Age Recommendation: Any!
Everyone loves video games and if you don’t have much to do then chances are you turn to video games for some quick and fun entertainment. But what if you could not only play games, but also learn how people make them and even make your own? If this sounds interesting to you, then head over to scratch.mit.edu and give Scratch a spin!
Image source: https://scratch.mit.edu/images/scratch-og.png
Scratch is an online platform developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that allows people to learn the basics of programming through “block programming”. Block programming is a special way of coding without needing to memorize any lengthy commands. To make a program, all you have to do is take blocks with the function you need and connect them together. With easy to use functions, anyone can explore their own creativity and make a variety of different things including games through simple and easy to learn block programming.
When you first enter the website, you have to go through a short sign-up process which allows your projects to be uploaded to the cloud and accessed from anywhere at any time. Once you have signed up, you are free to create a new project on your own and begin tinkering around with the block programming. While it is easy to figure out on your own, it is difficult to understand how to begin creating more complex programs like games or lengthy animations. Luckily, Scratch has tutorials right on the site to guide you and help you understand how to make something more complex. Scratch’s large user base also means that if there is something you can’t find in the tutorial library then you can Google your question and there will very likely be an answer for your question.
The entire concept of Scratch is to learn and figure out by yourself how computer programming works without a daunting learning curve. Scratch is simple to understand at first, but also complex enough to be able to generate some very impressive programs.
Resources for Starting Scratch
- Scratch tutorials by the Scratch Team
- Scratch Tutorial 1: Make Your First Program
- Scratch – Dodge the ball – Easy Game Tutorial
- Getting Started with Scratch
