Drawing on a canvas

Use a canvas when the point is how things connect: the water cycle, a food chain, the steps of a process. You draw it yourself, so it shows exactly what the lesson needs and nothing more.

The saved drawing appears in the worksheet as a picture. Students look at it; they do not draw on it.

1. In a worksheet, use the + and choose Canvas.

2. Click Create canvas to open the editor.

3. Choose a Canvas Size, for example Square (1:1).

4. Choose the Diagram shape tool and drag on the canvas to draw a block. Type its label straight away, then press Tab to finish typing. With the block selected, set the Font size in the toolbar that appears for it.

5. Choose the Connector tool and drag from the edge of one block to the edge of another to join them with an arrow. While the arrow is selected, Marker Size in the side panel changes the size of the arrowhead.

6. Click Save. The drawing appears in the worksheet.

7. Click Add caption under the drawing and give it a title.

To change it later, open the item with its pencil and click Edit canvas. Choose the Text tool and click a label to edit it, then Save again. The editor also has other shapes, lines, free text, a pencil and images, and Hand-drawn makes new shapes look sketched.

Students see the saved drawing with its caption. Clicking it opens it larger, which helps on a phone. They cannot change the drawing, and there is nothing to answer.

• Use large labels. The drawing is scaled down to fit the worksheet, and small text becomes hard to read.

• A square canvas fits both wide screens and phones well.

• Keep labels to one or two words, and let the arrows show the order.

• Press Tab, not Escape, to finish typing a label: Escape starts closing the editor, and if anything is unsaved you are asked whether to discard it.