What is scratch software? At the Scratch website, you find this explanation: “With Scratch, you can program your own interactive stories, games, and animations — and share your creations with others in the online community.” At Wikipedia, it says: “Scratch is a block-based visual programming language and online community targeted primarily at children. Users of the site can create online projects using a block-like interface. The service is developed by the MIT Media Lab, has been translated into 70+ languages, and is used in most parts of the world.”

A visual programming language (VPL) is any programming language that lets users create programs by manipulating program elements graphically rather than by specifying them with text. Wikipedia says: “ScratchJr is a visual programming language designed to introduce programming skills to children ages 5–8. By creating projects in ScratchJr, young children can learn to think creatively and reason systematically, despite not being able to read.[1] It is available as a free app for iOS, Android and Chromebook.”

Scratch is a free project of the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab. The Scratch app allows you to create Scratch projects without an internet connection. You can download the Scratch app from the Scratch website or the app store for your device. Scratch 3.0 is the latest generation of Scratch, launched on January 2, 2019. In the Scratch editor, you can add collections of extra blocks called “extensions.” For example, there are extensions that enable you to program physical devices. If you click on the “Extensions” button in the bottom left corner of the Scratch programming editor, you will see a listing of all Scratch Extensions.

If you are new to this Scratch program you could have a look at some YouTube instructional videos.

First Steps

What are the first few steps you need to do to get started with Scratch? First you could go to the Scratch website and Explore it by clicking Explore in the top menu and then clicking on a project. If you want to set up a free account, go ahead and do so. After you sign in you can Create.

YouTube Videos on Scratch for Beginners

• Scratch Tutorial 1: Make Your First Program by Kevin Briggs.
• Scratch 3.0 Tutorial #1: Make your first program by Kevin Briggs.
• Double Jumps – Invent with Scratch 2.0 Screencast by Al Sweigart. Al covers some very basic information about the Scratch interface in this video.
• Scratch 3.0 Tutorial | Pong Game | Easy Simple Beginner Level! by Funut Tutorials. This is modeled after the original Pong game that has two paddles and a ball that operates like a tennis game.
• Scratch Tutorial 2: Make a Basic Game by Kevin Briggs.
• Scratch Tutorial 4: Racing Game by Kevin Briggs
• Scratch Tutorial | How to make a BREAKOUT GAME! *Easy by Funut Tutorials. This is similar to Pong, but more advanced. You move a paddle across the bottom so the ball bounces and hit a series of paddle above. You win when all of the paddles above have been hit.

Beginners

Below are some YouTube videos on Scratch

• Scratch Make a Sprite Dance by RISE Interactive Göteborg Studio
• Double Jumps – Invent with Scratch 2.0 Screencast by Al Sweigart.

How to do a cover page for your project that fades out when the user click a key of your choice. The first video in the Fortnight series covershow to do this. This is on YouTube by McGuy.

Maze Game – Invent with Scratch

Here is a maze game. We can dowload the maze graphic itself, or create our own. We have one sprite character that moves with the four arrow keys. The character cannot move through walls. The YouTube video is called Maze – Invent with Scratch 2.0 Screencast. If you Google maze you

Jumping

If you need you character to jump, have a look at this YouTube video from Al Sweigart called Double Jumps – Invent with Scratch 2.0 Screencast.

Pinwheel Demo – Invent with Scratch 2.0 Screencast by Al Sweigart.

Programming for Kids

Over at Udemy.com there is a free one-hour course called Programming for Kids – How to Make Coding Fun.