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Perhaps it’s a shark chasing fish and every time it gets in contact with one, points are earned. For instance, maybe it’s clicking tacos to score points, where the smaller and tougher tacos to click earn more points.Ĭhase game: Control a sprite and move it around to score points. So, take what follows as a general intro, with the understanding that if something sounds cool or like something your child would enjoy, there is always the option to tweak it to make the creation that more engaging.Ĭlicker game: In a clicker game, players click on-screen Sprites to earn points on each successful action. Types of Scratch gamesĪs you progress through your Scratch journey, you’ll begin to see just how much your kids do with Scratch, and while the opportunities aren’t endless, there are many! And easy games to create in Scratch at that.

#Scratch 3.18.1 download how to#

Sound good so far? We are almost to the point of how to create a game on Scratch, but first, let’s take a look at some of the ways kids can turn ideas into games that they, you, and your whole family can play and enjoy. For example, “Play sound meow until done” or “Change pitch effect by 10.”Įvents blocks, which tell Sprites when to start running code.Ĭontrol blocks, which allow for more power over the code, used to create looping animations or pauses between events. Sound blocks, which add sound effects to a Sprite-play sounds, edit sound effects, or change the volume. For example, “Change size by 10” or “Say Hello! for 2 seconds.” Looks blocks, which change the appearance of a Sprite, either changing color or size, or even making Sprites say something. For example, this could be “Move 10 steps” to move the Sprite forward 10 steps.

Motion blocks, which control a Sprite’s movements-slide, spin, move, and more.

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Scratch programming runs off block-based coding, meaning the different code blocks and their configuration holds all of the power when it comes to creating games and stories. From there, kids can rename Sprites, add more Sprites, etc. All of these things are controlled by the code and code blocks we will get into in the next section.Įvery new Scratch project comes with a Sprite already loaded into the program, and there is a list of additional premade Sprites to choose from. In Scratch, a Sprite is any object-from characters like people or animals to props, like a guitar, and even a clickable button. With Scratch coding, kids learn to bring code and art together and begin to form the understanding that if they can dream it up, they can create a tangible reality with just a little bit of practice!Īgain, the power is with the blocks in scratch, but before we get too far into the details, let’s look at the Scratch Sprite. More importantly, it’s one of the most popular visual programming or “ block-based coding” options available, and one of the best programming languages for kids to get involved with.

Given all of that, Scratch was developed by MIT, and is a platform to make games-but it’s also a tool for kids to bring ideas to life with code. They’re no longer overwhelmed by what seems like an impossible task ahead of them, and instead are engaged with the fun visuals sitting at their fingertips. With visual coding, kids can easily see the link between the code block they place and the action it produces. Visual coding offers the ability to code graphically, or 'visually,' usually through the use of blocks and 'drag-and-drop' (also referred to as 'click and drag') processes as opposed to doing so through text. After all, seeing is believing, right? What is visual coding? This is where visual coding might lend a hand.

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Those who have been successful in moving things along from conversation to the next steps probably find the journey to get a bit easier the more tangible the reality, results, and creations kids can see, becomes.īut then there is the next roadblock–getting kids to actually believe they can become great coders! They understand what coding can do, and they are inspired to get started, but they soon find themselves at a screen full of white space and things come to a screeching halt.

Using just your words, telling a kid that they could learn what it takes to power the app or game they use and play daily, or the social media platforms they can’t tear themselves away from is easy.īut getting kids to really buy in and put in the work? It’s a challenge. An apt saying when it comes to teaching coding to kids, and on a few different levels.