Introduction to Scratch Programming

Last Updated : 17 Feb, 2021

Scratch is a block-based visual programming language that can be used to make interactive games and animations. It has a huge online community where you can share, discuss and view scratch programs. The objective behind the development of Scratch is to help children(mostly) to think creatively, work collaboratively and solve problems systematically.

Users can directly create projects on the official website using a block-like interface.

Create Your Scratch Account:

You will need a Scratch account to create, save, and share your Scratch projects. The steps below will walk you through creating a new account and setting up your profile.

Open a web browser and navigate to the Scratch official website.
On the Homepage, click on “Join Scratch” at the top on the right of the page.

Fill in your preferred username and password. Then click on Next.

At this stage, you have successfully created an account on Scratch.

Scratch Community guidelines:

Since most users of Scratch are highly impressionable armature underage programmers the below community guidelines need to be strictly followed:

Be respectful.
Be constructive.
Share.
Keep personal info private.
Be honest.
Help keep the site friendly.

Note: there are also tools like CleanSpeak profanity filters in the community form.

Design Journal:

Design Journals are given to students which can be used similar to a personal diary. Here students can have a brainstorming session for ideas and think creatively and freely. These journals are further encouraged to be updated and shared regularly with other students.

Create a New Project on Scratch:

Open a web browser and navigate to the Scratch official website.
Sign in to your account.
Click on the “Create” tab located at the top left of the browser to start a new project.

Time to explore! Try clicking on different parts of the Scratch interface to see what happens.
Play with different Scratch blocks! Drag and drop Scratch blocks into the scripting area. Experiment by clicking on each block to see what they do or try snapping blocks together

Scratch Studio:

Studios are collections of Scratch projects. Follow along with the steps below to add your Scratch program to the Scratch GFG School studio on the Scratch website.

Go to the Scratch GFG School studio using this link.

Sign in to your account.
Click on “Add Projects” at the bottom of the page to show your projects, favorite projects, and recently viewed projects.

Use the arrows to find your Scratch Surprise project and then click “Add +“ to add your project to the studio.

Critique group:

Students are dived into groups of 3 or 4 and these groups operate as a critique group. The critique group is supposed to share ideas and projects with each other and give constructive feedback and suggestions on the proposed designs and projects.