Bring the Classroom to Life with Do Ink’s Green Screen App

Have you ever wanted to try green screening but didn’t know where to start? Then try the $2.99 iPad app Green Screen by Do Ink! It’s simple, easy and fun to use! There is no account to create. Just install the app and follow these 5 steps:

  1.  Set up your green screen background for your videos. You can use a professional green screen, a party city green tablecloth, green bulletin board paper, a green sheet or a pizza box tabletop green screen with green Starbucks straws to support small props (thanks to the KTI 2015 lead learners for this idea!) Be creative and experiment with color and lighting to get the best possible video.
  1. Record your videos with the green screen as a background using your basic iPad camera app. If you are doing multiple projects at the same time, you may want to create multiple albums in your photo app. One album for each project will help keep you organized. When ALL of the videos have been recorded it is time for the third step.
  1. Choose your background photo or video. You can use the iPad camera app to take a background photo or video or import a picture from the internet. Imagine the possibilities: outer space, maps, historical places, under the sea, gardens, national landmarks, etc.  
  1. Open up the Do Ink app and look for the import areas at the bottom of the screen. Add your background photo or video to the bottom row. Add your first video to the middle row. After adding the first video, slide it over to allow the second video to be added (use the red line as a guide). Go ahead and follow that process, adding and sliding, until all of your videos have been imported on the same line. Watch this tutorial for further instruction.
  1. Save your video to the camera roll, and then email it or upload it to YouTube, Facebook, or Vimeo. Share the link on Twitter or email to parents.    

So let’s talk project ideas!

For Kindergarten, I read the book Leaf Man and had the kids design their own leaf man. They wrote one sentence to tell the direction their leaf will fly (north, south, east or west) and what it will fly over (a house, school, field, bridge, etc). We used the pizza box table top green screen with green Starbucks straws to complete this project.

For First Grade, I read the book The Great Kapok Tree. The kids chose an animal from the story, did research on Pebble Go and wrote one favorite fact. I printed small versions of their animals and used the table-top green screen pizza box and Starbucks straws to create this project. You can find these projects on the @WTEchies Twitter account. 

For Fifth Grade, I have done green screen projects using iMovie. The students dressed up as Revolutionary War heroes and gave speeches. I added a background behind each character so it appeared the kids were standing in a historical place related to their character.  

You can use green screen technology for any subject. Put your students anywhere in the world, demonstrate science concepts, reinforce math concepts, bring stories and vocabulary words to life, and so much more. Green screen projects are great for student voice, choice, and creativity, so download Green Screen by Do Ink today and GO GREEN!

If you want to learn more about using video in the classroom, check out Eduspire’s course, Creating Effective Video for the Classroom, which includes a GoPro camera for each participant. 

Eduspire’s iPads in Education 2 course also includes a module on constructing green screen activities using the iPad.