# Creating an avatar
### A perfect first activity for teachers and students who are new to Bloxels. 

#### DURATION: 30 Minutes
#### MATERIALS: Sketch grids, Markers, Bloxels Boards and Blocks



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There's no wrong way to create an avatar, and many students will naturally figure out how to do it. But to make this exercise a little more intentional, here are some ideas to bring to the activity:

- Have students make a list of their personality traits and/or things that they like. Once this is done, they can then begin to turn one or more items from that list into a sketch that represents them.
- When they have a sketch/idea that they are happy with, it’s now time to pull out the sketch grids and markers to turn the sketch into a 13x13 piece of pixel art that can be built on the Bloxels board. 
- After that, have the students build their art on the Gameboard and then bring it into the Bloxels EDU app (as a character) via the camera on the mobile device. Their avatar can be further edited in the app to change colors or fix any mistakes.
- Once they’re finished, the pixel art can be used as their very own avatar for their Bloxels EDU profile.

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#### Brainstorm

What about you makes you unique? What do you love more than anything?
Make a list of things that make you YOU.

#### Sketch

Now, what on that list will make a fun, funny, or cool image? Do you love hot
dogs more than anything on the planet? Then sketch some hot dogs. Do you
wish you were a superhero? Draw yourself in your superhero costume.

#### Sketch Grid

Now that you’ve got your sketch, it’s time to simplify it into pixel art. Use
the sketch grids to pixelize your sketch. Don’t be afraid to mess up! That’s
the point of this step. It usually takes a few tries to turn a sketch into the
perfect piece of pixel art.

#### Bloxels Board

Using your finished sketch grid pixel art drawing, take the blocks and
build it on the Gameboard. At this point it should be as simple as copying
what you’ve already made on the paper.

#### Capture
Once built, you can bring it into the Bloxels EDU app by capturing the Gameboard
on your mobile device. Make sure you capture it using the ‘Character Builder’
mode. Only characters can be used as avatars in Bloxels EDU.

#### Editing

The Bloxels EDU app can be used to edit your captured avatar Gameboard.
You can change colors, move blocks around, add or subtract blocks, and
fix any mistakes you may have made. This step is where you make sure
everything is exactly the way you want it. When you’re done you should
have a finished avatar.

#### Last step: Set Your Avatar

Now all you have to do is actually make it your avatar! Just tap on the
current avatar being used to bring up the menu. Once the menu is in view,
tap the avatar image again to bring up a list of all of your characters. Find
the character you just built and tap it! Now it’s your avatar!

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Bloxels Ideas and Story Card decks are a sure way to spark ideas and lead to more creativity in the classroom.

For More Ideas - Try our Card Decks!

Get ready to build more than 60 all-new characters and artwork in Bloxels. Each card features ready-to-use ideas to use in your games.


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Included are Character, Item, and Setting cards. Pull one of each type and combine them to generate unique, fun, or just plain goofy ideas for stories in Bloxels.  

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Get ready for a year of game building with these new and updated resources!

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Create an Avatar

Creating an avatar is a perfect first activity for teachers and students who are new to Bloxels!

Bloxels

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## What's a student account?

With an account, students can access the Bloxels app, personalize their avatars, access their creations across multiple devices, and share content with their peers. Teachers create the student accounts and distribute the login information to students. This also allows teachers to monitor and assess what students are creating and sharing.

 

## Is it a software license?

Not exactly. You can think of student accounts like "seats." When a student account is archived or released, it then opens up the seat for another student to use. The number of seats that a teacher has depends on their plan, which may be managed by an administrator. To see how many student accounts you have in your plan, visit your account page.

 


## Can student accounts be an email address? How does rostering work?

Currently, no email is associated with a student account. Student usernames and passwords are created in the Hub, and can be done in a batch via copy and paste. Usernames can be generic/anonymous, instead of being tied to personal names.

 

## Can the same student be in multiple groups/classes?

Yes. Keep in mind that for every class a student is in, it counts as a "seat" in use. 




## How do I Release Student Accounts?

When you release a student’s account to a parent or guardian, it becomes a personal account, which they can use on their own to keep building.

This also frees up a seat for you to use for another student. And when parents purchase the account, you will get an additional student account added to your current plan for free.

## Reuse Student Accounts

Student accounts are **not** permanently assigned to individual students. You can use the accounts with new students throughout the year. For example, if you have 25 student accounts (or "seats"), you could use them with a group of 25 students for the first part of the year, and then reuse them with another group of 25 for the second half of the year.

To do this, you can archive accounts that are no longer in use (or release them to parents) and create new ones for new students. Archived student accounts can be unarchived at a later date if you choose to bring the students and their work back into an active status.
  
 

## How do I setup student accounts for a library checkout?

When checking out a Bloxels kit, you will need to provide the Class Code, User name, and PIN to students so that they can login and use the Bloxels app. Download [the guide](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JGeGl9_cGruZMsnIqlUiznuQGMIaIKYF/view?usp=sharing) to see how this works.

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Student Accounts FAQ

Bloxels student accounts can be reused, released, and more. All your questions about student accounts, answered.

# Top Ways Teachers are Using Bloxels EDU

With Bloxels, students are empowered to create their own games and stories. It has “low floors, high ceilings, and wide walls” — in other words, simple enough to be used by novices (low floors), in complex ways by experts (high ceilings), and in inventive ways (wide walls) by all.

So as a teacher, where do you start?

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Where you and your students take Bloxels is up to you- and this can be a bit daunting. We’ve collected these top ways educators are using Bloxels as a way to inspire and help formulate your own approach.

Before we dive into examples, it’s good to start with an end in mind. What’s the outcome you’re looking for?

### Teach Traditional Literacies
When writing narrative into their games, students practice writing, reading, and analyzing different forms of narrative, including non-linear text.

### Level up creative expression and digital literacy
Games are a unique, creative medium. Creating games integrates many other mediums: art, animation, storytelling, sound, and the anticipation of interaction with the audience. 

### Practice 21st Century skills:
Although an individual student can make a game on their own, Bloxels thrives on teamwork. Making a game as a team means practicing the 4Cs: communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and of course, creativity. These are great skills no matter the century!

### Ignite interest in computer science
Bloxels is an empowering experience in which all kids can quickly make a digital game. This is a great first step in building the confidence and interest in exploring computer science at any age.

### Expand student choices for creation and demonstration of knowledge
Bloxels EDU games, stories, and the related student artifacts (storyboards, sketches, workbooks) can be incorporated into any approach. This can be particularly effective in reaching students where traditional means fall short (writing a report, taking a test.)

Here are a few ways you can make Bloxels fit in with your lesson plans while still leaving room for self-expression in your student’s work.



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### Story Blocks

Students use the white Story blocks to put text into their games. These messages can be facts, dialogue, or questions you can present to the player of your Bloxels games. These blocks are the simplest connection to traditional writing and language arts- check out some of the ways in the examples below.

### SHOW WHAT YOU KNOW
Using story blocks, your students can enter in facts about whatever topic you’re teaching. This can apply to any class subject. Take a look at this game, for example:

Of course this game goes above just using story blocks - a few customized bits of art make this game more effective than if it did not feature Abraham Lincoln as the protagonist, his log cabin, or pennies. But this is not always necessary. 

Students can make games to “show what they know” about a topic… or you can make one to teach them something in a memorable way using this approach.

Using the same approach, here is a game about a completely different subject:


This game takes the player through outer space, covering facts about Mercury, Venus, asteroids and more. This example, however, introduces challenges to the player, making it much more interesting to play. If the player touches the hot surface of Venus, they will take damage. 

In this way, the game goes beyond just embedding facts, and starts to connect the concepts of space into the game itself. It’s also pretty fun to play!

### ENIVIRONMENTAL STORYTELLING
A unique aspect of Bloxels compared to other tools is that it requires you to design a level in order to tell your story, but the design of the level alone can tell a story. As students build a world, they can apply what they have learned in interesting ways beyond words - think of the level itself like an interactive visual aid. Using the different block types and custom art in creative ways, students are able to create immersive and engaging games that are also educational. Take a look at this game about the respiratory system created by a student:


This student could have just told the player where an air molecule goes while simply having them move left to right, but instead the creator makes the player takes control of an air molecule and actually has to make its way through the trachea, lungs and eventually reach the blood all while avoiding tar and other harmful things. This is a great application of these concepts, and this game shows a great job showing this student’s understanding about a number of things related to the respiratory system.

Tar as enemies enforces the dangerous effects of smoking

“Healthy Foods” as healing items enforces the importance of eating well and how it helps the respiratory system

Branching path in the level design shows this student understands that there are two lungs

The end goal of the level is to reach the blood - once the oxygen molecule has finally reached the blood after going through the alveoli, the player has “won.”

### PICK-A-PATH QUIZ
Similar to telling a story through the layout of a level, you can build “true” and “false” options into your level. Many math classes have used this technique, such as in the example below created by a student: 


The student has designed this game so that the correct path will allow the player to continue through until the end. The incorrect answer will lead them down a hazardous pit, forcing the player to start over and try again. This is a great way to test your player’s knowledge while introducing real risk/reward. After getting all answers correct, the player reaches the end. To top it all off, the student was able to have fun and express themselves by creating a silly backstory to this quiz that has nothing to do with math while still staying on topic.

This doesn’t apply to just math classes. Students have also used this method to test fellow classmates’ knowledge on book characters they have read about, or to test their memory about events that have happened in history.

### INTERACTIVE BOOK REPORT
You can create a full-fledged book report or recreation of a classic story in game form. By building a game, you’re able to recreate not just the dialogue, but the setting and the characters. This allows students to analyze a character in a way that they may not have been possible through writing a paper. Pay attention to their design decisions. Does Captian Ahab throw fireballs just because they thought it looked cool, or did the student cleverly give Ahab this ability to symbolize his burning desire to get revenge on the white whale? Much like you would expect your students to analyze these stories, you can just as well open up a discussion with your students about their creative game design decisions. 

Many students have created games based on books they have read, such as Hatchet, Captain Underpants, Lord of the Rings, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Percy Jackson and many, many more. There are also many books based on epic poems, fables, and mythology.

### CREATIVE WRITING
This one is the most common type of game in Bloxels. Many kids love creating their own characters and their own stories. Sometimes their stories are based on things that have happened to them, other times it will be about a superhero character they have imagined. There is no shortage of creativity in the Bloxels community. Some of the most impressive Bloxels games were created when kids were given self-directing freedom to create what they wanted.

### HAVE A NEW IDEA? LET US KNOW!
We would love to hear more about how you and your students are extending these basic ways to use Bloxels. Let us know at [education@bloxelsbuilder.com](mailto:education@bloxelsbuilder.com) and we’d love to add your story to the list!


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Activity Ideas with Bloxels

Ideas for using Bloxels with your students

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Release Student Accounts

You can let students take home their Bloxels EDU creations, and earn free seats in the process.


Resources

Getting Started Guide (New 2023)

Featured Resources

Create an Avatar

Student Accounts FAQ

Activity Ideas with Bloxels

Release Student Accounts