What are Word Clouds?
Word clouds are basically art created from words. They can be arranged in random abstract patterns or organized into shapes.
Word clouds are great for simple poetry projects or to brainstorm vocabulary words.
Wordle - Simple Word Clouds
Wordle is a quick and easy-to-use word cloud creator. However, be advised that it may not work on some computers, especially school ones. (It uses Java, a program that can have security issues.)
- Go to the Wordle website and click the "Create" button at the top of the page.
- Type your text in the big empty white box and push the "Go" button
- Customize your cloud with the options at the top of the screen.
- There is a "Print" button at the bottom of the screen, as well as a public "Save" button that will save it to an online gallery.
- To save to your own computer, try taking a screenshot with the Snipping Tool program or by pressing the Print Screen button on your keyboard and then pasting the image into Paint or Microsoft Word.
Tagxedo - Complex Word Clouds in Shapes
Tagxedo is a great word cloud creator for creating shapes composed of your words.
- Go to the Tagxedo website and click on the orange "Create" button.
- To enter your words, click on the "Load" button.
- To change the shape of your project, click on the ">" triangle button next to "Shape."
- To save your project, click on the "Save | Share" button.
ABCya! - Simple Word Clouds
ABCya! has a word cloud creator is quick and easy to use.- Go to the ABCya! website and click on a grade level of 2 or above. Look for the Word Clouds activity in the list.
- Type your words into the big white box towards the bottom of the page.
- To keep two words together, tie them together with a "~".
- Click on the circle / arrow button to create your word cloud.
- To save your project, click on the "Save" button.