How to easily turn your ‘No Prep’ resources into ‘No Print’!

It’s fair to say that I love no prep materials; with a busy caseload and busy home life, I can’t seem to find the time to prep materials like I used to. Plus, there is just something so convenient about printing and using a resource straight-away, without having to cut or laminate anything, right? Well, recently, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been more of a need for materials that can be used for teletherapy. It can be overwhelming trying to work out how you can still use your ‘no prep’ resources in teletherapy sessions. But I wanted to let you know that you can easily turn your ‘no prep’ resources into ‘no print’! Keep reading and try these two tricks for how you can easily turn your ‘no prep’ resources into ‘no print’.

By the way, if you are looking for no or low prep materials I have a wide range in my TpT store. From print & go speech sound worksheets, to print and go language packs, and even no prep early intervention handouts… we have a huge range to choose from.

The benefit of turning ‘No Prep’ resources into ‘No Print’.

No Prep resources are great for their convenience; being able to print them and use them instantly is brilliant. If you have recently made the move to teletherapy (either intentionally, or due to the COVID-19 pandemic), you will need to use resources as ‘no print’ so you can use them in your teletherapy sessions. Once you know how to turn your ‘no prep’ resources into ‘no print’, you’ll realise that the resources you have used and loved for years can still be used in your sessions, in much the same way as your face-to-face ones; which saves you time, money, and stress. Great, eh?

Option One- Take a screenshot and use No Prep materials on a tablet.

Step one: Download a copy of the ‘No Prep’ resource you want to use onto your tablet/iPad.
Here we’re using our One Page Speech Sound Worksheets (which is ready to just print and go normally!).

Step two: Take a screenshot of the page you’re planning on using in therapy, or screenshot all of the pages of the resource and store them in a separate folder on your tablet/iPad.
If you’re not sure how to take a screenshot on your device, search online for it, (the instructions should be fairly simple and usually involve pressing a combination of 2 buttons together). 

use no prep resources on a tablet

Step three: After you’ve taken a screenshot, select the page you’re going to use and edit it. (this option may be termed something else and may be found in a different place depending on which device you’re using!). You don’t usually need a separate app for this.

draw on pages from a pdf by editing the screenshot

Step four: Choose the ‘drawing’ option (if this is available on your device) and choose your pen type & colour!  Depending on your device, the terminology for these may slightly differ.

Then you can draw on the page with your finger, as if you’re using a pen. If you are screen-sharing in your teletherapy sessions, you can give mouse control to the student and let them draw/annotate on the pictures.

draw on a tablet for make a resource no print

Check out our other ‘No Prep’ resources in our TpT Store here, and the One Page Speech Sheets, here.

Option two- Extract pages from a ‘no prep’ PDF and annotate them on a laptop/PC

Another way you can easily turn your ‘no prep’ materials into ‘no print’ for teletherapy sessions is by extracting pages from a PDF.

It is important to remember that although you are extracting pages from the original document, the original terms of use remain. I.e., you are not permitted to sell or share any of the pages you have extracted, just like you cannot sell or share resources normally.

To extract pages, you simply change the printer name to “Microsoft Print to PDF”. (This works in Windows, unfortunately, I am unsure if the process is the same for Mac users).

Extract pages from a PDF to turn no prep resources into no print

Once you have extracted the pages, you can use the ‘comment’ feature and choose the pen to draw/colour on the pages, per the instructions.

For example, you can use these Articulation Tic Tac Toe activities in your teletherapy sessions by drawing on the pages with the highlighters as you take your turns and practise the words.

turn no prep resources into no print and draw on them in your teletherapy sessions

Similarly, you can use the pen to trace and colour the target words in these Fine Motor Speech- Tracing Sounds no prep activities.

Easily turn your no prep resources into no print and draw on them in teletherapy sessions

I hope these two tips were helpful! Now you know how you can easily turn your ‘no prep’ speech therapy or teaching resources to ‘no print’ for you to use in your teletherapy sessions. If you’re wanting no prep materials you can use in your therapy sessions, check out the No Prep category in my TpT store here.  Also, if you are wanting to use books in your therapy sessions, be sure to read my post about my favourite, free, eBook site for kids.

6 thoughts on “How to easily turn your ‘No Prep’ resources into ‘No Print’!”

  1. Excellent step by step instructions! (If your photo editor in your gallery doesn't allow drawing, you can import/insert the photo into a note-taking app and use their write and draw options. I also like PicCollage for this – it's a free app that let's you do all sorts of fun stuff with pictures you take, import off the web, etc. as well as materials you screenshoot).

  2. If you download the free app Notability, you can download all the worksheets there! You can even organize them by student!! It's the best! You can edit and write through the app too.

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