Microsoft Publisher is the world’s premier method of turning digital content into printable materials---including brochures, pamphlets, and even books, all in one convenient piece of software.
Even with all of that versatility, Microsoft Publisher is still one of the easiest and most user-friendly options for graphic designers.
But how can you teach it to students in middle school or high school?
The best option is to find the activities that will help students get their hands on Publisher and create documents themselves. Fortunately, you don’t have to create those materials yourself.
In fact, the Internet has dozens of Microsoft Publisher projects and activities you can use to start teaching your students today! The key is finding the ones that work best for your needs.
In this article, you'll discover the top Microsoft Publisher projects and activities you can use in your class:
- Teachers Pay Teachers
- Council Rock High School South
- Instructables
- Microsoft Office Support
By the end of this article, you'll understand each resource well enough to decide which one will work best in your classroom.
1. Teachers Pay Teachers
Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT) is renowned for helping teachers share their best lesson plans so other teachers can benefit.
In this case, they’re sharing the Microsoft Publisher activities by teacher Gavin Middleton, one of the most prolific teachers on TpT.
Middleton’s Microsoft Publisher activities typically cost $4.50, but they occasionally go on sale for even less. That means any teacher can afford them, even if they don’t have extra cash in their budgets.
Plus, once you buy the lessons, you have them forever.
Specifically, Middleton’s lessons include Microsoft Publisher projects and activities to teach your students how to make:
- Brochures
- Event posters
- Business cards
- Cereal boxes
The whole idea is to use Microsoft Publisher for its most obvious uses – combining graphics and text into one high-quality product.
There are many other high-quality Microsoft Publisher projects available on TpT, so you'll see no shortage of materials to work with in your course.
2. Council Rock High School South
Council Rock High School South is a school in southern Pennsylvania with an extensive list of free resources for teachers.
These include step-by-step instructions for using Microsoft Publisher on a basic level.
These instructions cover fundamentals like saving, file management, and more.
After that, CRHSS shares how students can create newsletters in Publisher, which is a great format to show first-time users what Publisher can do.
It’s not the most extensive resource in the world, but it’s ideal for students who have never used Publisher before!
3. Instructables
Instructables is a website where individuals contribute their own tutorials to empower others (including students) with knowledge about popular software.
Instructables content comes from individual contributors, which could be anyone. With that in mind, it’s important to evaluate every new lesson you find to make sure it’s valid and relevant to the version of Publisher that you’re teaching.
(This resource is for Publisher 2007, for example.)
Fortunately, this walkthrough for Microsoft Publisher is reliable.
Here, you’ll find a step-by-step introduction to Microsoft Publisher complete with accompanying screenshots.
This is a great way to introduce students to the software, especially if you have students who are visual learners.
Specifically, this walkthrough focuses on a brochure. Just like a newsletter or business card, a brochure is an excellent starting point to learn the ins and outs of Publisher.
By the end, your students may not have a product that looks incredible -- but they’ll have learned how to use Publisher in general.
The expertise in graphic design can come later!
4. Microsoft Office Support
Because Microsoft created Publisher, they offer a quick crash-course on how to get started with it.
Technically, this is a support article – not a lesson plan.
Still, it’s a strong resource to use if you want to introduce students to Publisher quickly.
It only takes a few moments to get through this support article, and once your students do, they’ll have the foundational knowledge they need to learn Publisher and improve their skills.
At the end of the day, Microsoft Support won’t be able to give you everything you need to teach Publisher.
But you’ll have an excellent start to teaching Publisher that emphasizes self-paced learning.
Need More Microsoft Publisher Projects and Activities?
In this article, you've discovered some of the top Microsoft Publisher projects and activities out there. If you use these resources right, your students will be on their way to becoming Publisher experts.
However, if you need more extensive resources to help you teach Publisher and other Microsoft applications, then check out the Microsoft Publisher module from Business&ITCenter21.
This module contains lesson plans, activities, and projects that will help your students master Microsoft Publisher. In addition, Business&ITCenter21 offers similar resources for PowerPoint, Word, Excel, and more: