Pixel Studio is a pixel art editor that shows children how a computer stores a picture. Every one of the 16 colours has a number from 0 to 15, so a drawing is really a grid of numbers. Children draw with a pen, fill bucket, lines, rectangles and mirror mode, then press Show the data to see the same picture as numbers, as runs of colour, as binary 0s and 1s (in 2-colour mode) or as hex colour codes. They can also type numbers into the data grid to paint by code. The Challenges panel has 20 decode and encode puzzles across three year bands, and a four-frame flipbook turns drawings into a short animation. Work saves on this device and can be shared as a link or downloaded as a PNG, a sprite sheet or a data file.
Top Tip
Start small. An 8 by 8 grid is only 64 squares, so it is quick to decode and easy to count. When you are confident, try 16 by 16 and turn on Mirror to draw faces, bugs and space aliens in half the time.
Skills You Are Practising
Representing a picture as numbers (data)
Decoding a number grid back into a picture
Comparing ways to store the same data (full grid, runs, binary, hex)
Using on and off states (0 and 1) to store black and white images
Working out the place value of a binary row
Using the tools of a digital drawing program with care
Planning a short frame-by-frame animation
In the real world
Digital cameras, phone screens, video games, emoji and printers all store pictures as grids of numbered pixels. Hex colour codes like #E53935 are used by web designers every day, and simple black and white images such as QR codes are stored as 0s and 1s.
For parents & teachers
Ask your child to read one row of their picture out loud as numbers, then check it together.
Draw a tiny picture on grid paper and number the colours. Swap papers and decode each other's picture.
For older children, ask why a white square still needs a number, and how many 0s and 1s an 8 by 8 black and white picture needs.
Share the link to a finished drawing with family so your child can explain how it is stored.
Who it suits: Foundation to Year 2: draw on an 8 by 8 grid, match colours to numbers and decode simple pictures. Years 3 and 4: bigger grids, runs of colour and counting how many numbers a picture needs. Years 5 and 6: 2-colour mode with binary rows and their values, 4-bit colour numbers, hex colour codes and frame animation.
Australian Curriculum v9.0
This game practises these content descriptions. Tap a code to see its full wording and other games for it.
AC9TDIFK02(Foundation Digital Technologies)represent data as objects, pictures and symbols
AC9TDI2K02(Year 2 Digital Technologies)represent data as pictures, symbols, numbers and words
AC9TDI2P04(Year 2 Digital Technologies)use the basic features of common digital tools to create, locate and communicate content
AC9TDI4K03(Year 4 Digital Technologies)recognise different types of data and explore how the same data can be represented differently depending on the purpose
AC9TDI4P06(Year 4 Digital Technologies)use the core features of common digital tools to create, locate and communicate content, following agreed conventions
AC9TDI6K03(Year 6 Digital Technologies)explain how digital systems represent all data using numbers
AC9TDI6K04(Year 6 Digital Technologies)explore how data can be represented by off and on states (zeros and ones in binary)
AC9TDI6P07(Year 6 Digital Technologies)select and use appropriate digital tools effectively to create, locate and communicate content, applying common conventions