Communication Board Maker
Build printable communication boards and tap to speak boards for non-speaking people. Free, fast, and your photos never leave your device.
The colours follow the Fitzgerald key, a long standing colour code used across AAC boards: people in yellow, actions in green, describing words in blue, nouns in orange, social words in pink, and everything else on white. Keeping the same colours in the same places helps a person find a word faster every time they use the board.
Photos you add are read on this device with the browser file reader. They are never uploaded.
Tap to speak is an accessibility lifeline, so it is free and unlimited forever. No credits, no ads in the way, no sign in. Once the page has loaded it keeps working with no internet connection.
Free for personal, classroom and therapy use. Boards printed on the free tier carry a light diagonal "ZillaKit.com" watermark and a small credit line. Premium removes the watermark and adds a commercial licence, for therapists sharing resources and for anyone selling printable packs.
Click any cell on the board below to set its symbol, label and colour. Empty cells are allowed, so you can leave gaps or build up a board over time.
How to use the Communication Board Maker
- Pick a grid size, from a simple 2 x 2 choice board up to a 6 x 8 board with 48 cells, or set your own number of rows and columns.
- Click a cell to open the cell editor. Search the built in symbol library, or upload a photo from your device, then type the label and choose a background colour.
- Or start from a template: basic needs, yes and no with feelings, a hospital bedside board, a choice board, or a core words starter board. Every template stays fully editable.
- Click Print board for one board per page, scaled to fill A4 or US Letter. Tick the cut-out copy page if you also want single cards to cut and laminate.
- Click Tap to speak for the free on screen board. Tapping a cell says the word out loud and adds it to the sentence strip at the top.
Why use ZillaKit's Communication Board Maker?
When someone cannot speak, the fastest help is often a single sheet of paper. A printed communication board sits on a hospital bed table, in a school bag, on the fridge, or beside a hospital bed where a ventilator or a stroke has taken speech away, and it works with no battery, no login and no waiting for a device to be funded. This tool builds that sheet in a few minutes, and it does it entirely inside your browser. The symbol library is part of the page, and any photo you add is read locally with the browser file reader, so pictures of a patient, a resident or a child are never sent anywhere.
Boards are laid out on a grid you control, from a two cell choice board with very large targets to a 48 cell board for someone with more vocabulary and better vision. Every cell holds a symbol or a photo, an editable label, and a background colour drawn from the Fitzgerald key, the colour convention used across augmentative and alternative communication so that people, actions, describing words, nouns and social words always sit on the same colour. Consistent colour placement builds motor memory: a regular user starts reaching for the yellow area before they have read a single word. Empty cells are allowed too, which matters when you are introducing vocabulary slowly rather than overwhelming someone on day one.
The included templates cover the requests that come up most often in hospitals and clinics. The bedside board carries the sentence "I cannot speak, please give me time", plus an optional 0 to 10 pain scale strip with face symbols, so staff and visitors have a shared reference point without hunting for the right words. The core words starter board covers the small set of high frequency words that unlock most early sentences. Tap to speak mode turns the same board into a speaking board on any phone, tablet or laptop, with a sentence strip that collects the words tapped, a Speak all button, and a voice and speed you can set once and keep. That mode is free and unlimited, and it will stay that way.
FAQ
Is this AAC board maker free to print?
Yes. Building, printing and using boards is free for personal, classroom and therapy use. Free printouts carry a light diagonal watermark and a small credit line. Premium removes both and adds a commercial licence, which covers therapists distributing resources and anyone selling printable packs.
What is the Fitzgerald key colour code?
It is a long standing convention in augmentative and alternative communication that gives each word type its own colour: people in yellow, actions in green, describing words in blue, nouns in orange, social words in pink, and other words on white. Keeping words in consistent colour groups helps a user locate a word by position and colour rather than reading every cell.
Can I make a communication board for a stroke patient or a hospital stay?
Yes. The hospital bedside template loads a board with pain, water, toilet, position changes, temperature, staff and family cells, the sentence "I cannot speak, please give me time", and an optional 0 to 10 pain scale strip with face symbols. Every cell can be changed, so you can match a ward's own wording.
Does the tap to speak board work offline?
Yes. It uses the speech voices already installed in your browser and device, so once the page has loaded it keeps working with no internet connection. Your chosen voice and speaking rate are remembered on that device.
Are my photos uploaded anywhere?
No. Photos are opened with the browser file reader, resized in the page, and kept in your browser only. Nothing is sent to a server, which matters when the pictures are of a child, a patient or a resident.
Can I save more than one board?
Yes. Save as many named projects as you like in this browser and load them from the dropdown. You can also export a board to a JSON file and import it later, or on another device, which is the safest way to keep a backup.