Beginner's Guide to Learning Scratch Programming

What is Scratch?

Scratch is a free graphical programming language designed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for children and beginners. By dragging and dropping colorful building blocks, users can create interactive stories, animations, games and music. Scratch's simple and intuitive design makes it easy to get started and promotes creative thinking and problem-solving skills.

Key Features of Scratch

• Graphical interface: No need to write complex code, programming can be completed by assembling the building blocks like a puzzle.
• Building block programming: Each building block represents an instruction (such as moving, playing sound, displaying dialogue, etc.), which makes learning programming logic simple and intuitive.
• Community sharing: Scratch has a global community where users can share their projects, learn and communicate with each other.

Why choose to learn Scratch?

Learning Scratch is a great starting point to enter the world of programming. Whether for children or adults, it provides basic concepts of programming such as variables, conditional statements, loops, etc. In addition, Scratch emphasizes creativity and collaborative learning, allowing users to create a variety of multimedia projects and share their work with others.

Benefits of learning Scratch

• Easy to get started: Even if you have no programming experience at all, you can get started quickly with simple operations.
• Develop logical thinking: By designing games and stories, you will learn how to break down problems and solve them using programming languages.
• Creative expression: Scratch allows you to apply programming to creative projects, improving hands-on skills and creative thinking.
• No software to download: just open your browser and go to the official Scratch website to start creating your project.

How to start learning Scratch?

1. Register and enter the Scratch platform

   First, open the Scratch official website and register an account. Registering an account allows you to save projects and share them with others. After completing the registration, you can directly click the "Create" button to enter the programming interface.

2. Learn about the Scratch programming interface
   • Stage: This is where your project will appear and where all characters will execute their instructions.
   • Character (Sprite): The main character in the project, which can be people, animals, objects, etc., and set their behaviors.
   • Blocks Area: You can drag the blocks from the left into the Blocks Area and combine them to form a program.
   • Brick type:
     • Action blocks: control character movement, rotation, etc.
     • Appearance building blocks: Change the appearance of the character, such as displaying text or changing the shape.
     • Sound blocks: play sounds or music.
     • Event building blocks: Set trigger conditions, such as executing the program when the green flag is clicked.
     • Control building blocks: Use loops and conditional statements to control program flow.
3. Create your first project

   After getting familiar with the interface, create a simple interactive screen:

   • Step 1: Choose a character. The default character is Scratch Cat, you can click "Select Character" to add other characters.
   • Step 2: Add actions. Drag the "Move 10 Steps" block to the block area and click on the block to move the character forward.
   • Step 3: Add interaction. Use the "When green flag is clicked" block to have the program start running when the green flag is clicked.
   • Step 4: Add sound effects. Add the "Play Sound Effects" block to the program to add sounds to the character's movements.
4. Save and share

   After completing the project, don't forget to save and share it with the Scratch community to communicate and learn with other users.

Improve your Scratch skills

• Using Variables: Learn to create and use variables to record data, such as fractions and time.
• Conditional statements and loops: Explore control flow concepts in depth to make programs more interactive.
• Clone and copy characters: Use the cloning function to make characters copy themselves, suitable for enemies or items in game design.
• Self-made building blocks: When creating complex programs, you can make your own building blocks to simplify the program structure.

in conclusion

Scratch is a powerful and fun tool that eases beginners into the world of programming.