Getting Started with Canva – 10 Simple Tips for Educators

12 Tech Tips of Christmas 2025 – Evolve EdTech

Well, hello everybody and welcome to Day Two of the 12 Tech Tips of Christmas for 2025 with Evolve EdTech.

If we haven’t met before, my name is Tristan Herron. I’m the Future-Ready Teaching Specialist here at Evolve EdTech, and your host for this festive season of EdTech goodness, otherwise known as the 12 Tech Tips of Christmas.

Today, we’re diving into a tool I absolutely love — and one that I genuinely believe every educator should be using: Canva.

If you’ve opened Canva before, felt a bit overwhelmed and quietly closed the tab… this one’s for you.

What Is Canva (and Why Should Teachers Care)?

Canva is an easy-to-use online design platform that helps educators create eye-catching, professional-looking resources in minutes.

With Canva, you can design:

• Worksheets

• Slide decks and presentations

• Certificates and awards

• Class posters and displays

• Social media posts for your school

• Videos and interactive learning tasks

For many teachers, Canva replaces multiple tools. Instead of hopping between four different programs, you can do almost everything in one place. That’s a big win for your time, energy and sanity.

Canva for Education: Don’t Forget the Free Upgrade

Here’s one of my favourite parts.

As a business, Evolve EdTech pays for Canva Pro because it’s part of our brand and workflow. But as a classroom teacher, you can access Canva for Education — which gives you access to almost everything I pay for — for free.

With Canva for Education, you get:

• Premium templates

• Pro elements, graphics and images

• Classroom-friendly collaboration features

• The ability to share designs with students safely

If you haven’t already:

1. Head to Google and search “Canva for Education”

2. Check your eligibility

3. See if your school, system or district already has access

It’s one of those small wins that can make a big difference to your workload.

10 Simple Canva Tips for Educators New to the Platform

Today’s focus is on helping beginner Canva users feel confident. If you’ve never used Canva or only tinkered with it briefly, these tips are for you.

1. Start with Templates

You don’t have to design from scratch.

• Click Templates on the Canva homepage

• Use the search bar and type things like:

  • “Classroom rules”

  • “Lesson plan”

  • “Newsletter”

• Choose a design you like and click Customise this template

From there, simply swap out:

• Text

• Colours

• Images

• Icons

Templates save you a truckload of time and remove that “blank page panic”.

2. Set Up a Simple Brand Kit

Even if you’re “just” using Canva for your own classroom, a basic brand kit helps everything feel cohesive.

Head to Brand on the left-hand menu and you can:

• Add your school logo

• Choose a simple colour palette (e.g. your school colours)

• Set default fonts for headings and body text

Then, whenever you create something new, you can stick to:

• The same fonts

• The same colours

• The same overall look

It’s brilliant for:

• Consistent classroom slides

• Faculty documents

• Parent communication templates

3. Use Drag-and-Drop Elements

Canva’s design tools are built around drag and drop.

From the Elements tab, you can quickly add:

• Shapes

• Icons

• Illustrations

• Photos

• Lines

• Stickers

• Videos and backgrounds

Just click an element to add it to the page, then drag it where you want it. Resize by dragging the corners. It’s simple and intuitive — and perfect if you’re not a “designer”.

4. Align, Arrange and Tidy Like a Pro

Want your designs to look polished, not messy?

Canva makes alignment easy:

• Use the purple guide lines to centre objects

• Select an element and use Position to:

  • Centre items horizontally or vertically

  • Space things evenly

  • Move elements forward or backward in layers

This is especially handy when building:

• Title slides

• Information posters

• Step-by-step instructions

A few clicks can turn “thrown together” into “professional”.

5. Use the Search Bar and Keywords

Don’t scroll endlessly through icons and images.

Use the search bar in Elements and Designs:

• Type in what you need, e.g.

  • “Australia”

  • “Laptop”

  • “Science”

  • “Classroom”

• Click Graphics or Photos to narrow things down

Good keyword searching saves time and helps you find exactly what you’re after for your subject, topic or theme.

6. Group Elements That Belong Together

If you’ve ever nudged one box out of place and messed up an entire layout, grouping will be your new best friend.

To group items:

1. Click and drag to select multiple elements

2. Click Group

Now they move, resize and rotate as one unit. This is perfect for:

• Logos made from multiple shapes

• Reusable headings

• Label + icon combinations

You can always Ungroup later if you need to adjust something.

7. Lock the Bits You Don’t Want to Move

Accidentally dragging your background graphic around is… not fun.

To avoid that:

• Select the background or element you want fixed

• Click the Lock icon

Now it stays in place while you move everything else. This is especially useful when:

• Designing worksheets

• Building templates for repeated use

• Sharing designs with students so they only edit certain parts

8. Use the Colour Picker for Consistency

If you want everything to match — your logo, your banner, your text boxes — the colour picker is the way to go.

You can:

• Click on a shape or text

• Open the Colour menu

• Use the Eyedropper to pick a colour from:

  • A logo

  • An image

  • A background

This keeps your resources visually consistent and intentional, rather than a rainbow of random choices.

9. Explore Tables, Frames and Layouts

For more structured content, try:

• Tables – great for lesson plans, behaviour charts, checklists

• Frames – let you drop images into specific shapes (perfect for student photos or visual examples)

• Layouts – pre-designed slide or page structures you can tweak

These tools help keep information organised and easy for students to follow.

10. Download the Right File Type

Once you’ve created something you’re proud of, you’ll want to share or print it.

Click Share → Download and choose:

• PDF (Print) – best for worksheets and handouts

• PNG or JPEG – best for images, posters or slides you want as pictures

• MP4 – for videos

• PowerPoint – if you’d like to present via PowerPoint instead

You can also:

• Download all pages or

• Select specific pages only

This is handy if you only need a single slide or worksheet out of a larger design.

Final Thoughts: You Don’t Need to Be a Designer

Canva is not about perfection. It’s about:

• Communicating clearly

• Presenting information in engaging ways

• Saving yourself time

• Giving students modern, visual learning experiences

You can start with just one template, one poster, or one slide deck. Over time, you’ll develop your own style and confidence. Before long, your students will probably be asking, “Sir/Miss, did you make that in Canva?”

(And yes, that’s a very real teacher joy.)

Join Us for More Tech Tips of Christmas

That’s Day Two of the 12 Tech Tips of Christmas for 2025 done and dusted!

If you’d like to:

• See these tips demonstrated step-by-step

• Watch how I use Canva live inside the Evolve EdTech account

• Revisit the walkthrough while you try things yourself

Head over to the Evolve EdTech YouTube channel and:

• Subscribe to the channel

• Give the video a thumbs up so more educators can find it

We’re building a community of tech-ready teachers who want to prepare young people for a rapidly changing, technology-rich world — and you’re very welcome in that community.

Join us again tomorrow for Day Three of the 12 Tech Tips of Christmas.