Just in time for Halloween, this fun activity lets students create digital jack-o’-lanterns. In all, nine different faces are possible. The artwork is very three dimensional and realistic. Once a jack-o’-lantern is finished, students add a lighted candle, and finally gets to see what their creation will look like on Halloween night. Bonuses: Zip files of both the art and creepy sounds!

The freeware sound editor Audacity (Mac/Win) is powerful and easy to use. After a short time with it, I could record, change the pitch so that my voice sounded like a baritone or a child’s voice, convert a sound effect to match the format of my recording, and paste in my sound effect after the recording to create one long track. Get Audacity, a tutorial, and a link to 5,000 free sounds!