 min): Look at the beak, wing and tail of the bird you picked. Ask "What is this beak good for eating?" It usually turns into a nice chat.
- Drawing lesson (10 min): Project one of the drawing lessons and follow the steps together. Explain the dashed line: the part above it flaps like a wing, the part below stays as the body.
- Everybody draws (10 min): Each student draws their own bird, gives it a name and hits "fly!".
- Shared sky (7 min): Open the Sky tab on the board. As the birds arrive, the class recognizes each other's birds. Turn on feed mode and drop some food for guaranteed laughter.
- Wrap-up (3 min): Close the day by asking "Why does your bird have that kind of beak?" If you like, give a bird-watching task at home as homework.
Important: if an inappropriate bird shows up
Birds enter the shared sky the moment they're flown, so birds drawn in class show up on the board right away. An admin looks at new birds every day. But if an inappropriate bird shows up in the middle of the lesson, tap it and press Report. A new bird comes down from the sky after two reports. If you want to show only the class's birds during the lesson, create a flock, add the birds to it and open the flock's link.
Child safety
- No name, email, phone or password is asked for. Remind students not to write their real names as their artist name.
- Inappropriate words in bird, artist and flock names are blocked automatically.
- Every bird can be flagged with "Report". Inappropriate drawings come down from the sky and go to the admin.
- No ads, no chat, no private messages.
- Details: terms of use, privacy, KVKK notice.
A few tips
- Drawing with a finger on a tablet is easy. Set the thickness to 8–10.
- Use the bucket tool to color a shape in one go. Kids love it.
- Since the whole class is on the same network, sending many birds quickly one after another may bring up a "Slow down a bit!" warning. Waiting a minute is enough.
- Create a flock, add the class's birds to it and share the link with parents. Something like "Class 5-B's sky".
- In a crowded class, raise the "Bird count" in the Sky to 40.