Scratch

Scratch vs. Logo 1-7 Drawing 8a Car race 8b Car race 2 9 Lunar Lander MC Tester Conversation Pong Reaction Timer Piano Puzzle Puzzle v2 More Resources

Scratch is a wonderful free program produced by MIT which lets you create little animations that you can then publish to the MIT site (or to your own site) for all to admire!

Take a look at this video presenting Scratch:

Scratch version 3 was released in January 2019. You should of course use this later version. Version 3 is available for online use and also for download (Windows and MacOS). You can try the online version HERE. All the following lessons should work with any version.

Scratch is built on Logo so everything you can do in Logo you should also be able to do in Scratch. Follow this link to see a comparison of a simple program in Scratch and in Logo. Compared to Logo, Scratch is more colorful, more fun, more powerful and more open-ended. In fact it is so much more powerful than Logo that a better comparison might be with Flash. Like Flash, Scratch produces multimedia animations that can be incorporated into web pages. It is unlike Flash in that:

  • It's free! You can use the program online or download it here: http://scratch.mit.edu/
  • It is designed for beginners or intermediate level aged 8-16 (it's also used in the US even at university level with students who are new to programming)
  • It works mainly by dragging blocks into place to build a script
  • It is more limited than Flash, and thus much easier to learn
  • It produces animations in Java format rather than Flash format
  • It is produced by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) – a guarantee of quality
  • It has the backing of Microsoft and many other companies
  • Animations can be published (shared) on the MIT site free of charge
  • There are plenty of easy-to-understand lessons and tutorials available
  • There are plenty of resources for teachers available

Another plus for our students: it is available in many languages.

Parents and colleagues, here is a video in which the creator of Scratch, Mitch Resnick of MIT, explains why it is important for kids to learn how to code:

Follow this link to see some animations I made myself in Scratch.