You just have to see it to believe it...
An apt saying when it comes to teaching coding to kids, and on a few different levels.
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.
But getting kids to really buy in and put in the work? It’s a challenge.
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.
But 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.
This is where visual coding might lend a hand. After all, seeing is believing, right?
What is visual coding?
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.
scratch code block example for pong game
With visual coding, kids can easily see the link between the code block they place and the action it produces. 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.
Introducing Scratch
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. 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.
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!
welcome to scratch code block with cat sprite
Again, the power is with the blocks in scratch, but before we get too far into the details, let’s look at the Scratch Sprite.
Sprites
In Scratch, a Sprite is any object—from characters like people or animals to props, like a guitar, and even a clickable button. All of these things are controlled by the code and code blocks we will get into in the next section.
Every new Scratch project comes with a Sprite already loaded into the program, and there is a list of additional premade Sprites to choose from. From there, kids can rename Sprites, add more Sprites, etc.
library of scratch sprites
Now, about those blocks....
Code blocks
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. These different types of blocks include:
Motion blocks, which control a Sprite’s movements—slide, spin, move, and more. For example, this could be “Move 10 steps” to move the Sprite forward 10 steps.
three motion blue blocks scratch
Looks blocks, which change the appearance of a Sprite, either changing color or size, or even making Sprites say something. For example, “Change size by 10” or “Say Hello! for 2 seconds.”
three purple looks blocks scratch
Sound blocks, which add sound effects to a Sprite—play sounds, edit sound effects, or change the volume. For example, “Play sound meow until done” or “Change pitch effect by 10.”
three pink sound blocks scratch
Events blocks, which tell Sprites when to start running code.
Control blocks, which allow for more power over the code, used to create looping animations or pauses between events.
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.
Types of Scratch games
As 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.
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.
Clicker game: In a clicker game, players click on-screen Sprites to earn points on each successful action. For instance, maybe it’s clicking tacos to score points, where the smaller and tougher tacos to click earn more points.
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