Adding Text and Images to Slides
Practicing adding and formatting text and inserting images into presentation slides.
About This Topic
Adding text and images to slides teaches Year 2 pupils core digital content creation skills. They practise inserting titles, body text, and relevant images into presentation software, then format elements by adjusting font sizes, colours, and alignment. This directly supports the UK National Curriculum's KS1 Computing objectives for creating and formatting digital content using IT tools. Pupils design slides that combine these elements effectively, such as a title about their favourite animal, descriptive text, and a supporting picture.
These activities build foundational multimedia literacy and visual communication skills. Pupils evaluate how font choices affect readability, for example larger sizes for titles versus smaller for details, and justify image selections that enhance rather than distract from the message. Connections to English and art curricula reinforce clear writing and thoughtful design principles, preparing pupils for collaborative projects like class presentations.
Active learning shines here through hands-on software exploration and immediate peer feedback. When pupils create, share screens, and critique each other's slides in pairs or groups, they experiment freely, spot readability issues in real time, and refine their work. This approach makes abstract formatting rules concrete and boosts confidence in using technology purposefully.
Key Questions
- Design a slide that effectively combines a title, text, and an image.
- Evaluate the impact of different font sizes and colors on readability.
- Justify the choice of an image to support the text on a slide.
Learning Objectives
- Design a slide that effectively integrates a title, body text, and an image.
- Evaluate the impact of font size and color choices on the readability of text on a slide.
- Justify the selection of an image based on its relevance and support for the slide's text.
- Demonstrate the ability to format text by changing font size, color, and alignment.
Before You Start
Why: Students need to be familiar with using a mouse and keyboard to navigate software and input text.
Why: Students should have prior experience opening the software, creating a new slide, and typing basic text.
Key Vocabulary
| Slide | A single page in a presentation, which can contain text, images, and other elements. |
| Title | The main heading of a slide, usually larger and more prominent than other text. |
| Body Text | The main content or information on a slide, typically in smaller font than the title. |
| Font Size | The height of text characters, measured in points. Larger sizes are often used for titles to make them stand out. |
| Font Color | The color applied to text characters, which can affect readability and visual appeal. |
| Alignment | How text is positioned on the slide, such as left, right, center, or justified. |
Watch Out for These Misconceptions
Common MisconceptionBigger fonts are always better for all text.
What to Teach Instead
Pupils often enlarge all text, making slides crowded. Active group critiques, where they view peers' slides from afar and read aloud, reveal that titles need large fonts while details suit smaller sizes. This hands-on evaluation builds judgement on balance and hierarchy.
Common MisconceptionAny colourful image makes a slide exciting.
What to Teach Instead
Children grab bright images without linking to text content. Pair sharing sessions prompt justification: 'Does this picture help explain your words?' Discussion refines choices, showing relevance trumps flashiness for effective communication.
Common MisconceptionBright colours on text improve readability.
What to Teach Instead
Pupils pick clashing colours like yellow on white. Whole-class projection tests, where everyone rates legibility, correct this through collective feedback. Pupils then reformat, learning contrast rules via trial and error.
Active Learning Ideas
See all activitiesPairs Challenge: My Pet Slide
Pupils work in pairs to open presentation software and create one slide about a pet or animal. They add a bold title, three bullet points of facts, and insert a relevant image from the computer's library. Pairs then swap devices to suggest one formatting improvement for readability.
Small Groups: Readability Relay
Divide class into small groups with shared devices. Each group formats the same slide text in three ways: small font light colour, large font dark colour, and mismatched styles. Groups test readability by reading aloud from 2 metres away, then vote on the clearest version and explain why.
Whole Class: Image Match-Up
Project a class topic slide with text but no image. Pupils suggest and justify image ideas verbally, then vote using mini whiteboards. Teacher inserts the winning image; class discusses how it supports the text before pupils recreate it individually on their devices.
Individual: Design Your Own
Pupils independently build a slide on a summer holiday theme, adding title, two sentences, and one image. They format for readability and self-evaluate using a checklist: 'Is my title big and bold? Does the image match my words?' Share one highlight with a partner.
Real-World Connections
- Graphic designers use presentation software daily to create visual materials for client meetings, product launches, and marketing campaigns, carefully choosing fonts and images to convey specific messages.
- Teachers create presentations for their students to explain complex topics, using clear titles, concise text, and relevant images to aid understanding and engagement.
- News reporters and bloggers often use presentation software to structure visual stories, combining headlines, key facts, and impactful photographs to inform the public.
Assessment Ideas
In pairs, students present their designed slide to their partner. The partner identifies one element that is easy to read and one element that could be improved, explaining why. The student then makes one adjustment based on the feedback.
Students are given a blank slide template. They must add a title, two sentences of body text, and one image. On the back, they write one sentence explaining why they chose a specific font size for their title and one sentence explaining why they chose their image.
Teacher displays several slides with varying font sizes and colors. Students hold up fingers to indicate if the text is 'easy to read' (1 finger) or 'hard to read' (2 fingers), and briefly explain their choice for one example.