Swift Playgrounds: The Perfect Coding Tool for Back-to-School Community Building

Are you looking for a back-to-school community building activity or icebreaker to help you and your students get to know each other? Try something new and use the About Me app playground template in the Swift Playgrounds app on an iPad or Mac to help students quickly create an app they can use to introduce themselves to their classmates while learning about Swift coding and app creation.     

Finger tapping button on iPad app

Steps:

1. Open the App Store and install the free Swift Playgrounds app on your iPad or Mac by tapping the Get button. If your students use iPads with Managed Apple IDs, talk to your technology department about getting Swift Playgrounds added to your Self Service approved app catalog.

2. Tap on the See All link on the lower right side of the More Playgrounds section.

3. Tap the Get button for the About Me playground in the App Gallery section.

4. Open the Content View by tapping the Preview button in the toolbar so that you can see your app content update as you walk through the scaffolded app creation process.

5. Lead students through the app creation process step-by-step by following the built-in Guide bite-sized directions that explain the code, explore and change elements in the provided SwiftUI code as you go, and watch your app update in live time in the preview window. If you lose the Guide directions, tap the Guide button in the toolbar. 

Guide and Preview button location in Swift Playgrounds About Me app template

Dig Deeper Into Swift Playgrounds

To learn more about Swift Playgrounds and for explanations of the icons on the toolbar, check out the Learn How To Use Swift Playgrounds page in the Apple Learning Center.

Share App Creations With The Classroom Community

After students have created their About Me app, how can they share their apps since they can’t publish them to the App Store? In a few simple steps, they can create a screen recording of their app functioning and upload and share their video to a gallery or discussion post in your learning management system, allowing everyone to check out each other’s app videos and build community in your classroom. 

Finger tapping buttons on iPad app

Screen Recording Directions

For step-by-step directions on screen recording, check out these Apple Support posts:

Cross-Curricular Application Ideas:

Use the About Me app playground template to help students represent their learning in fun ways:

  • English Language Arts - create app for book or story characters
  • Social Studies/History - create app for important figures from history
  • Science - create app for organs, planets, biomes, and more


3 replies

July 18, 2024

I love this lesson especially during back to school. This would also be great for PD for staff so they become more comfortable coding in Swift! Thanks for sharing Chris

July 19, 2024

What an incredible idea. I had no idea this was even possible. I love how easy it is even for teachers who do not teach coding. Thanks for sharing!

August 15, 2024

What age/grade level is this appropriate for? Did your students have experience with Swift Playgrounds before this?

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