10 great ways to use Figma in the classroom

Today’s guest post comes from Lauren McCann of Figma Education.

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It’s back-to-school season, and we’re thrilled to be partnering with Figma to bring professional-grade design and collaboration tools to Microsoft 365 schools! Admins and school leaders Click here to get started.

In today’s fast-moving world, skills like collaboration, creativity, and problem solving are more essential than ever. That’s why we’re giving all K-12 educators and students in Microsoft schools free access to Figma and FigJam Enterprise tiers. Figma and FigJam are design and collaboration software used by professional designers, engineers, and makers of all kinds. They help students build together in a fun, interactive space, while also preparing them for future career opportunities.

5 Creative Ways to Engage Students Using FigJam

FigJam, Figma’s digital whiteboard tool, is a versatile collaboration tool that can bring new dynamics to your classroom. Its intuitive design, flexibility, and fun features make it suitable for a wide range of activities across a variety of subjects. Teachers and students can use sticky notes, stamps, pen tools, diagramming tools, stamps, and interactive multimedia to make learning fun, engaging, and collaborative.

Here are five creative ways teachers can use FigJam to engage students and facilitate learning:

1. Community Building ‘Getting to Know Me’ Activity

Use FigJam at the beginning of the school year or when forming new groups to help students get to know each other. Using FigJam’s sticky notes and drawing tools, students can easily share hobbies, favorite books, or fun facts in a more interactive way. This helps build a positive classroom culture and creates a sense of community from the beginning.

Try using the following template.

2. ELA/History Activities

For English language arts or history, FigJam is a dynamic graphic organizer, a great tool for brainstorming, connecting ideas and topics, planning, and organizing thoughts. Students can collaborate on a novel’s plot, create a character analysis board, or even create a timeline of historical events. Teachers can assign group projects where students organize key ideas from a text or discuss historical perspectives, and use FigJam’s collaborative features to capture ideas in real time.

Try using the following template.

3. Science and Math Activities

In STEM subjects, FigJam can be used to problem-solve, model, and visualize complex concepts. In math, students can annotate word problems, use digital manipulatives, draw diagrams, or collaborate on equations to analyze problems. In science, FigJam can be used to create concept maps for topics such as ecosystems or the periodic table. Teachers can also integrate visual tools such as flowcharts to show processes such as photosynthesis or the steps of a scientific experiment.

Try using the following template.

4. Classroom Connect and Brain Break Activities

FigJam is great for creating class atmosphere and bonding beyond academics. Teachers can set up simple games, icebreakers, or fun brainstorming sessions where students can come up with silly answers, vote for a class nickname, or design a collaborative mural. Activities like “Two Truths and a Lie” or a whole-class fiction book are easy to set up, encourage participation, and make learning fun.

Try using the following template.

5. Check your understanding activities

FigJam’s collaborative boards allow teachers to conduct informal assessments in real time. They can use the space for “exit tickets” where students post one thing they learned, or they can use the space to gauge understanding with quick quizzes and polls. This approach encourages participation and provides immediate feedback on student understanding, helping teachers identify areas that need further explanation.

Try using the following template.

By incorporating FigJam into everyday classroom activities, teachers can make learning more interactive, engaging, collaborative, and fun for students in all subjects. Whether for academic purposes or simply to build classroom community, FigJam’s versatile features provide endless possibilities for creative engagement.

5 Creative Figma Design Activities for Students

Figma is a powerful design tool that’s great for both professional work and classroom activities that nurture both creative and technical skills. Teams across industries use Figma to create user interfaces and user experiences for websites, apps, and digital products. Figma provides tools to create wireframes, prototypes, and high-fidelity designs.

Here are five fun ways to use Figma to engage your students and build future-ready skills and design literacy.

1. **Student Trading Cards**

Start the first week of class with an activity that combines getting to know your classmates and learning Figma basics. Have students create digital trading cards that mimic social media-style profiles. Using Figma’s auto-layout and components, students can design profiles that showcase their interests, hobbies, and fun facts. Students can get a peek at each other’s design processes and styles by working on the same file. You can even set up a gallery to review each other’s work at the end!

Figma Skill Level: Beginner

Key features of Figma: Auto layout, Multiplayer Editing

Duplicate the file

2. Make a heart

This activity is perfect for building confidence with Figma tools. Have students create a heart using the pen tool, layout grid, and various properties, then challenge them to customize it. This is a quick way to introduce key Figma features that will be useful for future design projects.

As a fun twist, students can use Figma’s Smart Animate feature to make hearts move and beat. This activity will not only help students become familiar with the design tool, but also introduce them to the basics of animation and motion design.

Figma Skill Level: Beginner

Key features of Figma: pen tool, Properties panel, Layout Grid

Duplicate the file

3. Figma tangram

Using the classic tangram puzzle, students can explore shapes, geometry, and creativity in Figma. After a brief lesson on the history of tangram, students are asked to arrange the seven traditional pieces into recognizable animals or other shapes.

Encourage them to experiment with creating abstract designs. For an added challenge, students can research other tangram puzzles to design their own reusable tangram sets, enhancing their creativity and research skills.

Figma Skill Level: Beginner

Key features of Figma: componenthow Rotate and Align

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4. Loading animation

This activity uses a familiar experience: waiting for a page to load. Ask students to think about their favorite (and least favorite) loading animations and design their own. This exercise gets students thinking about how to visually represent waiting or processing within an interactive app. It’s a great introduction to more conceptual and technical work in interaction design.

Whether it’s a simple rotating icon or a more elaborate animation, students can get creative and immerse themselves in the user experience aspect of the design.

Figma Skill Level: Intermediate

Key features of Figma: Prototype production, Smart Animate

Duplicate the file

5. Mobile Magazine Prototype

In this lesson, students will create a simple mobile layout for a magazine, and combine the layout and prototype to design an interactive experience. After laying out the magazine content gallery, they can prototype the navigation to simulate how a user flips through the pages.

Figma Skill Level: Intermediate

Key features of Figma: Layout Grid, Prototype production

Duplicate the file

These activities will allow students to step into the roles of UX designers and real estate agents. Each project will teach students core design skills in Figma while also encouraging creativity and collaboration. Whether they’re creating custom trading cards or designing interactive prototypes, students will gain practical skills and a deeper understanding of the design process.

Lauren McCann

Figma Education Director