Scratch Tutorial For Beginners

Scratch is a visual programming language to help introduce kids to programming concepts. With Scratch you can create interactive stories, animations, and games. The great thing about using Scratch in the classroom is that it is free. Students that wish to learn more about Scratch can download it at home, create and share their creations online.

In this step by step Scratch tutorial I will show you how to animate a sprite. Just like it says in the title this is a Scratch Tutorial For Beginners. If you have not downloaded Scratch and installed in on your computer just go to the Scratch website and install it now.

This Scratch Tutorial will focus on getting you comfortable with adding a sprite, adding a script, and testing your script.

Scratch Tutorial Name: The Thinking Blue Dog

1. 1. Open Scratch

1. 1. Right-click Sprite1

1. 1. Select Delete

1. 1. Choose new Sprite from file
   2. Double Click Animals
   3. Double Click dog2-a

1. 1. Save Your Work by selecting File/Save As
   2. Navigate to the correct location to save
   3. Type thinkingbluedog in the New File Name field
   4. Click ok
   5. Click on the blue dog

1. 1. Click on the costumes tab

1. 1. Click the Pad Lock.

1. 1. Change the name of the Sprite to Blue Dog
   2. Click the pad lock again to lock the name of the Sprite

1. 1. Click Import

1. 1. Import dog2-b

1. 1. Import dog2-c

Now let’s animate the Blue Dog

1. 1. Click “Scripts” tab. The “Blue Dog” Sprite doesn’t have any script blocks.

1. 1. Click Looks.
   2. Drag the “switch to costume” block to the scripts pane and drop it.

1. 1. Click the drop down arrow and select dog2-b
   2. Drag another “switch to costume” block to the scripts pane and drop it right under switch to costume dog2-b

1. 1. Click the drop down arrow and select dog2-c

1. 1. Click “Control”.

1. 1. We are almost done with creating our first animation. To wrap it up, drag “when clicked” and drop it above the first “switch to costume” block.
   2. Now click the green flag button to start the animation.

So now lets slow down the transition

1. 1. Drag the “wait 1 secs” block between the “switch to costume dog2-b” block and the “switch to costume dog2-c”
   2. Drag a “wait 1 secs” block after “switch to costume dog2-c”
   3. Click on Looks
   4. Drag a “switch to costume” block next

1. 1. From the drop down choose dog2-a

Now let’s make the Blue Dog walk

1. 1. Now click the green flag button to start the animation.
   2. Click Looks

1. 1. Drag think Hmm… for 2 secs to the bottom
   2. Now click the green flag button to start the animation.
   3. Click the Control block

1. 1. Drag the repeat 10 block to the script window

1. 1. Change the repeat block so that is repeats 4 times

1. 1. Change the think Hmm.. block to remain for 5 seconds
   2. Now click the green flag button to start the animation.

1. Drag a the forever block around the blocks as shown
2. Now click the green flag button to start the animation.
3. The animation will repeat until you click the red stop sign

Additional Scratch Resources:

• Super Scratch Programming Adventure!: Learn to Program By Making Cool Games
• Scratch Programming for Teens (For Teens (Course Technology))
• Scratch Lessons From Shall We Learn
• Scratch Video Courses

Share your Scratch resources and ideas in the comments below!