Back to school: get organised with a Canon printer

Most children love the school holidays, and nowadays there are more attractions than ever before to grab their attention, yet before you know it, it's time for your children to go back to school. A Canon printer can help harness some of that summer holiday enthusiasm and keep youngsters engaged with the preparations for the new school year.

Connecting PIXMA and SELPHY CP1500 printers to computers and mobile devices is simple, so the whole family can get involved. Children will also find it quick and easy to print using one of the many Canon print apps. Our guide to Canon's printing apps and software will help you choose the right tool for your project. Here's a few ideas to get started.

Art on a Monday, games on a Tuesday, science on a Wednesday. It's hard enough keeping track of everything that the various children and teens in your house need to remember for different lessons throughout the week – and that's before you get to after-school clubs and activities.

By printing out their timetables and sticking them up on a pinboard or onto the fridge, the whole family can see what they need to remember to bring in on any given day. No more dashing into reception to drop off a pair of forgotten football boots.

You can also print out calendars through the Easy-PhotoPrint Editor app where you can add in birthday parties, playdates or other upcoming family events and make a note of who is dropping off or collecting the children from school on any particular day.

Compatible with most PIXMA printers, the Canon PRINT app makes it easy to print wirelessly from your smartphone. You can also use the app to print from or scan to various cloud-based services, which many schools now rely on for in-class and homework assignments, including image.canon, Dropbox™, Google Classroom™, Google Drive™ and Microsoft OneDrive®. Most of the Canon PIXMA printers are also compatible with Apple® AirPrint® and Mopria® for Android after an initial setup, meaning you can print from any of your Apple products or Android devices at the press of a button from wherever you have a network connection.¹

Many schools now ask children to bring in their own water bottle each day. But with unicorns, dinosaurs and certain cartoon characters high in the primary school popularity stakes, they can easily get mixed up.

Use the Canon SELPHY CP1500 compact printer to create your own customised labels for bottles, lunchboxes and glasses cases using Canon SELPHY sticker sheets, available in many different sizes, instead of plain paper used for printing photos or documents. The Canon SELPHY Photo Layout app has a Label Layout option so you can select a photo from your camera roll and customise it with text, stamps and colours. There's also the option to create mini labels, which enables you to print eight smaller images – identical or different – on one sheet.

Metal lunchbox? No problem. Simply use your Canon PIXMA printer to create your labels on Canon Magnetic Photo Paper. The stickers will adhere to the surface, and you can remove them when you need to give the lunchbox a wash.

Artwork created by children is often made on paper with pencils, crayons, felt tips and paints. With the scanners built into most Canon PIXMA printers, or by using the Smartphone Copy option, it's quick and easy to bring your children's artwork into the digital realm, ready for printing, or simply for making direct copies of the originals. You can also scan from your smartphone with the Canon PRINT app. You could even print some on Canon Magnetic Photo Paper to display on the fridge, so you don't have to worry about the original getting dirty, torn or tatty. With each sheet of paper measuring only 10 x 15cm, you'll be able to display quite a few works of art at one time.

Another great option for displaying children's artwork is the Canon Photo Cube, which not only offers a smart way to store photos and square-shaped prints, but can also be decorated with images on the outside to personalise the look. Children can use it for showing off their favourite summer holiday snaps, or even for projects such as demonstrating the changing seasons. The Photo Cube comes with two ink cartridges and 40 sheets of square Photo Paper Plus Glossy II.

Youngsters can also use their PIXMA or SELPHY printers to design back-to-school bookmarks.

PIXMA users can find pre-designed bookmarks on the Creative Park website, including different types of animals, or even some cute penguin-shaped page markers.

The Canon SELPHY Photo Layout app gives you the option to create personalised bookmarks on your SELPHY CP1500. Select the Bookmark Layout option and the postcard size (100 x 148mm) paper and then decide whether you want your chosen images aligned to the top or bottom of the bookmark. The Bookmark Layout option is also useful for printing ID photos for bus or library cards.

In a family home where everyone is using the same printer, it can be reassuring to know the paper feed system has plenty of capacity – you can load your Canon PIXMA TR4750i Series printer with up to 100 sheets of plain paper in the adjustable front cassette, or up to 20 sheets of photo paper. It's also capable of automatic double-sided printing, which can minimise paper usage and reduce waste.

The PIXMA TR4750i Series also comes with a two-ink cartridge system (Black and Colour) for vibrant results. The cartridges are available in standard size or XL – you can print twice as many pages with the XL cartridge, which means a lower cost per print. For scanning, copying and even faxing, the printer features a high-resolution scanner complete with a 20-sheet auto document feeder, ideal for inputting school literature and completed homework on multiple sheets of paper.

With the PIXMA TR4750i Series and a selection of other PIXMA printers, you can subscribe to the PIXMA Print Plan². This automatically monitors your printer's ink levels and ensures that replacement cartridges are delivered to your door before you need them, making it ideal for parents who want to ensure older children studying at university never run out of ink. Different tariffs are available to suit your needs.

For busy households with higher print volumes, the PIXMA G3570 Series is another good option. These MegaTank printers have large refillable tanks that are replenished by simple, mess-free ink bottles. A complete set of ink bottles delivers up to 8,100³ pages at a fraction of the price of cartridges, making running costs for high-volume printing much cheaper.

A new term brings organisational challenges for parents and carers as well as for children. These can be even greater when a child is starting a new academic year, or even joining a new school. With its versatility, flexibility and wide-ranging connectivity, Canon's range of printers can simplify the whole process, helping the whole family get organised, as well as bringing some fun and creativity along the way.

Written by Matthew Richards, Claire Gillo and Rachel Segal Hamilton