The 2DIY script archive

Communication Methods Activities

 

The Growth of Communication Methods Cloze Procedure

Sorting Communication Methods into Old and Modern

Inventions Timeline

A story with activities

This is an example of how to combine story telling with interactive activities. As you read through the story of Red Riding Hood, there are a few activities to complete before moving on with the story. (One activity is a "zoomed-in journey" task to the cottage, collecting several items, and the other is a "maze" activity running away from the wolf).

Note: to move the bookworm across the page in this activity use the arrow keys (left /right to move and up to jump)

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Writing Stories - tips & tricks

If you have read the previous post "Writing Stories using 2DIY", or looked at "The Three Pigs (a story)" activity you will have realised that you can tell stories, with interaction built into them.

Here are a few tips and tricks that will help you make your own.

* On each page, there is an interactive element that needs to be completed before the next part of the story can be read. In the Three Pigs example, you need to guide the bookworm across the page to the arrow. The arrow will need to be given a point value of "1" in order to complete the page. 

By default this is already set to "auto" and is not a problem, but will be when you create a title page (see further down).

* It is important to use the following order when adding elements to the page. Firstly, place the bricks (in a platform task) on screen, and then import, or paste, the main character image. Next import, or paste, the background into the main screen. Then add the text to the page (choose a dark colour). Finally, add a light coloured box over the top of the text - the text will still remain on top of the box when you have finished adding the elements. BACKGROUND -- TEXT -- BOX is an important order.

* You can only add text on one line, it will not wrap around onto a second line. You need to add each line separately, but they can all be dragged around into the position you want them to be. You can also change the size of the text using the large and small "A" at the bottom of the screen whilst in text mode.

 *The first page of the story needs to have a title screen. If you wish to use images at the side of the title page, you will need to drag several apple / monster or sun elements onto the side of the main screen (but not into it). This will then allow you to use the images in your title border, but they will not show up in on the page. 

Doing this with the "apple" elements however causes a problem with the "auto" finish setting for completing an activity. You must set the finish conditions to "point" and choose "1" -making sure that the one element on the page (in my example, the arrow) has a point value of "1". 

*Make sure that all other pages within your story do not have a title screen, so that the story moves straight from page to page.

*Save each page of the story as a separate .2iy file, and once completed, use the level manager activity to load all the .2iy files into the order of the story, and finally save the whole story to enjoy.

Of course, within this level manager you can add a "traditional" 2DIY activity / game / puzzle that must be completed before the story can continue. You can create stories with games within in them - brilliant! (however, be careful not to include the puzzle / jigsaw activities as they won't work in the level manager).

Oh, and if I can find a way to change the text at the end of each page from "Score" to "Page" I will post it here!

The Three Pigs (a story)

Note: to move the bookworm across the page in this activity use the arrow keys (left /right to move and up to jump)

 

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I shall post an article on some of the tips and tricks I've discovered whilst making this 2DIY story idea shortly.

The features of a bird

My third and final activity for Big School Birdwatch is a labelling task. You can also try a birdsong matching task, and an identification quiz.

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