Project 1: teach Phil to crawl

Meet Phil. Phil is a type of white blood cell called a neutrophil.

In this project, we'll teach Phil to crawl around in the body by pressing the arrow keys on your keyboard. Let's start by learning about white blood cells like Phil.

How white blood cells work

Real neutrophil crawling

Getting started

  1. Open the project "Teach Phil to crawl" by clicking this link: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/138099562/.
  2. If you have a Scratch account, click "Sign In" at the top right. If not, select "Join Scratch" to make an account.
  3. After you sign in, click "Remix" to make your own copy of this project. You will now get to "see inside" the project, which should look like the below image. You'll see an image of Phil already on the Stage, but he doesn't know how to do anything yet.

Teach Phil to crawl to the right

  1. Drag out the blocks shown below. You can find them in the Events or Motion categories.

2. On the "when space key pressed" block, change the "space" key to "right arrow".

3. Snap the blocks together.

4. Press the "right arrow" key on your keyboard. You should see Phil moving to the right each time!

5. Save your project by pressing the "Save Now" button at the top.

Teach Phil to crawl left, up, and down

  1. Repeat steps of "Teach Phil to crawl to the right", but use the "left arrow" key and make Phil point in direction "-90".
  2. Repeat steps of "Teach Phil to crawl to the right", but use the "up arrow" key and make Phil point in direction "0".
  3. Repeat steps of "Teach Phil to crawl to the right", but use the "down arrow" key and make Phil point in direction "180".
  4. Move Phil with the left, right, up and down arrow keys. Make sure to save your project again.

Share your project

Press the "Share" button at the top, so that others can play your game!

Optional: Teach Phil a special combo move

Use a combination of "point" and "move" blocks to make Phil move in a complete square each time you press the "space" key. You will need 4 "point" blocks and 4 "move" blocks. Use a "wait _1_ secs" block after each "move" block to see each of his steps.

Need more help? Check out an example completed project here: Example projects.

Using a tablet without a keyboard? See suggested project changes here: Help.

What should we change to improve this Project? What did you like best? Please let us know here: feedback form.

Ready for the next project? Then click here Project 2.