MS Word Lesson Plan: How to Design a Fun Party Invitation

Engage your students with this fun, step-by-step lesson plan on designing a party invitation in Microsoft Word. This beginner-friendly tutorial covers changing fonts and colors, inserting and resizing clip art, and using text alignment. Includes differentiation and assessment for a complete classroom activity.

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You're Invited! Designing a Creative Invitation in MS Word

Materials Needed

  • A computer with Microsoft Word installed
  • Access to the internet (for finding fun clip art or images)
  • (Optional) A printer and paper to see the final creation come to life
  • (Optional) A few examples of real party invitations (from mail, or found online)

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

  • Create a new, blank document in MS Word.
  • Type text and change the font style, size, and color to make it exciting.
  • Search for and insert a picture or clip art into the document.
  • Move and resize a picture to fit perfectly on the page.
  • Use text alignment tools to center your text.
  • Independently create a finished, fun party invitation for a real or imaginary event.

Lesson Activities

Part 1: The Warm-Up - Invitation Investigation (5 minutes)

Let's be detectives! If you have any real invitations, let's look at them together. If not, we can imagine one.

  1. Discuss: What makes an invitation exciting? Is it the big, colorful words? The fun pictures?
  2. Identify Key Info: What information does every party invitation need? We'll call this the "Who, What, When, Where, and Why."
    • Who: Who is the party for?
    • What: What kind of party is it? (Birthday, Video Game Tournament, Stuffed Animal Tea Party?)
    • When: What is the date and time?
    • Where: Where will the party be?
    • Why: Why are you celebrating? (e.g., "To celebrate my 8th birthday!")

Part 2: Guided Creation - Building the Foundation (15 minutes)

Now it's time to become a digital designer. Let's build the basic invitation together.

  1. Open MS Word and choose "Blank document."
  2. The Headline: Let's type a big, exciting headline at the top, like "YOU'RE INVITED!" or "PARTY TIME!"
  3. Practice Formatting: Let's make that headline stand out.
    • Highlight the text you just typed.
    • Go to the "Home" tab. Find the Font section. Let's experiment! Change the font to something fun (like Comic Sans MS or find another you like).
    • Now, change the font size. Make it big, like 48 or 72!
    • Finally, let's add a splash of color. Use the font color tool (the 'A' with a color bar under it) to pick your favorite color.
  4. Center It: With the headline still highlighted, find the "Paragraph" section on the "Home" tab. Click the "Center" alignment button. Wow, see how it jumps to the middle of the page?
  5. Add the Details: Press Enter a couple of times to move down the page. Now, type out the "Who, What, When, and Where" for your party. Don't worry about making it fancy yet, just get the information typed in.

Part 3: Creative Freedom - Make it POP! (15-20 minutes)

This is where you take over as the lead designer! Your mission is to make this invitation look amazing.

  1. Decorate Your Text: Go back to the party details you typed. Make the most important words (like the name or the type of party) a different color or a little bigger. You are in charge!
  2. Add a Picture: A picture makes everything more fun!
    • Go to the "Insert" tab at the top of Word.
    • Click on "Online Pictures."
    • In the search box, type something that matches your party theme. If it's a birthday party, try "birthday cake" or "balloons." If it's for a pet, search for that animal!
    • Click on a picture you love and press the "Insert" button.
  3. Master the Picture: The picture might be too big or in the wrong spot. Let's fix that.
    • Click on your picture. You'll see little dots appear in the corners. Click and drag a corner dot to make the picture bigger or smaller.
    • With the picture selected, a "Layout Options" box appears next to it. Click it and choose the "In Front of Text" or "Behind Text" option. Now you can drag your picture and place it anywhere you want on the page!
  4. Final Touches: Spend the rest of the time arranging your text and pictures until you think it looks perfect.

Part 4: Showtime! (5 minutes)

Time to show off your incredible creation! Let's look at the finished invitation together. Tell me about your favorite part and why you chose certain colors or pictures. If you have a printer, this is the perfect time to print it out and hold your design in your hands!

Differentiation (Making It Just Right)

  • For Extra Support: We can start with a simple template where the "Who, What, When, Where" text is already typed. Your job would be to focus only on the fun part: changing the colors, fonts, and adding a great picture.
  • For an Extra Challenge: Ready for a boss level? Try adding a Page Border! Go to the "Design" tab and click "Page Borders" to add a cool frame around your whole invitation. Or, try using WordArt (from the "Insert" tab) for an even fancier title with shadows and cool effects.

How You Know You've Succeeded (Assessment)

I'll know you've mastered this lesson when I look at your invitation and can check off these four things:

  • [ ] The invitation clearly includes all the important party details (Who, What, When, Where).
  • [ ] You used at least two different font sizes or colors to make some text stand out.
  • [ ] You successfully added a picture and placed it where you wanted it.
  • [ ] The headline is centered to grab attention.