As a parent, nowadays you have probably heard about the growing coding culture from your friends or from your own kids. Every parent wants their kids to learn coding.
Well, as parents you need to understand that coding is much more than just sitting in front of the screen and writing lines of code. Coding is about problem solving, analytical and critical thinking along with fun and creativity for your kids.
In today’s world, coding has become the new literacy.
However, you might wonder: how can your child grasp complex coding concepts and algorithms right from the start? This is where Scratch Programming comes to the rescue.
Scratch is a big community of young learners where kids learn coding in a fun and creative way. It is a perfect kickstart for your young ones’ coding journey.
With Scratch, your child won’t feel like they’re studying or doing something complex. Instead, they’ll think they’re playing games while secretly learning the fundamentals of coding. Scratch is not just about writing lines of coding, it’s about learning how to think critically and creatively.
In this guide, we’ll introduce you to Scratch Programming and explain how it can benefit your child.
What is Scratch Programming for Kids?
Scratch is the world’s largest growing community for kids, with more than 100 million accounts and 100 millions projects shared.
It is an online platform developed by MIT, where young kids can create their own games, animations, and stories with the help of coding. It is designed in a way that allows kids to easily learn coding concepts while enjoying and having fun at the same time.
Scratch is based on the fundamentals of block-based coding. Just like kids play with Legos and puzzles, they can similarly play with code blocks in Scratch to create fun and interactive projects.
Scratch has a very fun and interactive interface that can be easily used by kids aged 7 and above. Its interface consists of four main elements:
1. Stage Area: This is the place where all the results of your kid’s actions will appear. It’s a blank space where your kid can drag sprites (characters) and see their games or animations in action.
2. Sprite: The digital characters in Scratch are known as Sprites. Each Sprite has its own code script. In Scratch, the cat is the default sprite. Your kid can choose any sprite according to their project requirements.
3. Block Palette: It contains code blocks of different categories, such as Motion Blocks, Sound Blocks, and Control Blocks. These blocks can be dragged to the coding area and joined together to create functions or actions. Each Category has a specific color to make it more fun and distinguishable for kids.
4. Coding Area: This is where the code blocks are dragged and assembled. Here, the code of the project is written. Each sprite has its own coding area.
Scratch is more than just a programming tool, it has so much to offer to your kid’s learning.
Benefits of Scratch?
Scratch is the best way to kickstart your kid’s coding journey. Once your child learns the basic concepts of Scratch, it will become much easier for them to move to complex programming languages.
There are several benefits of learning Scratch. Let’s explore some of them:
1. Boost your child’s creativity
Scratch helps improve your child’s creativity. It allows them to design their favorite games, animations, and characters on their own which comes out straight from their creative mind.
Using backdrops, sprites and choosing unique themes, they can create interesting games, stories and animations, encouraging them to think in a more creative way.
2. Enhance problem solving skills
As your child learns coding concepts and creates projects on Scratch, they will learn how to break complex and bigger tasks into smaller tasks.
If they get any doubts while making the project or something doesn’t work, they will try different methods to solve that problem, enhancing their critical thinking skills.
3. Improves collaboration and communication skills
As mentioned earlier, Scratch is the largest community of young coders. Your child can collaborate with other young coders to create diverse projects. They can learn new things and skills in a group.
This will also make their communication skills better. They will learn about the importance of team work and effective communication.
4. Build confidence
As your child gradually learns new concepts and creates projects on their own, shares them with the coding community, explains their projects, their confidence will grow.
Scratch will help them to see their results and will motivate them to bring their ideas to life.
5. Makes learning fun and engaging
For kids, learning from books and slides can become boring. Scratch makes the learning very interesting. The Colored blocks, sprites, and backdrops make the learning process more fun and engaging for them.
What is the best age to learn scratch programming for kids?
The ideal age to learn Scratch programming is between 6 and 17 years old. Younger kids can also start with Scratch Jr. — which offers a simpler interface as compared to Scratch.
Children can start with learning basic concepts of coding in Scratch and then can shift to complex and higher level programming languages according to their interest.
Even kids of older age who are new to coding can start with Scratch for a few months and then can shift to higher level languages.
Getting started with Scratch
To get started with Scratch, you need a laptop or Tablet. Since Scratch is an online platform, you don’t need to download any specific software for this.
Simply visit scratch.mit.edu and create an account using your mail. Here, you can create your own projects and can view projects made by other kids. Your child can also save their projects and share them with family and friends.
Your kid can login using their email to start with Scratch and can create amazing projects like games, animations and stories.
Scratch projects for kids
Your child can create a variety of projects on Scratch such as Games, Animations and Animated Stories.
Lets look at some of the most common and popular projects to begin with:
1. Animated Story: Stories are a great project for kids to start with. They can choose their favorite characters from movies, comics or books, along with their most famous dialogues and make them interact with each other.
For example: Your child can create an animated story of their favorite superhero who is saving a girl from a villain.
By creating these animated stories, your kid will gain a clear understanding of how to use sprites, actions and sequence various events.
2. Smash a Button Game: This is a very interesting and very popular game among kids. In this game, your child will create a circle button which will be changing its position randomly after each second.
The objective is to successfully click the button before it changes its location, if they succeed, their score increases.
By building this game, your child will learn about different code blocks, conditional statements and improve their problem solving skills.
3. Guess the Number Game: This is another beginner friendly game to start coding in Scratch. This game can be made with a lot of complexity but to start with a simpler version, your child can create a simple code in which the computer will generate a random number.
The player has to guess that number, if the guess is incorrect, the player receives feedback or a hint.
You can define the number of attempts allowed, and once the attempts reach zero, the Game is Over!
By creating this amazing game, your child will learn about input and output concepts, design elements and improve their critical thinking.
4. Maze Game: Your child can create a digital maze game. Maze games are always fun to play, your kids can make them using Scratch and challenge their friends and family to solve it.
They can simply move a sprite(Mouse) through a maze to reach the end without touching the walls.
In this project, your child will learn about motion blocks, using keyboard controls and problem solving skills.
5. Flip the Bird Game: Almost everyone has played the ‘Flip the Bird’ game in their life once. It’s one of the most popular and engaging games among kids.
In this game, your child has to make a bird move up and down and protect it from the continuously coming obstacles. Successful jumps will increase the player’s score.
By creating this game, your kid will learn about variable blocks, control blocks and problem solving skills.
Scratch resources for kids
You might be wondering, everything about Scratch has been mentioned, but where should your kid learn Scratch from?
Don’t worry, here are some of the best resources from where your child can learn Scratch in a very interesting and engaging way.
A) Debe Learning: Debe is an excellent online platform for learning Scratch. They offer 1:1 Live Scratch Courses, interactive lessons taught by top mentors and real life projects.
Debe’s curriculum is designed to keep kids engaged while making it easy for them to follow. Daily assignments and regular mentorship sessions make the experience even more interactive and enjoyable.
Find out more about Debe’s Coding Courses here.
B) Scratch Jr.: Scratch Jr is the best platform for kids to start with their coding journey. It’s a simpler version of Scratch.
Kids between the ages of 5–7 can use it. Scratch is a visual programming language using which kids can create amazing games, animations and animated stories.
C) Scratch Wiki: The Scratch Wiki is packed with information that can help your kids at every stage of their Scratch journey.
Believe it or not, the Scratch Wiki is a community-run encyclopedia on Scratch! This means that Scratch has its own little library filled with useful articles, tutorials, and tips, all designed to help your kids make awesome scratch projects!
So, Scratch Wiki is simple to use, and your kids can access it anytime they need help or want to learn something new.
How can parents and guardians get involved in scratch?
The best way that parents can get involved in Scratch with their kids is by sitting down with them and exploring Scratch with them. Here are some activities you can do to engage with your kids:
1. Explore Their Projects: Ask your child what projects they have created, how they have created and play with their projects.
2. Encourage Creativity: Ask them a lot of questions about their projects, encourage them to create more projects and bring their ideas to life.
3. Learn About Their Favorites: Ask your child to show you their favorite studios, their friends Scratch Profiles or creators they admire on Scratch.
4. Boost Confidence: Boost your child’s confidence by appreciating their projects by giving them a small treat.
5. Create Together: Try making some projects with them, explore new ideas with them together and work on those projects together. Create a new imaginative story or work to create their favorite games like Mario or Subway Surfers.
By actively engaging with your child’s Scratch journey, you’ll not only encourage their creativity but also create a stronger bond with them!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. What is the ideal age group for learning Scratch?
People who want to begin their coding journey can start learning Scratch irrespective of their ages. But it’s ideal for young kids between the ages of 6–17 years. For Scratch Jr. the ideal age group is 5–7 years.
2. Is Scratch Free?
Yes, Scratch is completely free. You can easily create projects of your own and can save them in your system. You can also share them with your family and friends.
3. What are the system requirements for using Scratch?
You can easily use Scratch on Web Browsers, Laptops, desktops and Tablets. You can also view your projects on Mobile Phone but can’t edit them.
They are supported by many browsers like Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox and Safari.
4. What is Scratch?
Scratch is an online platform where your kid can create different coding projects like games, animations and interactive games. They can also save and share these projects.
It’s a fun and easy to use application for kids to start with their coding journey.
