Wacom Tablets and Photoshop
Many professionals that have come to talk with my students swear by their Wacom drawing tablet. They say that is reduces strain on the hands and give them added control. I must admit that my students didn't use them much the first couple years I had them but now they are an essential tool for some of my students and they have purchased their own.
Learning Resources
Photoshop Secrets: Wacom Tablets and Photoshop CS5 DVD
This is a great classroom resource because the disk comes with great lessons you can show on the projector or even download onto an iPad as well as sample files to get the kids started.
Adobe Education Exchange
I was browsing around in the exchange and came a cross a fantastic lesson by fellow Adobe Education leader Nicole Dalesio titled "Scratch Art: Photoshop for Kids of All Ages". My students loved the lesson and so I made up a couple of my own to get you started.
The Scratch Art Basics (1:17)
In this lesson I will show you how to use the gradient tool and a solid black layer to create a quick scratch art. The idea is that you will play around with the idea after the video.
Scratch Art Stencil (2:28)
In this lesson we will use the "Text Masking" tool to create a scratch art stencil.
Scratching a Photograph (2:36)
In this lesson we will start with a brightly colored photograph for our scratching base.