Prints Charming:
Preparing Printables with Canva
This article is written by ChatGPT based on webinar transcript and participant exit tickets.
June 3, 2026
What if creating personalized classroom materials took minutes instead of hours?
That was the theme of "Prints Charming: Preparing Printables with Canva", a lively Camp Plug and Play 20.0 session led by Tony Vincent. Participants explored creative ways to design printable classroom resources, learned time-saving Canva tricks, and discovered a feature that many described as a complete game changer: Bulk Create.
While Canva is often associated with presentations, social media graphics, and posters, this session showcased how it can become a powerful tool for producing classroom printables that are both engaging and personalized.
Beyond Posters and Presentations
The session began with a simple challenge: How do you feel about Canva?
Participants responded with emojis ranging from heart eyes to puzzled faces, reflecting the wide range of experiences educators have with the platform. Whether attendees were Canva beginners or longtime users, there was something new to learn.
Throughout the session, teachers explored ways to create:
Custom dice for vocabulary, discussion prompts, and math practice
Student envelopes for organizing materials
Door hangers for classroom communication
Thank-you cards and appreciation notes
Certificates and awards
Table tents and mini anchor charts
Personalized student messages
The common thread? Every printable could be customized to fit a specific classroom need.
The Humble Die Gets a Classroom Upgrade
One of the first projects demonstrated was creating custom dice using Canva templates.
Instead of traditional numbered dice, teachers learned how to create cubes featuring:
Reflection questions
Vocabulary words
Conversation starters
Math prompts
Social-emotional learning scenarios
STEM challenge combinations
Tony encouraged teachers to think beyond the obvious uses.
Imagine students rolling two vocabulary dice and writing a sentence that includes both words. Or rolling a discussion die to spark classroom conversations. The randomness adds a sense of play while supporting learning goals.
As one attendee noted afterward:
"The template for the dice can be used in all of my subjects as well as rewards and randomizing." – Gina Graham
Small Design Choices Matter
Throughout the session, participants picked up practical design tips that improve readability and appearance:
Increase contrast between text and backgrounds
Use bold fonts when printing
Resize templates to maximize printable space
Choose colors intentionally
Keep designs simple and readable
Teachers also learned several Canva keyboard shortcuts that speed up design work:
T = Text box
R = Rectangle
C = Circle
L = Line
These shortcuts became an unexpected favorite.
As attendee Angela Rohde shared:
"I have used Canva quite a bit, but I learned some new things like how to use the bulk create app as well as some new shortcuts (circle, text, rectangle, line)."
The Feature Everyone Was Talking About: Bulk Create
If there was a star of the session, it was Canva's Bulk Create app.
Bulk Create allows teachers to connect spreadsheet data to a Canva design and automatically generate personalized versions for an entire class.
Instead of manually editing 30 certificates, cards, or awards, teachers can:
Import a class roster.
Connect student names to design elements.
Generate dozens of customized pages instantly.
The reaction was immediate.
One participant wrote:
"YOU NEED TO LEARN ABOUT BULK CREATE! Like yesterday." – Gloria Solano
Another shared:
"The bulk create! I am very excited to not only use bulk create in Canva, but I am excited to share it with my team." – Jacquelyne Foster
Teachers quickly recognized the potential for:
Certificates
Awards
Student letters
Recognition cards
Classroom labels
Personalized reminders
State reports
Student projects
For many attendees, this feature completely changed how they viewed Canva.
As Toni Johnson explained:
"I used to think you had to enter all the students names in individually but now I know that you can copy and paste your roster."
And Susan Sandusky added:
"I used to think Canva was just for presentations and creating banners, but now I know I can bulk create things for my students without having to do each individual student."
Personalized Notes Make a Difference
One especially memorable section focused on creating personalized notes for students.
Tony shared stories of former students who remembered and treasured individualized messages years later. Using Canva and Bulk Create, teachers can efficiently create meaningful notes that still feel personal.
This resonated with many participants.
Elizabeth Murray reflected:
"I also love giving my students individual cards but with 140 students, it takes a lot of time and causes a lot of hand cramps. I learned how to use Canva to bulk create and make that task way easier and time saving."
The message was clear: personalization matters, and Canva can make it manageable.
Starting From Scratch Isn't Scary
While Canva's massive template library received plenty of attention, participants also learned how to build printables from scratch using custom page sizes, guides, shapes, and text tools.
Projects like door hangers and folded thank-you cards demonstrated that teachers don't always need a template. Sometimes a few simple design elements are enough.
Claire Cruess appreciated this approach:
"I enjoyed learning how to create the thank-you cards from scratch!"
A Shift in Perspective
Perhaps the biggest takeaway wasn't a specific printable or feature. It was a shift in how teachers viewed Canva itself.
Again and again, participants described moving from uncertainty to confidence.
Some of the most telling reflections included:
"I used to think Canva was intimidating, but now I know that it is more intuitive than I thought." – Jonathan Olsen
"I used to think Canva was frustrating, but now I am willing to give it another try." – Wendy Cornacchio
"I used to think Canva was really confusing and complicated, but now I know I can use it as a tool to help me do lots of useful things for my classroom." – Jessica Short
"I used to think Canva was overwhelming but now I know that the possibilities are endless if I'm willing to try." – Elizabeth Murray
Final Thoughts
The "Prints Charming" session demonstrated that Canva is far more than a graphic design tool. It can serve as a practical classroom productivity tool that helps educators create professional-looking resources while saving valuable time.
Whether designing a simple vocabulary die, creating personalized student notes, building certificates for an entire grade level, or generating customized classroom materials with Bulk Create, attendees walked away with ideas they could use immediately.
As Melissa Worsham summarized:
"The possibilities are limitless through Canva."
And after seeing what Canva can do for printables, it was hard to argue otherwise.