Beginners: Weekly Activities

These are the activities we'll cover together during the workshop, but the schedule is not set in stone! We'll post here if anything changes.

Week 1: The first steps

• Introduction to code - why do we use it, how do we talk to computers, and how do we start thinking like robots?
• Using Trinket.io, both with Blockly and with Python (for our super-savvy students!)
• Turtles (a.k.a. drawing with code)
• Variables

Variables activity (Trinket)

Week 2: If Statements

Recommended mini-challenge: Turtle drawing challenge

This week your task will be to make a trivia game! The questions can be about whatever you want them to be.

New Python concepts:

• If statements
• User input using the input() function
• Simple math (adding a number to your score)

Here is a simple example of how you can have Python 1) ask for user input, and 2) make a yes/no decision based on that input.

Week 3: For loops

Recommended mini-challenge: If statement challenge or review worksheet

For loops let you repeat a block of code a specific number of times.

• Exercise 1: Your goal is to make Python draw a snowflake. We've already written the code to draw a single branch. Your task is to use a for loop to turn one branch into several.
• Exercise 2: Change the code you just wrote so that each time you run through the loop, you change the color, size, or some other feature of your snowflake.

Here's the code for the snowflake branch.

Demo:

Robot Sandwiches (Blocks)

Robot Sandwiches (Python)

Week 4: Functions & While loops - Trivia game if you lost yours from week 2!

Recommended mini-challenge: For loop drawing challenge or baby shark challenge

Functions let you give a name to a chunk of code so you can call it up later in your program without writing all the instructions out again. There are a few functions you've already used in the first two sessions: range(), str(), int(), input().

Exercise 1: Go back to your snowflake from last week. What you want to make now is a function that draws a snowflake, so that all you need to type to make a new snowflake is this:

• draw_snowflake()

If you have time, you can make a fancy snowflake function where you can change the color, size, etc.:

• draw_snowflake('blue', 10)
• draw_snowflake('orange', 3)

Exercise 2: Starting from the trivia game you began working on in week 2, try to make a version of the game where the user input, answer comparisons, and scorekeeping all happen inside of a function. This will make adding new questions to your game much easier!

While loops act kind of like for loops, but you don't know how many times they're going to run. Instead, they keep running as long as some condition is true.

Exercise 3: Add a while loop in your trivia function to check if the user's answer is valid, and have them put in a new answer until it is.

Week 5: Make your own game!

This time, you get to choose your project! You have a few different options:

• Detective/adventure game
• Snake
• Guess the number
• Microbits
• If you have another idea of a game you'd like to make, you're welcome to try that as well! (maybe check with one of us first; we may be able to help steer you in the right direction)

Week 6: Make your own game! (continued)