In our Year 3/4 classroom at Stirling East Primary School, we’ve been exploring the creative potential of Keynote to blend digital art and animation. This term, students designed their own digital self-portraits in Keynote, then transformed them into animated GIFs — combining creativity, technology, and personal expression.
The project began with a discussion about identity and visual storytelling. Students sketched ideas for their portraits, thinking about how to represent their personalities through colour, background, and expression. They then recreated these portraits using Keynote’s drawing and shape tools, layering elements to add depth and individuality.
Once the portraits were complete, students learned how to animate different parts of their designs — such as blinking eyes, waving hands, or glowing backgrounds — using Keynote’s built-in animation features. Finally, they exported their finished products as animated GIFs, ready to share on Seesaw and our classroom display.
The results were amazing. Each student produced something uniquely “them,” and the process gave them valuable practice in digital creativity, layering, and animation sequencing. Many went beyond the basics, experimenting with movement, timing, and transitions to bring personality to their work.
This project has shown how Keynote can be a powerful creative tool — not just for presentations, but as a platform for art, storytelling, and digital expression. It was simple to implement, deeply engaging, and sparked endless curiosity about what’s possible with Apple tools in the classroom.
October 14, 2025 .
English
This is brilliant Zac! Loved the download example. What a great way for students to bring art and creativity to personality introductions and get to know “me” art. The animations are a wonderful way to add fun and interactivity to the art. Thanks for the example!
As a former history teacher I can also see this being used to tell a story or to introduce a historic character. Lots of historic knowledge or research can be added to the moveable animations in the background.
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