rojEctS

COMPUTER CODING

P
FOR KIDS
 rojEctS
COMPUTER CODING

P
FOR KIDS

JON WOODCOCK
FOREWORD BY CAROL VORDERMAN
 DK UK
Senior editor Ben Morgan
Project editor Ben Ffrancon Davies
Senior art editor Jacqui Swan
Consultant editor Craig Steele
Jacket design development manager Sophia MTT
Jacket editor Emma Dawson
Jacket designer Surabhi Wadhwa
Producer, pre-production Gillian Reid
Senior producers Meskerem Berhane, Mary Slater
Managing editor Lisa Gillespie
Managing art editor Owen Peyton Jones
Publisher Andrew Macintyre
Associate publishing director Liz Wheeler
Art director Karen Self
Design director Phil Ormerod
Publishing director Jonathan Metcalf

DK INDIA
Senior editor Suefa Lee
Project editor Tina Jindal
Project art editors Sanjay Chauhan, Parul Gambhir
Editor Sonia Yooshing
Art editors Rabia Ahmad, Simar Dhamija, Sonakshi Singh
Jacket designers Priyanka Bansal, Suhita Dharamjit
Jackets editorial coordinator Priyanka Sharma
Managing jackets editor Saloni Singh
DTP designers Jaypal Singh Chauhan, Rakesh Kumar
Senior managing editor Rohan Sinha
Managing art editor Sudakshina Basu
Pre-production manager Balwant Singh
This edition published in 2019
First published in Great Britain in 2016 by
Dorling Kindersley Limited
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL

Copyright © 2016, 2019 Dorling Kindersley Limited

A Penguin Random House Company
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
001–308111–Aug/2019

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored into
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means
(electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without
the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

A CIP catalogue record for this book

is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-0-2413-1776-1

Printed in China

A WORLD OF IDEAS:
SEE ALL THERE IS TO KNOW

www.dk.com
CAROL VORDERMAN MA (CANTAB), MBE, is one of Britain’s best-loved TV
presenters and is renowned for her mathematical skills. She has hosted numerous
TV shows on science and technology, from Tomorrow’s World to How 2, and was
co-host of Channel 4’s Countdown for 26 years. A Cambridge University engineering
graduate, she has a passion for communicating science and technology, and has
a keen interest in coding.

DR JON WOODCOCK MA (OXON) has a degree in physics from the University of

Oxford and a PhD in computational astrophysics from the University of London.
He started coding at the age of eight and has programmed all kinds of computers,
from single-chip microcontrollers to world-class supercomputers. His many projects
include giant space simulations, research in high-tech companies, and intelligent
robots made from junk. Jon has a passion for science and technology education,
giving talks on space and running computer programming clubs in schools. He
has worked on many science and technology books, and is the author of DK’s
Computer Coding for Kids, Computer Coding Games for Kids, and DK’s series of
coding workbooks.

CRAIG STEELE is a specialist in Computing Science education who helps people

develop digital skills in a fun and creative environment. He is a founder of CoderDojo
in Scotland, which runs free coding clubs for young people. Craig has run digital
workshops with the Raspberry Pi Foundation, Glasgow Science Centre, Glasgow
School of Art, BAFTA, and the BBC micro:bit project. Craig’s first computer was
a ZX Spectrum.
Contents
8 FOREWORD

WHAT IS CODING? ART

12 Creative computers
82 Birthday Card
14 Programming languages
94 Spiralizer
16 How Scratch works
106 Fantastic Flowers
18 Getting Scratch
20 The Scratch interface
22 Types of project

GETTING STARTED GAMES

26 Cat Art 122 Tunnel of Doom

34 Dino Dance Party 134 Window Cleaner
48 Animal Race
60 Ask Gobo
70 Funny Faces
 SIMULATIONS MINDBENDERS

144 Virtual Snow

154 Firework Display 200 The Magic Spot
162 Fractal Trees 208 Spiral-o-tron
172 Snowflake Simulator

MUSIC AND SOUND WHAT NEXT?

218 Next steps

220 Glossary
222 Index
182 Sprites and Sounds 224 Acknowledgments
190 Drumtastic
Find out more at:
www.dk.com/computercoding
 Foreword

In recent years, interest in coding has exploded. All over the world, schools
are adding coding to their curriculums, code clubs are being launched to
teach beginners, and adults are returning to college to learn coding skills
now considered vital in the workplace. And in homes everywhere, millions
of people are learning how to code just for the fun of it.

Fortunately, there’s never been a better time to learn how to code. In the
past, programmers had to type out every line of code by hand, using obscure
commands and mathematical symbols. A single full stop out of place could
ruin everything. Today, you can build amazingly powerful programs in
minutes by using drag-and-drop coding languages like Scratch™, which is
used in this book.

As learning to code has become easier, more people have discovered the
creative potential of computers, and that’s where this book comes in. Computer
Coding Projects for Kids is all about using code for creative purposes – to make
art, music, animation, and special effects. With a little bit of imagination
you can produce dazzling results, from glittering firework displays to
kaleidoscope-like masterpieces that swirl and beat in time to music.
If you’re completely new to coding, don’t worry – the first two chapters
will walk you through the basics and teach you everything you need to
know to use Scratch. The later chapters then build on your skills, showing
you how to create interactive artworks, life-like simulations, mind-bending
optical illusions, and some great games.

Learning something new can sometimes feel like hard work, but I believe
you learn faster when you’re having fun. This book is based on that idea,
so we’ve tried to make it as much fun as possible. We hope you enjoy
building the projects in this book as much as we enjoyed making them.

CAROL VORDERMAN

On your marks...
get set... CODE!
What is
coding?
12 W H AT I S C O D I N G ?

Creative computers
Computers are everywhere and are used in all sorts of
creative ways. But to really join in the fun, you need to
take control of your computer and learn how to program it.
Programming puts a world of possibilities at your fingertips.

Think like a computer

Programming, or coding, simply means telling a computer
what to do. To write a program you need to think like
a computer, which means breaking down a task into
a series of simple steps. Here’s how it works.

▷ A simple recipe
Imagine you want a friend to bake a cake, but your
Easy peasy!
friend has no idea how to cook. You can’t simply give
them an instruction like “make a cake” – they won’t
know where to start. Instead, you need to write a
recipe, with simple steps like “break an egg”, “add
the sugar”, and so on. Programming a computer Recipe
is a bit like writing a recipe.

Recipe
Ingredients

1. Ten circles of various sizes

2. Seven colours
◁ Step by step Instructions
Now imagine you want to 1. Clear the screen to create a white background.
program a computer to create
2. Repeat the following ten times:
a painting like the one shown
here, with coloured circles a) Pick a random place on the screen.
overlapping each other at b) Pick one of the circles randomly.
random. You have to turn the c) Pick one of the colours randomly.
job of painting the picture into
d) Draw a see-through copy of the circle
a kind of recipe, with steps the at that place in that colour.
computer can follow. It might
look something like this:
 C R E AT I V E C O M P U T E R S 13
▷ Computer language
Although you can understand the recipe when clicked
for a painting or a cake, a computer can’t.
forever
You need to translate the instructions into
move 10 steps
a special language that the computer can
understand – a programming language.
The one used in this book is called Scratch.

Worlds of imagination
There isn’t a single creative field in the world that hasn’t been touched
by computers. In this book, you’ll get to make lots of great projects that
will fire your imagination and make you think and code creatively.

Computers can be programmed Sound programs can mix musical and

to create original works of art. other sound effects in any combination.

Building games programs is just as much fun as Special effects and dramatic scenery in films
playing them, especially when you make all the rules. are often created in graphics programs.
14 W H AT I S C O D I N G ?

Programming languages
To tell a computer what to do, you need to speak the right
kind of language: a programming language. There are lots
to choose from, ranging from easy ones for beginners, like
the one in this book, to complex languages that take years
to master. A set of instructions written in any programming
language is called a program.

☞✜✂★❂✮✓

Popular languages
There are more than 500 different
Hello!
programming languages, but most programs
are written in just a handful of these. The
most popular languages use English words,
but lines of code look very different from
English sentences. Here’s how to get a
computer to say “Hello!” on screen in
just a few of today’s languages.

▷C
The C programming language #include <stdio.h>
is often used for code that main(){ printf(“Hello!”); } Hello!
runs directly on a computer’s
hardware, such as the Windows
operating system. C is good for
building software that needs to
run fast and has been used
to program space probes.

#include <iostream>
▷ C++ int main()
This complicated language is used {
to build large, commercial programs std::cout << “Hello!” << std::endl;
such as word processors, web }
browsers, and operating systems.
C++ is based on C, but with extra
features that make it better for
big projects.
 PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES 15

class HelloApp {
when clicked public static void main(String[] args) {
say Hello! System.out.println(“Hello!”);
}
}

△ Scratch
Beginners often start with simple programming
languages such as Scratch. Instead of typing out △ Java
code, you build scripts with ready-made coding blocks. Java code is designed to work on all types
of devices, from mobile phones and laptops
to games consoles and supercomputers.
Minecraft is written in Java.

print(“Hello!”)

LINGO
Code words
Algorithm A set of instructions that
are followed to perform a particular
task. Computer programs are based
on algorithms.
△ Python Bug A mistake in a program. They are
Python is a very popular, all-purpose language. called bugs because the first computers
The lines of code are shorter and simpler than had problems when insects got stuck in
in other languages, making it easier to learn. their circuits.
Python is a great language to learn after Scratch.
Code Computer instructions written in
a programming language are often called
code. Coding is programming.
alert(‘Hello!’);

△ JavaScript
Programmers use JavaScript to create
interactive features that run on websites,
such as advertisements and games.
16 W H AT I S C O D I N G ?

How Scratch works

This book shows you how to build some cool projects using
the Scratch programming language. Programs are made by
dragging together ready-made instruction blocks to control
colourful characters called sprites.

Sprites
Sprites are the objects shown on the screen. Scratch comes with
a huge selection of sprites – such as elephants, bananas, and
balloons – but you can also draw your own. Sprites can perform all
sorts of actions, like moving, changing colour, and spinning round.
I’m a sprite!

Sprites Sprites can Sprites can deliver

can move play sounds messages on
around. and music. the screen.

Blocks of code ▽ Creating code blocks

The blocks that make the code are dragged together
Scratch’s multicoloured instruction blocks using a computer mouse. They lock together like jigsaw
tell sprites what to do. Each sprite gets its pieces. Blocks come in colour-coded families to help you
instructions from stacks of Scratch blocks find the correct block easily. For example, all the purple
blocks change a sprite’s appearance.
called code blocks. Each instruction block
is acted out in turn from the top to the
bottom. Here’s some simple code for this
vampire sprite.
when clicked

switch costume to vampire

wait 1 seconds

switch costume to open cloak

wait 1 seconds

switch costume to bat

 H O W S C R AT C H W O R K S 17
A typical Scratch project
A Scratch project is made up of sprites, code blocks, and
sounds, which work collectively to create action on the screen.
The area where you see the action is called the stage. You can
add a background picture called a backdrop to the stage. This icon displays the
game in full-screen mode.

Starts the project Stops the project

▷ Green for go!
Starting, or “running”,
a program brings to life
the code you’ve built.
In Scratch, clicking the
green flag runs all the
code blocks in the
project. The red button
stops the code so you
can continue working
on your program.

The stage and lights are

part of the backdrop
(background picture).

The dancing dinosaurs

and ballerina are sprites
controlled by their
own code blocks.

▽ Code blocks work together

EXPERT TIPS
A project usually has several sprites, each with
one or more code blocks. Each code block creates Reading Scratch
just a part of the action. This code makes a sprite
chase the mouse-pointer around the stage. Scratch is designed to be easily
understood. The action performed
by each block is written on it, so you
when clicked can usually work out what the code
does just by reading through it.
forever
The “forever” point towards mouse-pointer
block makes go to mouse-pointer
the blocks
inside repeat.
move 15 steps
Can you guess what this
block makes sprites do?
18 W H AT I S C O D I N G ?

Getting Scratch 3.0 This book uses

Scratch 3.0!
To build the projects in this book and to make your
own, you need access to the Scratch 3.0 software on
your computer. Just follow these simple instructions.

Online and offline Scratch

If your computer is always connected to the internet,
it’s best to run Scratch online. If not, you need
to download and install the offline version.

ONLINE OFFLINE

Visit the Scratch website at http:// Visit the Scratch website at http://
scratch.mit.edu and click on “Join scratch.mit.edu/download and follow
Scratch” to create an account with the instructions to download and install
a username and password. You’ll Scratch on your computer.
need an email address too.

Online Scratch runs in your web browser, Scratch will appear as an icon on
so just go to the Scratch website and your desktop, just like any other
click on “Create” at the top of the screen. installed program. Double-click on
The Scratch interface will open. the Scratch cat icon to get going.

You don’t have to worry about saving You’ll need to save your project by
your work as the online version of clicking on the File menu and selecting
Scratch saves projects automatically. “Save to your computer”. Scratch will
ask you where to save your work –
check with the computer’s owner.

Online Scratch should work on Offline Scratch works well on

Windows, Mac, and Linux computers. Windows and macOS.
This version will also work on tablets.
 G E T T I N G S C R AT C H 3 . 0 19
Versions of Scratch
The projects in this book need
Scratch 3.0 and won’t work
properly on older versions. ▽ Scratch 2.0
If Scratch is already installed In the older version of Scratch, the
on your computer then consult stage appears on the left. You’ll
need to install Scratch 3.0.
the pictures below if you’re
not sure which version it is.
SCRATCH File ▾ Edit ▾ Tips ?

Fireworks Display Scripts Costumes Sounds

by MagicLight01 (unshared)

Motion Events
Looks Control
when clicked
Sound Sensing hide
x: -126
y: 96
Pen Operators repeat 300

Data More Blocks create clone of myself ▾

move 10 steps

turn 15 degrees
when I receive Bang ▾

set speed ▾ to pick random 0.1 to 3

turn 15 degrees
set ghost ▾ effect to 0
point in direction 90 ▾ change colour ▾ effect by 25

go to Rocket ▾
point towards ▾
point in direction pick random –180 to 180

go to x: 0 y: 0 show

x: 153 y: -61 repeat 50

go to mouse pointer ▾
set speed ▾ to speed * 0.9
Sprites New sprite:
glide 1 secs to x: 0 y: 0 move speed steps

change ghost ▾ effect by pick random 1 to 3

Stage hide
1 backdrop Rocket Stars

New backdrop:

Backpack

SCRATCH File Edit Tutorials Untitled Share See Project Page scratch-cat

Code Costumes Sounds

Motion
Motion
move 10 steps
when clicked
Looks
turn 15 degrees forever

repeat 3
Sound turn 15 degrees
switch costume to ballerina-a

Events go to random position

wait 0.5 seconds

switch costume to ballerina-d

◁ Scratch 3.0
Control go to x: 0 y: 0 wait 0.5 seconds
In the latest version of Scratch, released
glide 1 secs to random position
Sensing

glide 1 secs to x: 0 y: 0
repeat 2

switch costume to ballerina-a

in 2019, the stage is on the right and
Operators wait 0.5 seconds

switch costume to ballerina-b

there are many more blocks and features
point in direction 90
Variables

point towards mouse-pointer

wait 0.5 seconds

Sprite Sprite1 x 20 y 80
Stage than in the older versions. Key changes
include the addition of new sprites, a
My Blocks
Show Size 100 Direction 90

Backdrops
1
better sound editor, and the “Extensions”
Dinasaor1 Dinosaur2 Dinosaur3 Ballerina
section, where you can find many new
Backpack programming blocks.

EXPERT TIPS
Mouse-pointers
Scratch needs some accurate something with your computer
mouse-work, which is easier to mouse. If your mouse only has
do with a computer mouse than one button, you can hold down
a touchpad. In this book, you’ll the shift or control key on your
often be instructed to right-click keyboard as you click.
20 W H AT I S C O D I N G ?

The Scratch
Use the Sounds
Select the tab to add music
Code tab to Change Menu and sound effects
build the code. language options to sprites.

interface
This is Scratch mission control. SCRATCH File Edit Tutorials Untitled

The tools for building code

blocks are on the left, while the Code Costumes Sounds
stage to the right shows you Use the
Motion
what’s going on as your project Motion
Costumes tab
to change how
runs. Don’t be afraid to explore! move 10 steps sprites look.
Looks
turn 15 degrees

Sound turn 15 degrees

Blocks palette
Instruction blocks for making
code blocks appear on the left Events go to random position
of the Scratch window. Drag
the ones you want to use go to x: 0 y: 0
Control
to the code area.
glide 1 secs to random position
Sensing

glide 1 secs to x: 0 y: 0
Operators

point in direction 90
Variables

point towards mouse-pointer

My Blocks
S TA G E
AREA
BLOCKS CODE
PA L E T T E AREA

SPRITES
LIST

B A C K PA C K S TA G E L I S T Backpack

△ Naming the parts

While using this book you’ll need to know what’s Backpack
Store useful code blocks,
where in the Scratch window. Shown here sprites, costumes, and
are the names of the different areas. The tabs sounds in the backpack
above the blocks palette open up other areas so you can use them in
of Scratch to edit sounds and sprite costumes. other projects.
 T H E S C R AT C H I N T E R FA C E 21
The Stage
Code area This is where the action happens.
Drag blocks into this part of the When you run your project, the
Scratch window and join them stage is where all the sprites Click here for a
together to build some code for appear, moving and interacting full-screen view of
each sprite in your project. as they follow their code blocks. your project.

Share See Project Page scratch-cat

when clicked

forever

repeat 3

switch costume to ballerina-a

wait 0.5 seconds

switch costume to ballerina-d

wait 0.5 seconds

repeat 2

switch costume to ballerina-a

wait 0.5 seconds

switch costume to ballerina-b

wait 0.5 seconds

Stage
Sprite Ballerina x 20 y 80

Show Size 100 Direction 90

Backdrops
Click here
to zoom in. 1
Dinosaur1 Dinosaur2 Dinosaur3 Ballerina

Sprites list A blue box Click this Use this

Every sprite used in highlights the symbol to add symbol to
a project is shown selected sprite. new sprites. change the
here. Click on a backdrop.
sprite to see its code
in the code area.
 22 W H AT I S C O D I N G ?

Types of project
This book has a wide range of fun Scratch projects. Don’t
worry if you haven’t used Scratch before or you’re not an
expert – the “Getting started” chapter is there to help
you. Here’s a handy guide to the projects in this book. 60
60 G E T T I N G S TA R T E D
G E T T I N G S TA R T E D
ASK GOBO
ASK GOBO
61
61

48 G E T T I N G S TA R T E D Ask
Ask Gobo
Gobo ANIMAL RACE 49 Click this icon to
Click this
escape theicon
full-to
Do you have a tricky decision to make The green flag The red button

Animal Race
escapemode.
the full-
Do youThehave a tricky decision to make The green
starts flag
the project. The red
stops thebutton
project. screen
or wantevery
tobat
predict the future? Let Gobo
flaps its wings starts the project. stops the project. screen mode.
Click the green flag or want to predict the future? Let Gobo
time you press
to start the project. help youthein
“z”this
key. fortune-telling project.
help you in this fortune-telling project.
Have you ever wondered which is Here you’ll learn about random numbers, ◁ Ask a question!
Here you’ll learn about random numbers, ◁ Ask a question!
faster – a dog or a bat? Now you variables, and how computer programs Gobo works best if you ask
variables, and how computer programs itGobo works best if youorask
can find out when you play this make choices. to make predictions
it to makefor
predictions
make choices. decisions you. Don’torask
fun fast-finger, button-pressing, ◁ Fastest finger first decisions
factual for you.as
questions Don’t ask
it’ll often
two-player animal race game. Go! factual
get questions
the answer as it’ll often
wrong!
As soon as the cat starts
get the answer wrong!
the race, the dog and the
I can answer your
How
How itit works
works
bat start racing towards
the balloons. The faster the
I can answer
yes-or-no your
questions.
yes-or-no questions.
Gobo invites you to ask a question and players press their keys,
Gobo invites you to ask a question and the faster their sprites race.
then answers with either “Yes” or “No”.
How it works then answers with either “Yes” or “No”.
You can ask anything you like, from “Am
You can ask anything you like, from “Am Gobo uses speech
The aim of this two-player game is simply I going to be a billionaire?” to “Should I Gobo uses
bubbles speech
to interact
I going to be a billionaire?” to “Should I bubbles to interact
to race across the screen and reach the play a computer game instead of doing Ask your question with you when you
play a computer game instead of doing Ask your
pressquestion
withthe
run you when you
project.
balloons before the other player. Fast my homework?” Gobo pauses to look then space. run the project.
my homework?” Gobo pauses to look then press space.
finger action is all you need to win. like it’s thinking, but its answers are
like it’s thinking, but its answers are
The faster you tap the keyboard’s “z” actually pure chance.
actually pure chance.
or “m” key, the faster your sprite moves
from left to right.
Balloons mark
◁ Gobo the finish area.
◁ Gobo
Friendly Gobo is the only Get ready to see
◁ Sending messages Get ready to see
Friendly Gobo is the It
only into the future!
This project shows you how sprite in this project. has into the future!
spritecostumes
three in this project. It has
that you
to use Scratch’s message
three
can usecostumes that bring
later to help you
feature to make one sprite
pass information to other itcan use later to help bring
to life.
it to life. Catch me
sprites, such as when the
if you can!
cat sprite tells the dog
and bat to start racing.

◁ Take a chance
◁ Take a chance
Just as the roll of the dice
Just as random
creates the roll of the dice
numbers,
◁ Variables
creates can
Scratch random numbers,
generate
The cat’s code stores Scratch numbers
can generate
information in something random to
randomthenumbers
programto
3 programmers call a variable. make
make
in the program
unpredictable
react
react
ways.
In this project, you’ll use

Cat Art (p.26) Dino Dance Party (p.34) Animal Race (p.48) Ask Gobo (p.60)
in unpredictable ways.
a variable to store the
numbers for the cat’s count The dog runs for the finish – one
at the start of the race. The cross and arrow stride every time you press the
Count mark the start line. “m” key.

△ Getting started
Work your way through these easy projects to learn how to
use Scratch. Each project introduces important new ideas, so
don’t skip any if you’re a beginner. By the end of the chapter,
you’ll have mastered the basics of Scratch.

94 AR
A RT
T SP
S P II R
RAAL
L II Z
ZEER
R 95 Funny Faces (p.70)
83
Spiralizer B I R T H D AY C A R D

day Card A balloon-filled backdrop

sets the scene.
Try out
Try out this
The animated sign at the
Change
top rocks fromChange
this spinning
spinning spiral
spiral project.
project.
the patterns using special
side to side. the patterns using special
Be sure to run this project
in full-screen mode.
Adjust the
Adjust the sliders
change the
change
of the
sliders to
the look
look
the spiral.
spiral.
to The ball
The ball in
in the
the centre
centre
is the original sprite;
is the original sprite;
all the
the others
others are
are clones.
clones.
Click this
Click this icon
icon to
to
switch from full-screen
switch from full-screen
mode to
to editor
editor mode.
mode.
n ordinary birthday sliders to
sliders to alter
alter the
the values
values of
of variables
variables of all mode

u can have an in the

in the code.
code. You
You control
control the
the art
art –– the
the
st for the eyes and possibilities are
possibilities are endless!
endless!

◁ Art
is the perfect tool
birthday card. This Angle
Angle 10
10

Y!
ing sharks, but you

BIRTHDA
Clones
△ Clones
e project to make How it works △
Clones are
Clones are working
working copies
copies
△ Gliding
Speed around 2
ir own unique card. This simple
This simple project
project has
has only
only one
one sprite:
sprite: aa Speed 2 of sprites.
of sprites. When
When aa clone
clone isis

HAPPY Artists love finding new ways

This project uses the “glide” created, it
it appears
appears on
on top
top
coloured ball,
coloured ball, which
which stays
stays in
in the
the middle.
middle. block, which makes sprites
created,
of the
of the existing
existing sprite
sprite and
and
Scratch’s clone
Scratch’s clone blocks
blocks make
make copies
copies of
of the
the move smoothly around has the
the same
same properties,
properties,
has
ball that
that move
move outwards
outwards in in straight
straight lines.
lines. the stage. You need to use
ks ball
A spiral
spiral pattern
pattern forms
forms because
because each
each clone
clone Scratch’s coordinates system
such as
such
and so
as direction,
direction, size,
so on.
on.
size,
A and
to set the exact start and

to create art, and computers

his project, a moves in
moves in aa slightly
slightly different
different direction,
direction, like
like
finish point of each glide.
ing green button water from
water from aa garden
garden sprinkler.
sprinkler. The
The Scratch
Scratch If you can’t remember how
he button and an pen draws
pen draws aa trail
trail behind
behind each
each clone,
clone, making
making coordinates work, see the
ay card fills the
day colourful background
colourful background patterns.
patterns. Funny Faces project.
Happy birthday
e with singing sharks. to you!

give them tools that even

turns singing the
The clones’
clones’ different
different
py Birthday” song.
ppy The
directions make
make
directions
them form
them form aa spiral.
spiral.

134
134
134
134 GGA
GAM
A AMM
M EES
SESS

Leonardo da Vinci couldn’t

Wow! This
Wow! This project
project has
has G E
got me
got me inin aa spin.
spin.

Y ON YOUR BIRTHDAY!
Each line
Each line is
is drawn
Scratch’s Pen
Scratch’s
drawn using
using
Pen extension,
extension, Scratch pen
△ Scratch
△ pen
Window
Window
WindowCleaner Cleaner
Cleaner
Slime
Slime
Slime tim
tim
Slimetim
ti
have dreamed of. Make a
which lets
lets any
any sprite
sprite draw.
draw. Every sprite
sprite can
can draw
draw aa
which Every
trail behind
trail behind it it wherever
wherever To
To
To make
make
make
To make som
som
somso
it goes
it goes –– just
just add
add the
the
draw
draw
draw
draw some
some
some
some ss
green “pen
green
to its
“pen down”
its code.
down” block
code. By
block
By adding
adding
Messy
Messy
Messy windows?
windows?
Messywindows?
windows? You’d
You’d
You’d better
better
You’dbetter get
get
betterget up
getup up and
and
upand clean
clean
andclean them!
them!
cleanthem!
them! and
and you’ll
you’ll bb
be
to
the Pen
Pen extension
extension you
you This
This frantic
frantic game
game counts
counts how
how many
many splats
splats you
you can
can and
andyou’ll be
you’ll
△ Keeping time the
This
Thisfrantic
franticgame
gamecounts
countshow howmany
manysplatssplatsyouyoucan
can
birthday card, spin spectacular
Like Animal Race, this get extra
get extra blocks
blocks added
added
Each cloned
cloned ball
ball flies
flies in
in project uses messages sent to the
to the blocks
blocks palette
palette to
to clean
clean
clean off
off
cleanoff your
your
offyour computer
computer
yourcomputer screen
screen
computerscreen inin
screenin aaaminute.
ina minute.
minute.
minute. You
You
You
You
111 right-clic
Each
change the the pen’s
pen’s colour,
colour, Startaa ane
Start
Start n
ne
aa straight
straight line
line from
from the
the from one sprite to another change Start a
centre to
centre to the
the edge.
edge.
to control the timing of
shade, and
shade, and thickness.
thickness. can
can
can wipe
wipe
canwipe away
away
wipeaway the
the
awaythe splats
splats
thesplats either
either
splatseither by
eitherbyby using
using
byusing aaacomputer
usinga computer
computer
computer right-cli
right-clic
right-c
andselec
and sele
code blocks. The singing
mouse
mouse
mouse
mouseor or
or by
by
orby waving
waving
bywaving your
your
wavingyour hand
hand
yourhand inin
handin front
front
infront of
of
frontof aaawebcam.
ofa webcam.
webcam.
webcam. and
and selec
se

spirals, and cover your world

sharks send messages back
ininthe
in thes
the
Click the button to open The sharks drop in from the top The cake slides into view and forth to time their lines in ths

Birthday Card (p.82) Spiralizer (p.94) Fantastic Flowers (p.106)

the birthday card. and then sing “Happy Birthday”. from the edge of the stage. of “Happy Birthday”.
C
C
How
How
How itititworks
Howit works
works
works to
to

with flowers.
nen
ne
The
The
TheThe game
game
game
game starts
starts
starts
starts by
byby
by cloning
cloning
cloning
cloningaaasplat
asplat
splat sprite
sprite
sprite
splat sprite and
and
and and scattering
scattering
scattering
scattering
▽
▽ Splatsprite
Splat
▽Splat
▽
sprite
sprite
Splat sprite
clones
clones with
with different
different costumes
costumes randomly
randomly across
across the
the stage.
stage. Thisgame
This
This gamehas
game hasone
has onesprite
one sprite
sprite
clones
clones with
with different
different costumes
costumes randomly
randomly across
across the
the stage.
stage. This game
withseveral
with
has one
severalcostumes,
several costumes,
costumes,
sprite
When
When
When
When motion
motion
motion
motion isisis
is detected
detected
detected
detected by
by
by the
the
the
by the webcam,
webcam,
webcam,
webcam, Scratch
Scratch
Scratch
Scratch uses
uses
usesuses with
with several costumes,
122
122
122
122 G
GAAGMA
GMAEEM
MSSEE SS UTTN
TT U NUNN
UNNEEN
NLLEEO
LL FFO
ODFF O
ODOO
DOOMO
OM 123
123
123
123 whichyou’ll
which
which you’llpaint
you’ll
which you’ll
paintyourself.
paint yourself.
yourself.
paint yourself.
O D M M
its
its
itsits“ghost”
“ghost”
“ghost”
“ghost” effect
effect
effect
effect tototo
to make
make
make
make the
the
the
the splats
splats
splats
splats fade.
fade.
fade. IfIfyou
If
fade. Ifyou
youyou wave
wave
wave
wave your
your
youryour Bycloning
By cloningthe
cloning thesprite
the spriteyou
sprite you
you
ByBy cloning the sprite you
TunnelofofDoom
Tunnel Doom Dodare
Do you
Do you
you dare
Dodare
you dare
to enter
to enter the the
hand
hand
hand
hand
game
game
enough,
enough,
enough,
enough,
is
is toto remove
remove
they
they
theythey eventually
eventually
eventually
as
as
eventually
many
many
disappear.
disappear.
disappear.
disappear.
splats
splats as
as you
you
The
The
The
can
can
The
in
aim
aim
aim
in
aimofofof
of
one
one
thethe
thethe
minute.
minute.
cancover
can
can coverthe
cover
can cover
splats
splats of
of
thescreen
the screenwith
screen
the screen
messy
messy gunk.
gunk.
with
with
with
Scratch is
to enter
“Tunnel
to enter
“Tunnel
the the
of Doom”?
of Doom”? game
game is is
totoremove
remove asas
many
many splats asas
splats you can
you canininone
one minute.
minute. splats
splatsof of
messy
messy gunk.
gunk.
Scratch
Scratch
Scratch is is the
is the
thethe ideal
ideal
ideal
ideal playground
playground
playground
playground forfor
for for making
making
making
makingand
andand
and Will Will
youryour
Will Will
timetime
youryour
timetime
“Tunnel
“Tunnel
of Doom”?
of Doom”?

perfecting
perfecting
perfecting
perfecting games.
games.
games.
games. ToTo
To win
To win
win at at
at
win at this
this
thisthis game,
game,
game,
game,you
youyou
you need
need
need
need
The The cat starts
cat starts
The The
cat starts
here.here.
cat starts
here.here.
TimeTime
TimeTime
in seconds
in seconds
in seconds
in seconds
be fastest?
be the
be the
the fastest?
be fastest?
the fastest?
aa steady
aa steady
steady
steady hand
hand
hand
hand and
andand
and nerves
nerves
nerves
nerves of of
of of steel.
steel.
steel.
steel. Take
Take
Take thethe
the
Take catcat
cat
the cat
allall
all thethe
the way way through
through thethe
the Tunnel
Tunnel of of
of Doom,
Doom, butbut

333 Select
all thewaywaythrough
through the
Tunnel
Tunnel of
Doom,
Doom,but but Selectthe
Select th
the
don’t touch Select
don’t
don’t
don’ttouch
touch
touch thethe
thethe walls!
walls!
walls! ForFor
For
walls! anan
an
For an extra
extra
extra
extra challenge,
challenge,
challenge,
challenge, anddraw
and draw
draw
andand dra

▷ Games
trytry
try to to
to
try beat
to beat
beat thethe
the
beat the best
best
best
best time.
time.
time.
time. largespla
large sp
Time
Time
Time
Time
201201
201201 large spla
large s
Score 4242
Score
Score 42 42
Score painting
painting
painting
Best
Best timetime 245245 paintin
How it
BestBest
timetime 245245 Reach home
to to willget
will getsh
get
it works
Reach home
How
How
Howit
it works
works
works Reach
Reach
home
win win
win win
home
to to
the game.
the game.
the game.
the game.
Countdown
Countdown 8 8
Countdown 8 8
Countdown will
will gesh
UseUse
Use your
Use your
youryour mouse
mouse
mouse
mouse to to
to move
to move
move movethethe
the catcat
cat
the all all
all
cat thethe
the
all the way
way way through
through
waythrough
through

Game design is one of the most creative areas

thethe
the the tunnel
tunnel
tunnel
tunnel without
without
without
without touching
touching
touching
touching thethe
the the walls.
walls.
walls. IfIf you
IfIf you
walls. you you
accidentally
accidentally
accidentally
accidentally touch
touch
touch
touch aa wall,
aa wall,
wall, youyou
you
wall, gogo
go
you back
go
backbackto
to the
back to
to the
the start.
start.
the
start.
start.
YouYou
You cancan
can
You trytry
try
can as
try as
as many
as many
manymany times
timestimes
as as
as you
as you
times you like,
like,
you
like, butbut
but
like, thethe
the
but clock
clock
the
clock
clock
willwill
will keep
will
keepkeep
keep counting
counting
counting
counting thethe
the the seconds
seconds
seconds
seconds until
until
until youyou
you
until finish.
finish.
you
finish.
finish.

of coding. Game makers are always looking for

You You
can can
drawdraw
You You
can can
drawdraw
a tunnel
a tunnel in anyin any
a tunnel
a tunnel
in anyin any
◁ ◁ Cat Cat sprite
sprite shape
shape you you
like.like.
◁ ◁ CatCatsprite
sprite shape
shape
you you
like.like.
Once Once
the the mouse-pointer
mouse-pointer has has
Once Once
the the
mouse-pointer
mouse-pointer has has
touchedtouched
the the
cat, cat,
the the
cat cat follows
touchedtouchedthe the
cat,cat, cat follows
the the cat
follows
follows
it everywhere.
itit everywhere. You You
don’tdon’t
needneed
everywhere.
it everywhere.
YouYoudon’tdon’t
needneed
to to use the mouse button.
to use the mouse button.

imaginative new ways to challenge players or

use
to use
the the
mouse
mousebutton.
button.
YaY
Ya
fu
fun
Tunnel fun
◁ Tunnel
◁ ◁
Tunnel
◁ Tunnel
TheThe tunnel
tunnel maze
maze is is a giant sprite that
TheThe
tunnel
tunnel
maze is aa giant
maze is
giant sprite
a giant
sprite that
sprite
thatthat Move
Move
Move the cat
the cat
Move
the cat
the cat
fills fills
the the stage.
stage. The The tunnel
tunnel itself itself
isn’t isn’t withwith
youryour mouse.
mouse.
fills fills
the the
stage.
stage.
TheThe
tunnel
tunnelitself itself
isn’tisn’t withwith
youryour
mouse.
mouse.
actually
actually part part
of of the sprite – it’s a gap
actually
actually of the
partpart the sprite
of the
sprite –– it’s
sprite it’s–aait’s
gap
gapa gap

tell stories. The projects in this chapter challenge

that that
you you create
create by by using the eraser tool
thatthatyouyoucreate by using
create using the
by using the the eraser
eraser tool
eraser
tooltool
in in Scratch’s
in Scratch’s paintpaint editor.
editor. IfIf the If the
cat cat stays
cat stays △
△ Controls
Controls
△Controls
in
Scratch’s
in the
in Scratch’s
in the
the middle
in the
middle
paint
middle
middle
paint
of
editor.
of the
the
editor.
of the path,
path,
of the
path,
path,
the If the
itit won’t
won’t
cat
stays
it won’t
it won’tbe
stays
be
be be
△ Controls
detected
detected as as touching
as touching the the
tunnel tunnel sprite.
sprite. Firstyou’ll
First
First you’llclean
you’ll cleanup
clean upthe
up the
the
detected
detected touching
as touchingthe thetunnel tunnelsprite.
sprite.
If you
If you touch
touch the the First you’ll clean up the
If you
If you
touch
tunnel
tunnel
touch
the the
wallwall
you you
get get splatswith
splats
splats withyour
with yourmouse,
your mouse,
mouse,
tunnel
tunnel
wallwall
sentsent
you you
backback
get get
to start.
to the the start. splats with your mouse,
sentsent
backback
to the
to start.
the start. butlater
but lateryou
later youcan
you canchange
can change
change

you to steer a sprite through a twisty tunnel or

◁ ◁HomeHome
◁ ◁ HomeHome butbut later you can change
When
When
When
the
When
the
cat cat touches
cat touches
the the cat
touches the
touches
the
home
the the
home
home
sprite,
sprite,
home
sprite,
sprite, thecode
the
the codeto
code totodetect
detectthe
detect thethe
the the
game
the the
game
game ends
game
ends
ends
with
ends
with a celebration.
aa celebration.
withwithcelebration.
a celebration. the code to detect the
Eachsplat
Each splatisisa aclone
cloneofof Waveyour
Wave yourhand
handtoto movementof
movement
movement ofofyour
yourhand
your hand
hand
Each splat
Each is aisclone
splat of of
a clone Wave your
Wave hand
your to to
hand movement of your hand
theproject’s
the project’ssingle
singlesprite.
sprite. rubout
rub
rub
outthe
thesplats.
outout
splats.
thethe
splats. withaa awebcam.
with
with webcam.
webcam.
the project’s
the single
project’s singlesprite.
sprite. rub splats. with a webcam.

clean virtual splats off a dirty computer screen.

Tunnel of Doom (p.122) Window Cleaner (p.134)
 TYPES OF PROJECT 23

190
190 MUSIC AND SOUND
MUSIC AND SOUND
D R U M TA S T I C
D R U M TA S T I C
191
191

Drumtastic Dancing
Dancing cat
cat
To make the project more fun, the cat will dance and A,B,C,D...
A,B,C,D...
Virtual Snow (p.144) Firework
This
This project
Display
project turns
turns your
(p.154)
your computer
computer keyboard
keyboard into
into aa drum
drum
Fractal Trees (p.162) Snowflake Simulator (p.172)
To make the project more fun, the cat will dance and
shout out each letter in a speech bubble as the drums
shout out each letter in a speech bubble as the drums
This project turns your computer keyboard into a drum play. Follow the steps below to create a custom block
play. Follow the steps below to create a custom block
machine.
machine. Type
Type inin anything
anything you
you want
want and
and Scratch
Scratch turns
turns that plays the drums and animates the cat.
the that plays the drums and animates the cat.
the letters
letters into
into repeating
repeating drum
drum sounds
sounds using
using up
up to
to
18
18 different instruments, from cymbals and bongos
different instruments, from cymbals and bongos
to
to pounding
pounding bass
bass drums.
11 Start a new project and keep the cat
Start a new project and keep the cat
33 Now create a custom block for the cat sprite. Choose
Now create a custom block for the cat sprite. Choose
△ Simulations drums. sprite. Set the background to a solid
sprite. Set the background to a solid
colour by clicking the paint symbol
colour by clicking the paint symbol
in the backdrops menu, picking a
“My Blocks” in the blocks palette and make a new block
“My Blocks” in the blocks palette and make a new block
called “play a drum”. This will trigger code that plays
called “play a drum”. This will trigger code that plays
a drum and makes the cat say the drum’s letter at the
in the backdrops menu, picking a a drum and makes the cat say the drum’s letter at the
Give a computer the correct information and it can mimic,
cool colour, and using the fill tool same time. To keep things simple, the first version of
cool colour, and using the fill tool same time. To keep things simple, the first version of
▽ Scratch drumkit to create a coloured backdrop. Make the code will play the same drum sound every time.
How
How it it works
works
▽ Scratch drumkit
The code turns every letter
to create a coloured backdrop. Make
sure you’ve clicked the “Convert to
sure you’ve clicked the “Convert to
the code will play the same drum sound every time.

or simulate, the way things workWhenin youthe

run thereal
project,world.
the Scratch cat
When you run the project, the Scratch cat This
asks you to
asks you to
The code turns every letter
into a drum sound. There are
into a drum sound. There are
26 letters in the alphabet but
Bitmap” button.
Bitmap” button. My Blocks
My Blocks
type something in the box. When you press return, the 26 letters in the alphabet but Make a Block
chapter shows you how to simulatecode turnsfalling snow,
a different sparkling
type something in the box. When you press return, the Scratch only has 18 drum Make a Block
each letter into a different sound and plays Scratch only has 18 drum Click here
code turns each letter into sound and plays sounds, so some sounds Click
to here
open the
sounds, so some sounds play a drum
the phrase back over and over again. As the sounds are used for two letters. to open
paint the
editor. play a drum
the phrase back over and over again. As the sounds are used for two letters.
fireworks, the growth of trees, and the shapes
drums on theof stagesnowflakes.
play, the coloured drums on the stage flash in time,
play, the coloured
while the Scratch cat walks to the beat.
flash in time,
paint editor.

while the Scratch cat walks to the beat.

AA Paint
Paint

44 The new block will appear in the blocks

The new block will appear in the blocks
palette. Right-click (or control/shift-click)
palette. Right-click (or control/shift-click) Type the name
Type
on this block and choose “Edit” to add an of thethe name
input
on this block and choose “Edit” to add an of the“letter”.
input
Snare drum input window for the drum’s letter. here:
Snare drum input window for the drum’s letter. here: “letter”.
Count
Count
Count
Words
Words
Words
30
30
30
Scratch
Scratch
Scratch
◁ Music and sound Make a Block
Make a Block

BBWhile early computers

Select struggled to make simple
22 Select the cat sprite, click on
the cat sprite, click on
Variables, and add these variables
Variables, and add these variables play a drum letter

beeps, modern computers can reproduce every

to your project: “Count” and play
play aa drum
drum letter
letter
to your project: “Count” and
Bass drum “Words”. Leave them ticked so
Bass drum “Words”. Leave them ticked so
that they show on the stage.
that they show on the stage.
instrument in an orchestra. Try out these two treats
CC Click here to make
Clickeach
herevariable.
to make

for your ears. The first one matches sound effects

text
each variable. text
text

Each drum Add an input Add an input Add a label

Side sticks Add
Add an
number input
anor text
input Add
Add an
an input
boolean
input Add
Add aa label
label
Each up
lights drum
as Side sticks Make a Variable

with silly animations, and the second one puts a

number
number or
or text
text boolean
boolean
lights up as
it’s played. Make
Make aa Variable
Variable
it’s played. Run without screen refresh
Count Run without screen refresh
Count
Count

Ddigital drum kit at your fingertips.

Cancel OK
Make Some Noise! My variable Cancel OK
Make
Make Some
Some Noise!
Noise!
D My
My variable
variable

Words
The words The drums light up Words
Words Click “OK” to
Sprites and Sounds (p.182) Drumtastic (p.190) The typed
you words
you typed
The
as drums
the light
sounds up
play.
as the sounds play.
Cymbals
Cymbals
Choose this option.
Choose this option.
Click
complete the“OK” to
block.
complete the block.

◁ Mindbenders
Making images move in clever ways can fool
the eye into seeing amazing patterns and
optical illusions. Try these mindbending,
spinning-pattern projects.

The Magic Spot (p.200) Spiral-o-tron (p.208)

EXPERT TIPS
Perfect projects
Every project in this book is do, go back a few steps and check
broken down into easy steps – the instructions again carefully.
read each step carefully and you’ll If you still have problems, ask
sail through them all. The projects an adult to check with you. Once
tend to get more complicated you’ve got a project working,
later in the book. If you find a don’t be afraid to change the
project isn’t doing what it should code and try out your own ideas.
Getting
started
26 G E T T I N G S TA R T E D

Cat Art Click the green

Find your feet in Scratch by making flag to start Click the stop sign
the project. to stop the project.
some super-simple art with Scratch’s
cat sprite – the mascot of the Scratch
project. This project turns the cat into
a kind of multicoloured paintbrush.
You can use the same trick to paint
with any sprite.

How it works
This simple project lets you use a
computer mouse to paint multicoloured
cat art. Wherever you drag the mouse, a
rainbow trail of cats is left behind. Later
on you’ll see how to add other effects.

△ Follow the mouse △ Changing colour

First you’ll put together Next you’ll add blocks
some code to use the to the code to make
mouse-pointer to move the the cat change colour.
cat sprite around the stage.

△ Making copies △ Going wild

Then you’ll use the There are lots of crazy
“stamp” block to make effects you can try out
a trail of copies appear on the cat once you
on the stage. start experimenting.
 C AT A R T 27

The cat sticks to the Click here to make

mouse-pointer and the project fill
keeps changing colour. your screen.

◁ Artistic cat
This project lets you go wild
with your imagination. You
can experiment with a variety
of colours, sizes, and effects
for the cat, and in the end
your project will look like
a piece of modern art.

Now that’s what I call

a masterpiece!
28 G E T T I N G S TA R T E D

Mouse control
The first step is to make the cat sprite move wherever
the mouse-pointer moves. You need to build a set of Follow me.

instructions – called code – to make the cat sprite do this.

1 First start a new Scratch project. If you use the online

version of Scratch, go to the Scratch website and click
on Create at the top. If you use Scratch offline, click on
The cat sprite on the
the Scratch icon on your desktop. You should see a stage is the only item
fresh project, ready for you to start building some code. in a new project.

SCRATCH File Edit Tutorials Untitled Share See Project Page scratch-cat

Code Costumes Sounds

Motion
Motion
move 10 steps

Looks
turn 15 degrees

Sound turn 15 degrees

The blocks in the Events go to random position

blocks palette are Control go to x: 0 y: 0

when clicked
colour-coded by Sensing
glide 1 secs to random position
forever
their function. glide 1 secs to x: 89 y: 82 go to mouse-pointer
Operators

point in direction 90
Variables
point towards mouse-pointer Stage
Sprite Sprite1 x 0 y 0
My Blocks

Show Size 100 Direction 90

Backdrops
1
Code is Sprite1

built here.

2 To build the code you simply drag

coloured blocks from the left (the Code LINGO
“blocks palette”) to the empty grey
space in the middle (the “code Motion
Running programs
area”). The blocks are colour-coded Looks “Run a program” means “start a program”
by what they do. You can switch to a programmer. A program that’s doing
between different sets of blocks by Sound
something is “running”. In Scratch, programs
clicking on the categories at the left are also called projects, and clicking the
of the blocks palette. Events
green flag runs the current project.
Control

Motion is always selected Sensing

when you start a new project.

Operators
Clicking on each word shows a
different set of coloured
Variables
instruction blocks.
My Blocks
 C AT A R T 29

3 Select the “go to random position” block and

drag it into the code area on the right. It will stay go to mouse-pointer
where you put it. Click on the drop-down menu
and select “mouse-pointer”.

4 Now click on Control in

the blocks palette. All
Code Costumes Sounds

the blocks on the right Control

Motion
of the palette will
switch to orange. wait 1 seconds go to mouse-pointer
Looks

repeat 10
Sound

Events

Control Drag the

Click Control forever
“forever” block
to reveal the
Sensing to the code area.
orange blocks.
Operators

Variables

My Blocks

5 Use the mouse to drag the “forever” block

around the “go to mouse-pointer” block. It 6 To complete your first bit of code, select Events in
the blocks palette and then drag a “when green flag
should click into place if you release it near clicked” block to the top of your stack of blocks. This
the blue block. The “forever” block makes block makes the code run when someone clicks on
the blocks inside run over and over again. the green flag symbol on the stage.

This block is called a loop and

repeats the blocks inside it. A block that goes
at the top of the
when clicked
code is known as
forever a header block.
forever
go to mouse-pointer
go to mouse-pointer

Starts running Stops running

7 Click on the green flag at the top of the stage.

The cat will now go wherever the mouse-pointer
the code the code

goes. You can stop the chase with the red stop
button. Congratulations on your first working
Scratch code!
30 G E T T I N G S TA R T E D

Multicoloured cats
Scratch is packed full of ways to make
art. The simple code changes here will
send your cat straight to the art gallery.

8 Click on Looks in the blocks palette and

find the “change color effect by” block.
when clicked
Drag this into the loop in your code so
it looks like this.
forever

go to mouse-pointer

What do you think change color effect by 25

will happen when
you run this new
version of the code?

Click the green flag to run the

9 new version of the project.
The cat now changes colour
from moment to moment.
Every time the loop repeats the
“change color effect by” block,
the sprite shifts in colour a little.

10 Now comes the moment to make some art. You

need to add an extension. Click the Add Extension
when clicked
button at the bottom left and choose the Pen
extension. Now you can click on Pen in the blocks
forever
palette and you’ll see a selection of green blocks.
Drag a “stamp” block into the loop so your code go to mouse-pointer
looks like this:
change color effect by 25
stamp
Let’s make
some art!

The stamp block “stamps”

a picture of the sprite on
to the stage wherever
the cat is standing.
 C AT A R T 31

11 Next, run the project again by clicking the green

flag. The cat will leave a trail of multicoloured
Each cat in the trail
cats behind it. What an artistic cat!
is put there by the
stamp block.

12 You’ll find that the stage soon fills up with cats, but
don’t worry, as you can add code to wipe it clean at when space key pressed
the press of a button. Choose Pen in the blocks
palette and look for the “erase all” block. Drag it into erase all
the code area but keep it separate from the first
code. Then click on Events and add a yellow “when
space key pressed” block. Run the project and see This header block starts the
what happens when you press the space-bar. code when the chosen key is
pressed on the keyboard.

EXPERT TIPS
Full screen
To see projects at their Click here to
best, you can simply click see your project
fill the screen.
the full-screen button just
above the stage to hide
the code and just show the
results. There’s a similar
button to shrink the stage
and reveal the code again
from full-screen mode.

If you use the offline

version of Scratch, don’t
forget to save your work
from time to time.
32 G E T T I N G S TA R T E D

Hacks and tweaks

There are lots of ways to change how the cat
looks, and you can use them to create some
startling visual effects. Below are a few tips,
but feel free to try your own experiments.
TRY THIS
▽ Try this for size
Add these two code blocks to the cat to
Crazy cat
make it bigger or smaller when you press
Try growing your cat until it fills the
the up or down arrow keys.
Click on the triangle to
stage. Press the space-bar to clear all
choose the correct key the other cats, leave the computer
from a drop-down list. mouse alone and hold down the
down arrow. A succession of ever-
smaller cats will appear inside each
when up arrow key pressed
other, creating a multicoloured,
change size by 10 cat-shaped tunnel!

when down arrow key pressed

change size by –10

Positive numbers make the

cat bigger and negative
numbers make it smaller.

▽ Smooth changes
Don’t be afraid to experiment with the numbers and settings
in Scratch commands. You don’t have to change the cat’s
when clicked
colour effect by 25 each time. The lower the number, the
more slowly the colour will change, like in this rainbow. forever

go to mouse-pointer

change color effect by 1

stamp

Set this number to

1 for a smoother
colour change.
 C AT A R T 33
▽ Special effects ▽ Cleaning up
There are lots of other effects to try besides simple Things can get messy with effects, so add a “clear
colour changes. Try adding another “change” block graphic effects” block to the code below. This runs
to the main code. Click the drop-down menu and when you press the space-bar to clear the stage.
try the other effects to see what they do.

It’s best to change when space key pressed

the effect slowly
at first. erase all
forever

go to mouse-pointer clear graphic effects

change color effect by 1

change fisheye effect by 1
stamp Look at all the mess
I need to clean up.
Click here
to choose
different effects.

EXPERT TIPS

▽ At your fingertips Loops

To give yourself more control over effects while
Almost all computer programs contain loops. These
painting with the cat, you can trigger code blocks
are useful as they let a program go back and repeat
with any keys you choose. You could create a whole
a set of instructions, which keeps code blocks simple
keyboard full of weird cat changes, including
the ghost effect shown here.
and short. The “forever” block creates a loop that
goes on forever, but other types of loops can repeat
an action a fixed number of times. You’ll meet all
sorts of clever loops in projects later in the book.
when right arrow key pressed

change ghost effect by 1

Scratch's ghost effect Code runs from The “forever” block makes
makes sprites transparent. top to bottom. the program return to the
start of the loop.

when clicked

forever
when left arrow key pressed
change color effect by 25
change ghost effect by –1
34 G E T T I N G S TA R T E D

Dino Dance Party

Brush off your dancing shoes and join Click the green flag Click the stop sign
the dinosaur’s dance party! Who will you to start the project. to stop the project.
invite? There will be music, a light show,
and dance moves galore. Dance routines
are just like computer programs – you
just follow the steps in order.

How it works
Each sprite has one or more blocks of
code that program its dance moves.
Some simply turn from side to side, but
others glide across the dance floor or
perform more varied moves. You can
add as many dancers as you like.

◁ Dinosaur
After you’ve created a dancing
dinosaur, you can duplicate
this sprite to make a group of
dinosaurs dancing in rhythm.

The “Spotlight” backdrop

sets the scene for the
dance party.

◁ Ballerina
To add a touch of class, the
ballerina will perform a more
complicated dance routine.
 DINO DANCE PARTY 35

The disco lights change

colour several times Click this icon
a second. to escape the
full-screen mode.

By switching between
different poses, the
sprites appear to dance.

Let’s party!
36 G E T T I N G S TA R T E D

Dancing dinosaur
Scratch has lots of ready-made sprites for your project in the
sprites library. Many of the sprites have several “costumes”,
each showing the sprite in a different pose. If you make
a sprite switch costumes quickly, it looks like it’s moving.

1 First start a fresh

Scratch project.
SCRATCH File Edit Tutorials

From the main New

Scratch website, Code
click on Create at Save now
Click on
the top. If a Scratch “New” to
Motion Save as a copy
project is already Motion start a fresh
open, click on the move Load from your computer project.
File menu above
the stage and Looks Save to your computer
turn
select “New”.
Sound turn 15 degrees

Events go to random position

Control go to x: 0 y: 0

glide 1 secs to random position

Sensing

2 New projects always start with the cat

sprite, but you don’t need it this time. To 3 To load a new sprite, click on the small sprite symbol
in the sprites list just below the stage. A window with a
delete it, right-click on the cat (or control/ huge selection of sprites will open. Choose Dinosaur4.
shift-click on a one button mouse) and It will now appear on the stage and in the sprites list.
select “delete”. The cat will disappear.

Dinosaur4
Click here to
duplicate load a new sprite.

delete
Choose a Sprite
export
 DINO DANCE PARTY 37

4 Make this simple code for Dinosaur4. Look

carefully and you’ll see the code runs when
You can find yellow blocks
by clicking on Events in
the blocks palette.
the space-bar is pressed – not when the
green flag is clicked.
when space key pressed
Click on Looks to
find purple blocks. next costume

5 Look at the dinosaur on the stage and press the space-bar. Every time
you press it, the dinosaur will change its pose. It’s still the Dinosaur4
Each pose is a different
costume belonging to
sprite, but the way it looks keeps changing. Each different pose is called the dinosaur sprite.
a costume and can be used to make a sprite appear to do different things.

6 Click on the Costumes tab at

the top of the blocks palette to
Code Costumes Sounds

see all the dinosaur’s costumes. Costume dinosaur4-a

Press the space-bar to trigger
the “next costume” block and
Fill
you’ll see the dinosaur’s dinosaur4-a Copy Paste Delete Flip horizontal Flip vertical
151 x 169
costumes changing in the
sprites list and on the stage.

dinosaur4-b
233 x 158

Each costume has a

different name.

dinosaur4-c
130 x 179

This part of the Scratch window dinosaur4-d

95 x 172
is called the paint editor. Later on
you’ll find out how to use it to create
your own sprites and backdrops.
Convert to Bitmap
38 G E T T I N G S TA R T E D

Dance steps
By using loops you can make the dinosaur change
its costume repeatedly, making it appear to move.
Changing pictures quickly to give the illusion of
movement is called animation.

7 Click on the Code tab at the top of the Scratch

window to go back to the dinosaur’s code blocks 8 Click the green flag above the stage to run the
code. You’ll see the dinosaur move wildly as it
and add this code. Before you try it, read through loops through all its costumes at high speed.
the code and see if you can figure out what it does. To make a neater dance, the next step will
limit the number of costumes to just two.

when clicked
Remember, blocks are
forever colour-coded. The “forever”
loop is in the orange
next costume Control blocks section.

dinosaur4-c dinosaur4-d

9 Remove the “next costume”

block from the loop and
when clicked Drag this block out
replace it with the blocks of the code area.
shown here. The new forever
code switches between
two costumes and slows next costume
everything down with
some “wait” blocks. Choose
Run the project again “dinosaur4-c”.
by clicking the green
flag – the dinosaur should switch costume to dinosaur4-c
now dance more sensibly.
wait 0.5 seconds
Change the delay
to 0.5 seconds. switch costume to dinosaur4-d

wait 0.5 seconds

Choose
“dinosaur4-d”.
 DINO DANCE PARTY 39

10 To add more dancing dinosaurs to

the party you can simply copy the Sprite Dinosaur4 x -138 y -51
first dinosaur. Right-click on the
dinosaur in the sprites list and choose Show Size 100 Direction 90
“duplicate” from the drop-down
menu. A new dinosaur will appear
in the sprites list.
Dinosaur4
Right-click (or control/ duplicate
shift-click) on the dinosaur.
delete
Choose “duplicate” to make a export
copy of the sprite and its code.

11 Make another copy so that there are

three dinosaurs in total. Click on the
dinosaurs on the stage and drag each
one to a good spot. Run the project.
Since they all have the same code,
they’ll all do the same dance at the
same time.

Setting the scene

The dinosaurs are dancing, but the room’s a bit boring.
Follow the next steps to add some decorations and music.
You’ll need to make some changes to the stage. Although
it isn’t a sprite, it can still have its own code.

12 First, a change of scenery. The picture on the

stage is called a backdrop and you can load 13 Search for “Spotlight” in the backdrops library
and select it. This backdrop will now appear
new ones. Look at the bottom right of the behind the dancers.
screen and click on the backdrop symbol
to the right of the sprites list.

The “Spotlight ”
backdrop sets
Click this symbol the mood of
to add a backdrop. the party.

Choose a Backdrop
40 G E T T I N G S TA R T E D

14 Now click on the Code tab at the top of the screen

to add some code to the stage – each sprite can
Code Backdrops Sounds

have its own code, and so can the stage. Motion

Control

wait 1 seconds
Looks

Click here to show repeat 10

the code area. Sound

Events

forever
Control

Sensing

15 Add this code to make the disco lights flash.

Then click the green flag to run the project –
when clicked
This block only
changes the backdrop
it should look like a real disco. You can colours. It does not
experiment with the time in the “wait” affect the other sprites.
forever
block to make the lights flash faster or
slower if you want. change color effect by 25

wait 0.1 seconds

Adjust the number
here to change how
fast the lights flash.

16 Now it’s time to add some music. Click on the

Sounds tab, which is next to the Backdrops tab
at the top. Then click on the speaker symbol
to open Scratch’s sound library. Select “Dance
Around” and it will load into the stage’s list of
sound clips. Click here to choose a
sound from the library.

Choose a Sound

17 Click on the Code tab again and add this new

code to play the music in a loop. Click the green Don’t forget to click
flag to run the project again. The music should the full-screen symbol
play. You now have a real party on your hands! above the stage to see
me at my best.

when clicked The music

repeats forever!
forever
This block plays the
play sound Dance Around until done whole tune before
the code goes back
to the start.
 DINO DANCE PARTY 41
Get a move on!
The dinosaurs are throwing some wicked shapes, but they’re
not moving around the dance floor much. You can fix that
with some new code blocks that use Scratch’s “move” block.

18 First, click on
Dinosaur2 in the Sprite Dinosaur2 x 20
sprites list to
show its code in Show Size 100
the code area.

Dinosaur4 Dinosaur2 Dinosaur3

Click here to see

Dinosaur2’s code.

19 Next, add this extra code. To find the dark blue

blocks, click Motion at the top of the blocks 20 Now click the green flag and both of Dinosaur2’s
code blocks will run at the same time. The sprite
palette. What do you think the new code does? will move all the way across the stage and then
turn around and dance back. But you’ll notice
These aren’t actual that it dances back upside down!
dinosaur steps,
when clicked
they’re Scratch’s
way of measuring
forever distances.

move 10 steps

if on edge, bounce
Add this block to turn
the dinosaur round at
the stage’s edge.

21 To prevent the blood rushing to the dinosaur’s

tiny brain, add the “set rotation style” block like
when clicked
this. You now have the power to choose whether
the dinosaur dances on its head or not. set rotation style left-right

forever
Select “left-right” in the
drop-down menu to keep move 10 steps
the dinosaur upright.
if on edge, bounce
42 G E T T I N G S TA R T E D

Keyboard control
Ever dreamt of taking control of your very own dinosaur? The
next bit of code will give you keyboard control of Dinosaur3’s
movements: you’ll be able to move the dinosaur across the
stage with the right and left arrow keys.

22 Click on Dinosaur3 in
the sprites list so you
can edit its code.

The blue outline shows

Dinosaur3 that Dinosaur3 is the
selected sprite.

Add this code to the

23 code area. It’s quite
when clicked Click here and choose
complicated, so make
sure you get everything “right arrow”.
set rotation style left-right
in the right place. The
“if then” block is in forever key right arrow pressed?
the orange Control
blocks section. It’s if then Drag this pale blue Sensing
a special block that
block into the window in
chooses whether or point in direction 90 the orange block.
not to run the blocks
inside it by asking a move 10 steps Type 90 here. This points
question. Take care to the sprite to the right.
ensure that both “if
then” blocks are inside
the “forever” loop and if key left arrow pressed? then
not inside each other.
point in direction –90 Click here and choose
“left arrow”.
move 10 steps

Type minus 90 here. This

points the sprite to the left.

24 Before you run the code, read through it carefully and see
if you can understand how it works. If the right arrow key
is pressed, blocks that make the sprite point right and
move are run. If the left arrow key is pressed, blocks that
make the sprite point left and move are run. If neither is
pressed, no blocks are run and the dinosaur stays put.
 DINO DANCE PARTY 43
EXPERT TIPS
Making choices
You make choices all the time. If you’re hungry,
you decide to eat; if not, you don’t. Computer
programs can also make choices between
different options. One way to make them do
this is to use an “if then” instruction, which is Is the right
arrow key Move right
used in lots of programming languages. In
pressed? Yes
Scratch, the “if then” block includes (true)
a statement or a question and only runs
the code inside the block if the statement
is true (or the answer is yes). No
(false)

Add a ballerina
The dinosaurs are dancing, but it’s not much of a party
without some friends. A ballerina is going to join the
fun and will do a routine. Her code will show you how
to create more complicated dance routines.

25 Click on the sprite symbol in the sprites list and load the
ballerina. Then use your mouse to drag the sprite to a good
spot on the stage. To give the ballerina some code, make
sure she’s selected in the sprites list – the selected sprite
has a blue outline.

Code Costumes Sounds

Costume ballerina-a
1
Ballerina Ballerina is the
Fill Outline 2
selected sprite. ballerina-a
61 x 110

26 You can see all the costumes of a sprite by clicking

on the Costumes tab when the sprite is selected. The
2

ballerina has four costumes, and switching between ballerina-b

them will make her dance a beautiful ballet. 67 x 81

Each costume has

a unique name.
44 G E T T I N G S TA R T E D

27 Using the names of the

different costumes, you
can design a dance routine
for the ballerina, like the
one shown here. Each step
Costume ballerina-a then
in the dance will become an ballerina-d, repeated three times.
instruction block in the code.

28 Build this code to create the

ballerina’s first dance. There’s no when clicked The loop repeats the
“forever” loop – instead, the code
blocks inside three times.
uses a “repeat” loop that runs a fixed repeat 3
number of times before moving on
to the next block. Run the project switch costume to ballerina-a
to see her perform the dance routine.
wait 0.5 seconds

To set the delay time, switch costume to ballerina-d

click on the window
and type 0.5. wait 0.5 seconds

LINGO
Algorithms
An algorithm is a series ALGORITHM PROGRAM
of simple, step-by-step (Dance steps) (Dance steps turned into computer
instructions that together programming language)
carry out a particular task.
In this project, we converted
STAND!
the ballerina’s dance routine
(an algorithm) into a WAIT! switch costume to ballerina-a
program. Every computer
program has an algorithm wait 0.5 seconds
at its heart. Programming is
KICK! switch costume to ballerina-d
translating the steps of the
algorithm into a computer wait 0.5 seconds
WAIT!
programming language that
the computer understands. switch costume to ballerina-a
STAND! wait 0.5 seconds

WAIT! switch costume to ballerina-b

BEND
THE KNEES!
 DINO DANCE PARTY 45

29 Now for the second part of the

ballerina’s routine. After flexing
Costume ballerina-a then
her leg three times, she’ll dip twice.
ballerina-b, repeated twice.

30 Add the blocks shown here to the

bottom of the ballerina’s code, 31 Next, click the green flag and you’ll see the
ballerina do her full routine. But she’ll only
after the first “repeat” block. do the routine once. To make the dance
go on we can wrap the whole body of the
code in a “forever” loop. Loops inside loops!

Drag the “forever”

when clicked loop to the top
of the existing
when clicked code and the
repeat 3
jaws will expand
forever
to fit.
switch costume to ballerina-a

wait 0.5 seconds switch costume to ballerina-a

switch costume to ballerina-d wait 0.5 seconds
wait 0.5 seconds switch costume to ballerina-d

wait 0.5 seconds

Add the second

repeat block here.
repeat 2
repeat 2
switch costume to ballerina-a
switch costume to ballerina-a
wait 0.5 seconds
wait 0.5 seconds
switch costume to ballerina-b
switch costume to ballerina-b
wait 0.5 seconds
wait 0.5 seconds
46 G E T T I N G S TA R T E D

EXPERT TIPS
Repeat loops and forever loops
Look at the bottom of the two types of forever repeat 10
loop you’ve used so far. Which one can
have blocks attached to it? You might
spot that the “repeat” block has a small
lug on the bottom, but the “forever” block
doesn’t. There’s no lug on a “forever” loop
because it goes on forever, so there’s no
point adding blocks after it. A “repeat”
block, however, runs a fixed number A lug allows you to
of times and the code then continues. join new blocks.

Hacks and tweaks

You can add as many dancers as you like
to this project. There are lots of sprites in
Scratch that have several costumes, and
even those with only a single costume
can be instructed to dance by flipping
left to right or by jumping in the air.

▽ Turn around
You can make any character face the other This makes
way by using a “turn 180 degrees” block. sure the
sprite stays
Just add this block before the end of the
upright.
“forever” loop to make your sprite’s dance when clicked
switch direction each time.
set rotation style left-right

forever

turn 180 degrees

wait 0.5 seconds

This block flips

the sprite to its
mirror image.
 DINO DANCE PARTY 47
▷ Dance-off!
Look in the library for other dancing sprites. They have lots of when clicked
costumes showing different dance postures. Start off with some
simple code like this one that shows all the costumes in order. set size to 50 %
Then choose the costumes that work best together and switch
between them. Add loops to extend the dance or add sensing forever
blocks to give you keyboard control.
next costume

wait 0.2 seconds

▽ Might as well jump!

Add another ballerina and make her jump
in the air with this code. The change of
costume makes it seem like the ballerina is
really jumping. Experiment with the timing
to make the dance match the music.

when clicked TRY THIS

set rotation style left-right Shout!
forever Add this short bit of code to every one
of your sprites. When you press the x key,
switch costume to ballerina-b all the sprites will shout “Party!”
wait 3 seconds
Type 0
for upward
point in direction 0 movement. when x key pressed
move 50 steps say Party! for 2 seconds
switch costume to ballerina-c

wait 0.5 seconds PARTY!

point in direction 180

move 50 steps Type 180 for

downward
movement.
48 G E T T I N G S TA R T E D

Animal Race Click the green flag

to start the project.
Have you ever wondered which is
faster – a dog or a bat? Now you
can find out when you play this
fun fast-finger, button-pressing,
two-player animal race game. Go!

How it works
The aim of this two-player game is simply
to race across the screen and reach the
balloons before the other player. Fast
finger action is all you need to win.
The faster you tap the keyboard’s “z”
or “m” key, the faster your sprite moves
from left to right.

◁ Sending messages
This project shows you how
to use Scratch’s message
feature to make one sprite
pass information to other
sprites, such as when the
cat sprite tells the dog
and bat to start racing.

◁ Variables
The cat’s code stores
information in something
3 programmers call a variable.
In this project, you’ll use
a variable to store the
numbers for the cat’s count
at the start of the race. The cross and arrow
Count mark the start line.
 ANIMAL RACE 49
The bat flaps its wings
every time you press
the “z” key.

◁ Fastest finger first

As soon as the cat starts
the race, the dog and the
bat start racing towards
the balloons. The faster the
players press their keys,
the faster their sprites race.

Balloons mark
the finish area.

Catch me
if you can!

The dog runs for the finish – one

stride every time you press the
“m” key.
50 G E T T I N G S TA R T E D

Starter cat 1... 2... 3...

The cat starts the race with “1… 2… 3… Go!”, so you need to Go!
teach him how to count. Computer programs use variables
to store information that can change, such as a player’s name
or their score in a game. The cat will use a variable named
“Count” to keep track of what number he’s got up to.

1 Start a new project. To create a new variable,

select the orange Variables block in the blocks 2 A small window will pop up asking you to give
the new variable a name. Type “Count”, leave
palette and click on the “Make a Variable” button. everything else alone, and click the “OK” button.

Code Costumes Sounds

Variables
New Variable
Motion
Make a Variable
Click here.
Looks my variable New variable name: Enter
“Count” here.
Sound set my variable to 0
Count
Events change my variable by 1

show variable my variable

Control
For all sprites For this sprite only
hide variable my variable
Sensing
Make a List

Operators
Cancel OK
My Blocks

Variables Make a Block

My Blocks

4 Give this code to the cat. It starts by setting the value

of “Count” to 0. Next, inside a loop, it adds 1 to the
value of “Count” and makes the cat say the new value
for one second. The loop runs three times and then
3 You’ll now see some orange blocks for the
new variable in the blocks palette. Uncheck the cat says “Go!” to start the race.
the variable’s tick box so that it doesn’t
appear on the stage.

Variables
when clicked
Make a Variable

set Count to 0 This increases

Uncheck Count the value stored
the tick in “Count” by 1.
my variable repeat 3
box.
set Count to 0 change Count by 1
change Count by 1
say Count for 1 seconds
show variable Count

hide variable Count

Drag this orange block
from the Variables blocks
say Go! into the purple block.
 ANIMAL RACE 51

5 Click the green flag to run the code.

The orange “Count” block in the
LINGO
window of the “say” block makes Variables
the cat say the variable’s value each
time. You can change how high the Think of a variable as a box for
cat counts by changing the number storing information, with a label
in the “repeat” loop’s window. to remember what’s inside. When
you create a variable, give it a
sensible name, such as “High 95970
1... 2... 3 Score” or “Player Name”. You can
put all sorts of data into variables,
including numbers and words,
and the data can change while High Score
the program is running.

Setting up the racers 8 Make sure Dog2 is selected in the sprites list.
Click on the Costumes tab at the top of the
The cat is ready to start the race. The next steps Scratch window and you’ll see it has three
are to decorate the stage for the race and then to costumes. The first two show the dog running,
add the bat and the dog sprites, along with other but we don’t need the third one so delete it.
sprites to mark the start and end of the racetrack.
The first two
1 costumes work
6 Add a backdrop. Click on the
backdrop symbol to the
well for this
project.
right of the sprites list and
add the “Blue Sky” backdrop. dog2-a
127 x 110
Click here to open
the backdrop library.
2
Choose a Backdrop

dog2-b
127 x 104

7
It’s time to add some sprites for the
Click here to
racers, starting with the dog. Click delete the third
the sprite symbol in the sprites 3 costume.
list. Find Dog2 in the library and
add it to your project.

dog2-c
121 x 109
Dog2 will now
appear in the
Sprite 1 Dog2 sprites list.
52 G E T T I N G S TA R T E D

9 To tell the dog where to start

the race, add another new
sprite: Button5, which is a
black cross. Drag it to the
bottom left of the stage.

The black cross

tells the dog where
to start the race.

10 Every sprite you load should have a meaningful

name. This makes code easier to understand. To 11 Select Dog2 again. Then click the Code
tab at the top of the Scratch window and
rename Button5, click on the sprite and name it add this code to make the dog start in
“Dog Start”. the correct place. Run the project to see
it in action.
Type the new name
for the sprite here. Choose “Dog
Start” from the
drop-down menu.
Sprite Dog Start x -211 y -129
when clicked
Show Size 100 Direction -90
go to Dog Start

go to front layer

This block makes

the dog appear on
I should be on top
top of the cross,
of the black cross.
not behind it.
Dog Start

The blue highlight

shows that Dog Start
is the selected sprite.
 ANIMAL RACE 53

12 Now add a new sprite for

the dog’s finish line. Choose
Balloon1, but rename it “Dog
Finish”. To change the balloon’s
colour, click on the Costumes tab
and choose the yellow costume.
On the stage, drag the sprite to
the finish point of the dog’s race.

Remember to choose
the yellow balloon
for the dog.

13 The dog needs someone to

race against. Click the sprite 14 Now add the Arrow1 sprite, but rename it “Bat
Start” and drag it just above the cross. Then The bat has to
touch the balloon
symbol in the sprites list add another balloon, rename it “Bat Finish”,
again and add Bat to the and place it at the bat’s finish line on the right. to finish the race.
project. Click the Costumes
tab and you’ll see two
costumes perfect for flapping.

bat-a
159 x 120

bat-b
76 x 142
54 G E T T I N G S TA R T E D

15 Select the bat sprite in the sprites list and

give it this code. Run the project and watch
the competitors line up at the start.

when clicked

go to Bat Start

go to front layer

The race
The bat and the dog both need code to make them Go!
race. The cat will trigger these code blocks by sending
a message when it says “Go!” at the start of the race.
Both contestants will receive the message at exactly
the same time.

16 Select the cat sprite in the sprites list and

add a “broadcast” block to the bottom of 17 Click on the triangle in the “broadcast”
block and choose “New message” from
its code. This block sends out a message the drop-down menu. Type “Start Race”
to every other sprite. as the name of the new message and
click “OK”.
Open the drop-
down menu by
say Go! clicking here.
when clicked
broadcast message1
set Count to 0

repeat 3 New message

change Count by 1 message1

say Count for 1 seconds

New Message

New message name:

say Go!
Start Race
Add this block to the
bottom of the code.

Cancel OK
broadcast message1
 ANIMAL RACE 55

18 Now the cat sends out the “Start Race” message at the start
of the race. Each racer needs some code to make it react, so
select the dog first and add this code. See how the two “wait
until” blocks together make the player press the “m” key and
then release it again and again to move their character; just
keeping your finger on the “m” key won’t work.

Check the message

in here is “Start Race”.

when I receive Start Race

The code waits here
forever until the “m” key is pressed.

wait until key m pressed?

The code then waits
here until the “m” key
wait until not key m pressed? is released.

move 10 steps This block checks if the Look for this block in the
Dog2 sprite is touching green Operators section.
next costume the “Dog Finish” balloon.

if touching Dog Finish ? then

stop all

I won!

This ends the game when

the dog gets to its balloon.

LINGO
Boolean operator: NOT
The “not” block reverses the answers to yes/no questions
answer to the question block (or true/false statements) in
inside it. This block is very useful useful ways: “not”, “or”, and “and”.
for testing if something isn’t Programmers call these “Boolean
happening. There are three green operators” and you’ll use all of
Operators blocks that can change them in this book.
56 G E T T I N G S TA R T E D

19 Run the project. Once the cat says “Go!”, you should find
that the dog runs forward a step each time you press and m... m... m...
release the “m” key. When it reaches its balloon, the dog
should stop responding. If anything isn’t working, carefully
check your code against the version in the book.

20 Next, add this similar code to the bat sprite. The only
differences are that the key selected now is the “z” key
and the bat must touch its own finish sprite.

when I receive Start Race

Note the differences
to the dog’s code.
forever

wait until key z pressed?

wait until not key z pressed?

move 10 steps
The bat stops running when
next costume it touches the balloon sprite.

if touching Bat Finish ? then

stop all

21 Now try to race the sprites. You

might find that one sprite wins
more easily because a wing or a
nose sticks out. You can drag the
Go!
start and finish sprites around
a little to even things up.

Drag the cat to

the corner, out of the
way of the racers.
 ANIMAL RACE 57

Hacks and tweaks

The race game is very simple, but you can easily add
features to make it more interesting. Here are some
suggestions to get you started. It’s worth making
a copy of your project before you start to change
things – then you won’t be afraid to experiment.

▷ Sounds
Add a sound effect to mark the start of the race say Go!
by adding a “start sound” block to the cat’s code.
The cat has the “Meow” sound preloaded, but broadcast Start Race
you can load other sounds from the sound
library by clicking the Sounds tab and then the
speaker symbol . start sound Meow

Click the drop-down

menu to see the sounds
loaded for this sprite.

Change 0 to 4.
◁ Countdown
set Count to 4
Try changing the middle part of the cat’s
repeat 3 code to look like this. Can you work out
Place a minus
sign in front of 1.
what will happen now?
change Count by –1

say Count for 1 seconds

I'm the fastest!

◁ Extra competitors
Why not add more animals to the race? Find some sprites
in the sprites library with costumes you can animate, like the
parrot or Butterfly 1. Add start and end sprites for each one
of them and adapt the racing code to use different keys. If
you need to adjust a sprite’s size, just add a “set size to” block.
58 G E T T I N G S TA R T E D

▽ Challenging controls
You can make the game harder for the players
by making them press two keys alternately FASTER, FASTER, KEEP
rather than one key repeatedly. You just need GOING STRAIGHT!
to change the code to wait for a second key
to be pressed and released after the first one.
This shows how to change the dog’s code.
For the bat, make the same change but
use “x” for the second key instead of “n”.

when I receive Start Race

forever

wait until key m pressed?

wait until not key m pressed?

move 10 steps

next costume

if touching Dog Finish ? then

stop all

Note that these blocks

have “n” selected, not “m”.

wait until key n pressed?

wait until not key n pressed?

move 10 steps For the bat’s code,

select “x”.
next costume
 ANIMAL RACE 59
Race positions
It might not always be easy to tell who’s won if the
finish is close. To fix this, you can make the animals
show their finishing position when the game ends.

1 Choose Variables
in the blocks New Variable 2 Next add a “set Position to” block
to the bottom of the cat’s code
palette and then and change the number to 1.
click the “Make New variable name:
a Variable” Position say Go!
button to create
a new variable. For all sprites For this sprite only broadcast Start Race
Call it “Position”.
Cancel OK
set Position to 1

Change the
number to 1.

3 Now change the end of the dog’s code so it looks

like this. You need to add two new blocks and 4 Try it out. The cat’s code sets “Position”
to 1. The first sprite to reach the finish
choose a new menu option in the “stop” block. runs the “think Position” block, which
Do the same for the bat. makes a thought bubble containing the
number 1 appear. Their code then adds
1 to the value of “Position”, making it 2.
when I receive Start Race When the second sprite finishes and
thinks of “Position”, it displays 2.
forever

wait until key m pressed?

2
wait until not key m pressed?

move 10 steps

next costume

if touching Dog Finish ? then

think Position
Add these
two blocks.
1
change Position by 1
Choose “this script” in
stop this script the drop-down menu.
60 G E T T I N G S TA R T E D

Ask Gobo
Do you have a tricky decision to make The green flag
starts the project.
The red button
stops the project.
or want to predict the future? Let Gobo
help you in this fortune-telling project.
Here you’ll learn about random numbers,
variables, and how computer programs
make choices.

How it works
Gobo invites you to ask a question and
then answers with either “Yes” or “No”.
You can ask anything you like, from “Am
I going to be a billionaire?” to “Should I
play a computer game instead of doing
my homework?” Gobo pauses to look
like it’s thinking, but its answers are
actually pure chance.

◁ Gobo
Friendly Gobo is the only
sprite in this project. It has
three costumes that you
can use later to help bring
it to life.

◁ Take a chance
Just as the roll of the dice
creates random numbers,
Scratch can generate
random numbers to
make the program react
in unpredictable ways.
 ASK GOBO 61

Click this icon to

escape the full-
screen mode.

◁ Ask a question!
Gobo works best if you ask
it to make predictions or
decisions for you. Don’t ask
factual questions as it’ll often
get the answer wrong!
I can answer your
yes-or-no questions.

Gobo uses speech

bubbles to interact
Ask your question with you when you
run the project.
then press space.

Get ready to see

into the future!
62 G E T T I N G S TA R T E D

Setting the scene

Starting a project usually involves picking sprites and
backdrops. Follow these steps to add the Gobo sprite
to the project and to load a suitable backdrop to create
a grand setting for Gobo’s answers.

1 Start a new project. Then get rid of

the cat sprite by pressing the delete 4 Gobo’s answers should be spoken in a serious setting. Click
on the backdrop symbol in the lower-right corner of the
button at the top right of its icon in Scratch window and load the “Greek Theater” backdrop.
the sprites list. Now drag Gobo to the centre with your mouse.

Click here to
delete the sprite.

Sprite1

2 To load the Gobo sprite, click on the

sprite symbol in the sprites list and
search for Gobo. Click on its icon. Gobo
will now appear in the sprites list.

5 Now add these extra blocks to Gobo’s code to make it

speak when the project starts. Run the new code and
you’ll see that Gobo pauses until you press the space-bar.
It won’t answer yet.
Gobo

This “say” block doesn’t have

when clicked a time limit so it stays until
the next “say” block.

3 Gobo’s a bit small, so add this code set size to 250 %

to make it bigger. Run the project
and see it grow. say I can answer your yes-or-no questions. for 3 seconds

say Ask your question then press space.

when clicked wait until key space pressed?

set size to 250 % say Wait! The answer is coming to me... for 3 seconds

Click in the window wait 1 seconds This is just a trick – the

and type 250. computer isn’t really listening!
 ASK GOBO 63
Making random choices
Computers are usually very predictable. Often, with
the same code and inputs, you’ll get the same outputs,
but you don’t want that in this project. Gobo’s code
will mix things up with some random numbers.

6 You need to add some more blocks to create

Gobo’s answer. Gobo will reply in one of two 8 A small window will pop up. Type
“ReplyNumber” into the box to name
ways, which we’ll number 1 and 2. the new variable and click “OK”.

New Variable
Yes! No!
New variable name:

ReplyNumber

Type the
variable’s For all sprites For this sprite only
name here.

ReplyNumber = 1 ReplyNumber = 2 Cancel OK

7 The code will use a variable named “ReplyNumber”

to store the number of the reply the program has 9 You’ll see that a block for your variable now
appears in the Variables blocks along with the
chosen so it can show the correct message. To other blocks.
make a new variable, choose the orange Variables
block at the bottom of the blocks palette and click
on the “Make a Variable” button. Variables

Click here. Make a Variable

Code Costumes Sounds If this check box is
Variables ticked, the value of the
my variable
Motion
Make a Variable
variable is shown on
the stage. Leave it
Looks my variable
ticked for now. ReplyNumber
Sound set my variable to 0

change my variable by 1 This block is used set ReplyNumber to 0

Events

show variable my variable

to insert a value
Control into the variable. change ReplyNumber by 1
hide variable my variable
Sensing
Make a List

Operators
My Blocks

Variables Make a Block

My Blocks
64 G E T T I N G S TA R T E D

EXPERT TIPS
Random numbers
A random number is one that you can’t
predict before it appears. A dice roll is a
random number – any of the numbers 4
1 Lowest number If you click on the
from one to six could appear each time
it can select. block it will tell
you roll the dice. You don’t know which you its value. It
number will come up until you roll. In selects a random
pick random 1 to 6
Scratch, you can get a random number number each time.
using the “pick random” block. Drag
this block into the code area and Highest number
experiment with it. it can select. 3 6

10 The variable will hold the number of Gobo’s reply, but the
program needs a way to choose that number randomly. Add a
1
“set my variable to” block to the bottom of Gobo’s code. Open 2
the block’s drop-down menu and select “ReplyNumber”. Then
drag a green “pick random” block into it from the Operators
section. Change the second number to 2. The green block
picks randomly between 1 and 2, like flipping a coin.

Change the second

set ReplyNumber to number to 2.

pick random 1 to 2

11 Next create this block to add to the

bottom of the code. It will make Gobo if ReplyNumber = 1 then
say “Yes!” if the value in the variable
“ReplyNumber” is 1. The “say” block say Yes!
only runs if the value is one, otherwise
it’s skipped.

Connect this block to the

bottom of Gobo’s code.

12 Now run the project a few times.

Around half the time Gobo will say if ReplyNumber = 2 then
“Yes!” The other times it doesn’t say
anything. If you look at the top of the say No!
stage, you’ll see the “ReplyNumber”
variable says 1 when you get “Yes!”
and 2 when you get no reply. Add
this extra block to make Gobo say Again, connect this block to
“No!” when the variable is 2. the bottom of Gobo’s code.
 ASK GOBO 65

13 The code should now look like this. Run the project a
few times and check that Gobo gives random “yes” and
“no” answers. If not, check all of the code carefully.
Wait! The answer
is coming to me...

when clicked

set size to 250 %

say I can answer your yes-or-no questions. for 3 seconds

say Ask your question then press space.

wait until key space pressed?

say Wait! The answer is coming to me... for 3 seconds

wait 1 seconds

set ReplyNumber to pick random 1 to 2

if ReplyNumber = 1 then

say Yes!

if ReplyNumber = 2 then

say No!

14 You can now go to the Variables section and

uncheck the “ReplyNumber” block to remove If you use the offline
version of Scratch, don’t
the variable from the stage.
forget to save your work
from time to time.
Variables

Make a Variable
Uncheck
the tick box.
my variable

ReplyNumber
66 G E T T I N G S TA R T E D

15 Now try using your project

to answer some important
questions to predict the future!
Will I get a puppy
for Christmas?

Am I a brilliant
programmer?

Should I be nicer
Should I do my to my sister?
homework right away?

EXPERT TIPS
More decisions
You’ve already seen how to use “if then” blocks There are three different green blocks you
containing questions to decide whether or can use to compare numbers, each with
not to run lines of code. In this project, you a different job and symbol: = (equal to),
use green Operators blocks inside “if then” > (greater than), and < (less than). Programmers
blocks to check the value of a variable. The call true-or-false decisions used inside “if then”
pale blue question blocks have “yes” or “no” blocks “Boolean conditions”. They are named
answers, but when you use the green blocks after the English mathematician George Boole
you should ask if what they say is true or false. (1815–1864).

All the blocks can go

inside an “if then” block.
key space pressed?

touching Balloon1 ? True only if the

if then variable “Age”
has a value of 10.
code to run Age = 10
True only if the
variable “Age” has a
Age > 5 value greater than 5.

True only if the

Age < 18 variable “Age” has
a value less than 18.
 ASK GOBO 67

Hacks and tweaks

You can do much more with the random numbers
than simply answering yes-or-no questions.
Try exploring some of these possibilities.

set size to 250 %

▽ Ask me another say I can answer your yes-or-no questions. for 3 seconds

To make Gobo answer more questions after the say Ask your question then press space.
first one, place the original code inside a “forever”
wait until key space pressed?
loop, as shown here, with a few extra blocks to
make Gobo prompt the user for a new question. say Wait! The answer is coming to me... for 3 seconds

wait 1 seconds

Insert the original set ReplyNumber to pick random 1 to 2

code here.
if ReplyNumber = 1 then

say Yes!
when clicked

forever if then
ReplyNumber = 2

say No!
wait 3 seconds

say Press space to ask another question.

wait until key space pressed?

▷ Special effects
You can alter Gobo’s replies to be more
fun. While you’re at it, why not make if ReplyNumber = 2 then
Gobo change colour or costume for each
reply? You could also add sounds to its say How DARE you ask that!
replies, some dance steps, or a spin.
switch costume to gobo-c

set color effect to 50

How DARE you
ask that!
start sound Scream1
68 G E T T I N G S TA R T E D

▽ More replies
To add to the fun you can extend the number of replies. You simply need
to increase the top number in the “pick random” block to the new number
of choices and then add extra “if then” blocks containing new “say” blocks. Change the 2 into a 6. This must
This example has six possible answers, but you can add as many as you like. match your number of replies or
some responses will never appear.

set ReplyNumber to pick random 1 to 6

Yes!
if ReplyNumber = 1 then

say Yes!

if ReplyNumber = 2 then
No!
say No!

if ReplyNumber = 3 then

Add four more “if then”

say Maybe... blocks. These are just
suggestions – you can
choose your own replies.

if ReplyNumber = 4 then
Definitely!
say Definitely!

if ReplyNumber = 5 then

say Never! Never!

if ReplyNumber = 6 then

To make Gobo seem

say Tuesday! more mysterious, you
can include some
strange answers.
 ASK GOBO 69
▽ Counting horse
You don’t have to stick to yes-or-no answers – instead, you
could answer questions like “How old am I?” or “What’s my Don’t forget to click the
IQ?” with random numbers. Start a new project, load the full-screen symbol
Horse sprite, and add the code below to make it count above the stage!
out the answers by stomping up and down with its feet.
You could also add some horse noises from the sound library.

when clicked

switch costume to horse-a

say I can answer your number questions. for 3 seconds

say Ask your question then press space.

wait until key space pressed

Maximum number
say Wait! The answer is coming to me... for 3 seconds the horse can say.

wait 1 seconds

set ReplyNumber to pick random 1 to 5

This loop makes the horse

repeat ReplyNumber count out the answer by
lifting its feet.
switch costume to horse-b

wait 1 seconds

switch costume to horse-a

wait 1 seconds

say ReplyNumber

▷ Do as I say!
Rather than answering questions, Gobo could give Take a hike!
random orders, such as “run up and down the stairs”,
“jump in the air twice”, or “sing a famous song”. Just
change the text in the “say” blocks to Gobo’s commands.
You could also change Gobo’s appearance to something
grumpy to match the mood.
70 G E T T I N G S TA R T E D

Funny Faces
You can have lots of fun drawing your own sprites in
Scratch – you don’t have to stick to the ones in the sprites
library. Creating your own sprites will give your projects
a unique look. For this project, you can go wild making
facial features and accessories for a DIY face.

How it works
This project starts with a blank face surrounded by a
collection of eyes, noses, and other items that you can You can add up to 11
drag into the middle to create crazy expressions. Press eyes, but most sprites
the green flag to reset the face and start again. are just a single item.

Empty face

Bow tie

Mouth
 F U N NY FAC E S 71

Go ahead and create

as many funny faces
as you like!

△ Funny, funnier, funniest!

This project lets you use your creativity and
imagination to the fullest. You don’t have
to make human faces. You can make aliens,
monsters, or anything!

Pig nose

Snotty
nose

Tongue
72 G E T T I N G S TA R T E D

Get painting
Dust off your digital overalls because it’s time for some
painting. Scratch has a great paint editor built in, so you
have all the tools you need to create a mini-masterpiece
for each body part and item of clothing.

1 Start a new project and remove the cat sprite

by right-clicking on it in the sprites list and
selecting “delete”. You’re going to make your
Click here to open
own sprites, so click on the paint symbol
Paint the paint editor.
in the sprites menu to create the first one.

2 Scratch’s paint editor will now open.

You can use the paint editor to draw
your own sprites. Make sure “Convert to Undo
Bitmap” is selected in the bottom left. Redo

Costume costume1

Selected colour
Fill 10

Brush tool Line tool

Circle tool Rectangle tool

Text tool Use this tool to fill

a shape with colour.
Eraser
Use this tool to select
a part of a drawing.

Convert to Vector
 F U N NY FAC E S 73

3 Click on the brush tool in the upper left

corner of the paint editor. Then click and draw Centre the
an oval shape to form the head for your funny shape on the
face. The middle should be near the small small cross.
cross in the centre of the painting area.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a bit

uneven, but make sure you
join up the ends to make a
complete loop. Brush tool

4 Now choose the fill tool, which looks like

a bucket of paint being tipped over. Click
on the “Fill” tab at the top left to choose
a colour for the face. Then click inside the
head to fill it with your chosen colour.

If the colour accidentally fills the

checked background area, click
the undo button and check the
outline of the face for gaps.

Fill tool

Change name here.

5 Well done – you’ve created a head! As a

finishing touch, change the name of this Sprite Head x 40 y 15

sprite from “Sprite1” to “Head” in the

Show Size 100 Direction 90
information panel above the sprites list.

Head
74 G E T T I N G S TA R T E D

6 The head needs to be in the centre of the stage when the

Funny Face project runs. The project will position every
sprite on the screen at the start to keep things tidy. To do
this for the head, click on the Code tab and drag these
blocks to the code area.

when clicked

go to x: 0 y: 0

This block sends the

head sprite to the
centre of the stage.

The sprite will appear in

the centre of the stage.

EXPERT TIPS
Coordinates
To pinpoint any spot on the stage you can
use two numbers called coordinates. The
x coordinate, written first, tells you how far
the point is across the stage horizontally. y
The y coordinate, written second, tells 180
you how far the point is up or down the (–190, 110)
stage vertically. The x coordinates go from (130, 90) (215, 90)
–240 to 240. The y coordinates go from 90
–180 to 180. The coordinates of a point
are written as (x, y). The centre of the
(x:0, y:0)
bow tie on the right, for instance, has the x
coordinates (215, 90). –240 –120 0 120 240
(200, –80)

–90
Every spot on the stage has a unique (x:120, y:–90)
pair of coordinates that can be used
to position a sprite exactly. (–120, –100) –180
 F U N NY FAC E S 75
Time to make lots of sprites
The more different eyes, noses, mouths, ears, hats, and
accessories your Funny Face project has, the more silly
faces you can make, so spend some time making as many
as you can. It’s great fun. You can also find useful items in
Scratch’s costumes library, such as hats and sunglasses.
You can skip the drawing stages for those.

7 Follow steps 7–11 to create your own items. Click

on the paint symbol in the sprites menu to create
the new sprite. Use the paint editor tools to draw
it, following the tips shown on this page.

Sprite Sprite1 x 20 y 80

Show Size 100 Direction 90

To make round
eyes, use the circle
tool and hold down
shift. Fill with white
and add black
Head Eyebrow Eye spots for pupils.
Use the circle
tool to make a
pig’s nose.
Use the circle
tool to create an
open mouth. Add
teeth if you like.
Nose1 Hat1 Smile

Use the brush

tool to create a
tongue and fill it Use the rectangle
with pink or red. tool to create a
top hat.

Tongue Hair Hat2

Make a bow tie

with the line tool Look in the sprites
and fill tool and library for some
then use the brush cool shades and
tool to add spots. silly hats.

Bow tie Nose2 Sunglasses

76 G E T T I N G S TA R T E D

8 Click on each sprite in the sprites

list and give your creation a Sprite Eyes x 20 y 80
meaningful name.
Type a name for Show Size 100 Direction 90
the sprite here.

Eyes

9 When you’ve finished drawing a sprite, drag

it across the stage to its starting position
outside the face. Don’t worry if the sprites
overlap a bit.

10 To make the new sprite appear in the right

place when you run the project, use the 11 Go back to step 7 and repeat the
process until you have all the sprites
mouse to drag it to its start position and then you want.
give it some code like this. The “go to” block
in the blocks palette will automatically show
the sprite’s current coordinates. Hey, this is
a loop!

when clicked

go to x: 150 y: 100

Drag this block in from the Motion

blocks and it will already contain
the correct coordinates.
 F U N NY FAC E S 77

12 Now add a plain backdrop. Look

in the stage info area to the right of
Costume backdrop2

the sprites list and click on “Choose

Fill
a Backdrop”. Select the paint symbol
to paint a new backdrop. Then
choose a colour from the palette
and use the fill tool to fill the whole
of the white area.

Fill tool

Convert to Vector

Click the equals sign to

zoom out before filling.

Clones
You might want to use some sprites lots of
times – perhaps your face will be funnier with
10 eyes rather than two. Scratch allows you
to “clone” a sprite to make fully working copies.

EXPERT TIPS
Clones
13 Make 10 clones of the eye sprite
by adding this loop to its code.
Clones work a bit like the “stamp” block you
Now when you run the project
you can place all 11 eyes!
used in the Cat Art project. But while “stamp”
just draws a picture on the backdrop, the
clone block creates a working sprite. Clones
can be used for lots of clever things, as you’ll
when clicked see in later projects.
This loop creates 10
go to x: 200 y: 100 extra eyeballs on top
of the original.
create clone of myself
repeat 10

create clone of myself This block makes an identical

copy of a sprite in exactly the
same position on the stage.
78 G E T T I N G S TA R T E D

Hacks and tweaks

Funny Faces is great fun to extend. Create more silly
sprites and think about how to make them move.
As a finishing touch, you can frame your creation!

▽ Special effects ▽ Spinning tie

Can’t see the eyes through the glasses? No Bring your sprites to life by making them
problem – make the sunglasses transparent move. To make the bow tie spin around,
with Scratch’s ghost effect. You’ll find the block add a “forever” loop containing a “turn” block.
in the Looks section, where it’s called “set color
effect to”. Change “color” to “ghost” in its menu.

when clicked
Increase the number
go to x: 180 y: –30
to make the sunglasses
more transparent.

set ghost ▾ effect to 30 forever

turn 1 degrees

▽Snotty nose
To make disgusting green snot drip out of
the nose, create two new costumes for the
nose with spots of green colour. Then add
these new blocks to make the snot drip.

costume1
Right-click the costume 53 x 55
and select “duplicate”
when clicked
to make copies.
go to x: 190 y: 25

costume2
53 x 59
switch costume to costume1

forever

wait 1 seconds Edit each costume so

the drip gets larger.
next costume costume3
53 x 65
 F U N NY FAC E S 79
In the frame 2 Run the project to centre the sprite.
Next click the Costumes tab to return
To create a neat frame around your funny to the paint editor. Choose black in
face, follow these steps. the colour panel and use the fill tool to
fill the white area with black. Then use
the select tool to draw a rectangle in
1 Click the paint symbol in the sprites menu to create a
new sprite in the paint editor. Before you start painting,
the middle, and press “delete” on your
keyboard to make a hole. Check the
open the Code tab and give the sprite these code
stage to see if the frame is the
blocks. They hide the frame at the start and make it
right shape and adjust as needed.
appear when you press the space-bar and disappear
when you press the “c” key.

when clicked

hide Type 0 in both

windows.
go to x: 0 y: 0

when space key pressed

go to front layer

show This places the sprite in

front of the other sprites,
covering them up. Fill tool
Select tool
when c key pressed

hide

TRY THIS
3 Now run the project. Make a silly face and then
check if you can make the frame appear and Try something different
disappear with the space-bar and “c” key.
You can use this project to create
anything from snowmen and Christmas
trees to monsters and aliens!
Art
82 ART

Birthday Card A balloon-filled backdrop

sets the scene.
Who wants an ordinary birthday
card when you can have an
animated feast for the eyes and
ears? Scratch is the perfect tool
for making a birthday card. This
card has singing sharks, but you
can adapt the project to make
someone their own unique card.

How it works H A P PY
When you run this project, a
mysterious flashing green button
appears. Press the button and an
animated birthday card fills the Happy birthday
screen, complete with singing sharks. to you!
The sharks take turns singing the
lines of the “Happy Birthday” song.

PRESS ONLY ON YOUR BIRTHDAY!

Click the button to open The sharks drop in from the top
the birthday card. and then sing “Happy Birthday”.
 B I R T H D AY C A R D 83

The animated sign at the Be sure to run this project

top rocks from side to side. in full-screen mode.

T H DAY !
B I R
△ Gliding around
This project uses the “glide”
block, which makes sprites
move smoothly around
the stage. You need to use
Scratch’s coordinates system
to set the exact start and
finish point of each glide.
If you can’t remember how
coordinates work, see the
Funny Faces project.

△ Keeping time
Like Animal Race, this
project uses messages sent
from one sprite to another
to control the timing of
code blocks. The singing
sharks send messages back
The cake slides into view and forth to time their lines
from the edge of the stage. of “Happy Birthday”.
84 ART

Birthday button
To avoid spoiling the surprise of the card, all
that appears when the project is run is a message
and a button for the birthday person to press.

1 Start a new project. Remove the

cat sprite by right-clicking on it 3 To add the sign saying “PRESS ONLY
ON YOUR BIRTHDAY!”, you need to edit
in the sprites list and selecting the backdrop. First select the stage
“delete”. Load the Button1 sprite by clicking the small white rectangle
from the sprites library. to the right of the sprites list. Then
Button1 click the Backdrops tab above the
blocks palette.

2 Add these two code blocks to Button1. The first one

makes the button appear in the centre of the stage and Stage
flash invitingly when the project starts. The second one
runs after the button is clicked, making the button
disappear and sending a message to launch the rest of
the card. After adding the “broadcast” block, open its
drop-down menu, choose “New message”, and call the
message “Go!”
Click to select
This block positions
the stage.
the button in the Backdrops
centre of the stage.
1
when clicked

go to x: 0 y: 0

show This makes the

button shimmer
with changing colours.
forever

change colour effect by 3

Once clicked, the

button disappears.

when this sprite clicked Surprise!

hide This sends a message

that triggers code in
other sprites.
broadcast Go!

stop other scripts in sprite

Choose “other scripts

in sprite” here.
 B I R T H D AY C A R D 85

4 Scratch’s paint editor will now open. Choose the text tool and click
in the large white area, about a third of the way down. Type the words
“PRESS ONLY ON YOUR BIRTHDAY!” If you want to re-type the message
for any reason, use the select tool to draw a box around the text and
press delete on your keyboard before starting again.

Font menu
Code Backdrops Sounds

Costume backdrop1
1

Fill Sans Serif

backdrop1
229 x 23

Text tool
PRESS ONLY ON YOUR BIRTHDAY!

Select tool

Convert to Vector

5 You can choose a font using the font

menu at the top of the paint editor. 6 Use the select tool to resize or move
the text until you’re happy with it.
“Sans Serif” works well for a birthday card.

Sans Serif
Resize the
text with
Sans Serif
these circles.

Serif

Handwriting
PRESS ONLY ON YOUR BIRTHDAY!
You can choose
Marker any font you like. Click and drag
Curly
this box to
move the text.
Pixel
86 ART

7 For the card itself you

need a different backdrop.
Click here to
Click the backdrop symbol
open the
in the lower right of the
backdrops
Scratch window to choose library.
a new backdrop from the
library. Then select the
“Party” backdrop.

Choose a Backdrop

8
Make sure you still have the stage This block shows the
selected in the lower right of the white backdrop.
when clicked
Scratch window and not one of the
sprites. Click on the Code tab above
switch backdrop to backdrop1
the blocks palette and add these
code blocks for the stage. Now try The “Party” backdrop
running the project and see what with balloons appears
happens when you click the button. when I receive Go! when the button is pressed.

switch backdrop to Party

Enter the cake

Once the button is pressed, the card opens. The
button’s code broadcasts the “Go!” message to
all the sprites to trigger the animations and music.

9 What else does a birthday

need besides a card? A cake! 10 If you look in the Sounds tab at
the top of the Scratch window,
Click on the sprite symbol you’ll see that the “Birthday”
in the sprites list and add the sound has already been loaded.
Cake sprite to the project.

Code Costumes Sounds

Sound Birthday
1

Cake
Birthday
7.32
 B I R T H D AY C A R D 87

11 We want the cake to slide in

from the left, starting from a
position off-stage. If we send
the cake to the edge of the stage
(–240, –100), half of it will show
because that’s the position
of the cake’s centre. You can’t
send a sprite completely off
the screen, so we’ll send it
to (–300, –100), so that only
a tiny bit shows.

The starting position of

the cake (–300, –100)

The final position

of the cake (0, –100)

12 Add these code blocks to the cake to hide it

when the project runs, and then make it glide
This is the cake’s starting
in from the left when the green button is
position off the left
pressed. Note that the cake broadcasts a new of the stage.
message, called “Line1”. Later you’ll use this to
make one of the sharks sing the first line of
“Happy Birthday”.

when I receive Go!

To begin with, the go to x: –300 y: –100 This block makes
cake is hidden. the cake slide to the
show centre of the stage.

when clicked glide 2 secs to x: 0 y: –100

Choose “New
hide forever
message” in the menu
and call it “Line1”.
switch costume to cake-a broadcast Line1

play sound Birthday until done

Choose cake-a to make
sure the candles are lit. wait 10 seconds
The song repeats after
a 10-second pause.
88 ART

Birthday banner
The next thing needed for a party
atmosphere is an animated birthday
banner that rocks back and forth. Click here.
Paint

13 The banner will be a sprite, but this time you’ll create

a new sprite by painting it rather than loading it from
the library. Click the paint symbol in the sprites
menu and the paint editor will open. A new sprite will
appear in the sprites list. Rename the sprite “Banner”.

14 Draw your birthday banner in the paint editor.

Make sure you select “Convert to Bitmap”. Use
the rectangle tool to create the banner, either
as a solid colour or just an outline. Then use the HAPPY BIRTHDAY
text tool to add the words “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”
Try whichever font and colours you like. Use
the select tool to position the text or trim the
banner to fit.

Costume costume1

Fill
Filled Outlined
Selected
colour

Rectangle
tool

Text tool
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Convert to Vector
 B I R T H D AY C A R D 89

15 Now select the Code tab and add the banner’s

two code blocks. These keep it hidden until the
button is pressed and then jiggle the banner
around. Run the project to check it works. The banner starts
off tipped a little
anticlockwise.

when clicked when I receive Go!

hide point in direction 80

go to x: 0 y: 120 show It turns

clockwise.
forever
Reduce the y
coordinate if your turn 20 degrees
banner is too high
on the stage. wait 1 seconds

turn 20 degrees
Use the blue “turn”
blocks to make the wait 1 seconds
banner turn.
It then turns
anticlockwise.

EXPERT TIPS
Directions
Scratch uses degrees to set the
direction of sprites. You can
–90° moves a 0°
sprite straight
choose any number from –179° to the left.
to 180°. Remember, negative
numbers point sprites left and
positive numbers point them
right. Use 0° to go straight up
and 180° to go straight down. –90° 90°

180° moves a sprite

straight down.

180°
90 ART

Singing sharks
What’s the perfect finishing touch to a birthday surprise?
Yes, of course... singing sharks! The two sharks will take
turns singing by sending messages to each other after
each line of the song.

Click here to
rename the sprite.

16 Click the sprite symbol in the sprites

list and add the Shark2 sprite to the Sprite Shark1 x 41 y -15

project. You’ll need two sharks, so rename

Show Size 100 Direction 90
the first one Shark1. To create the second
shark, right-click (or control-click) on the
first shark and select “duplicate”. The new
sprite will be named Shark2 automatically.
Shark1
duplicate

delete
Click here to create
the second shark. export

17 Now give Shark1 this code. When the project

runs, Shark1 is hidden but takes its position in 18 Add this code to Shark2. Run the
project to test the sharks.
the top left of the stage. When it receives the
“Go!” message, it reveals itself and glides down
to the bottom of the stage.
when clicked

hide This makes the

when clicked shark face left.
go to x: 165 y: 180
hide
set rotation style left-right
go to x: –165 y: 180
point in direction –90
point in direction 90
switch costume to shark2-a
switch costume to shark2-a

The shark
starts out with
when I receive Go! a costume when I receive Go!
that has its
show mouth closed. show

glide 2 secs to x: –165 y: –70 glide 2 secs to x: 165 y: –70

 B I R T H D AY C A R D 91

19 Time to get the sharks singing. Remember the loop belonging to the cake sprite
that plays “Happy Birthday”? It sends the message “Line1” every time the song
starts. Add the code shown on the left to Shark1 and the code on the right
to Shark2 to make them react to the message. More messages make them take
turns to sing each line. You’ll need to create new messages for each line of the
song. Name them by using the drop-down menu in the “broadcast” blocks.

Shark1

when I receive Line1

switch costume to shark2-b

Shark2
say Happy birthday to you! for 2 seconds

switch costume to shark2-a

broadcast Line2 when I receive Line2

switch costume to shark2-b

say Happy birthday to you! for 2 seconds

switch costume to shark2-a

when I receive Line3 broadcast Line3

switch costume to shark2-b Type the name of the

birthday boy or girl in
say Happy birthday dear Joe for 2 seconds this block.

switch costume to shark2-a

broadcast Line4 when I receive Line4

switch costume to shark2-b

Wow, say Happy birthday to you! for 2 seconds

thanks!
switch costume to shark2-a

20 The birthday card is now complete.

Click on the full-screen symbol
above the stage and run the project
for the birthday boy or girl!
92 ART

Hacks and tweaks

You can customize your card for different people
and occasions. Instead of using singing sharks,
you could try singing lions, penguins, elephants,
or ghosts. Change the song to “Merry Christmas” or
“Jingle Bells” and replace the balloons with snowy
Christmas trees if you like. Feel free to experiment.

▽ Fading in ▽ Supersize your sprite

The sharks drop from the top when they appear, Another way to make a dramatic entrance is to
but you can use Scratch’s special effects to create start tiny and grow into a giant. Put a “change size
a more dramatic entrance. To make an invisible by” block in a “repeat” loop to create this effect. You
sprite fade in slowly, for instance, use the “set could also try making your sprite spin as it grows,
ghost effect” block in the code shown here. or add a “change whirl effect” block to turn it into
a crazy whirlpool.

when clicked

hide

when I receive Go!

when clicked set size to 10 %

hide show

repeat 50

change size by 5
when I receive Go!

set ghost effect to 100

show Put a “change ghost effect

by” in a “repeat” loop to
make a sprite fade in.
repeat 100

change ghost effect by –1

 B I R T H D AY C A R D 93
TRY THIS
Sharks on elastic!
See if you can work out how to make
the sharks move up at the end of the
“Happy Birthday” song and then come
back down when it’s time to sing again.
Don’t forget to work on a separate copy
of your project so you won’t lose the
original if things go wrong.

△ Adding photos
Why not try importing a photo of the birthday boy
or girl into the project? You can upload any picture
you like to make a new sprite by clicking the upload
symbol in the sprites menu. But don’t share projects
containing people’s photos without their permission.

Happy birthday
to you...

Upload Sound
Record a sound

Upload a sound
Record

△ Adding sound
You don’t have to use Scratch’s built-in sounds and songs – △ Birthday dancers
you can add your own music or record your very own version Why not reuse some of your dancers from the
of “Happy Birthday” if you want. Click the upload symbol Dino Dance Party in your birthday card? If you
in the sounds menu to add a sound file from your computer. do, adjust the timing of the costume change
Click the microphone symbol to record your own sounds. so they dance in time to the music.
94 ART

Spiralizer
Try out this spinning spiral project. Adjust the sliders to
Change the patterns using special change the look
of the spiral.
sliders to alter the values of variables
in the code. You control the art – the
possibilities are endless!

Angle 10

How it works
Speed 2
This simple project has only one sprite: a
coloured ball, which stays in the middle.
Scratch’s clone blocks make copies of the
ball that move outwards in straight lines.
A spiral pattern forms because each clone
moves in a slightly different direction, like
water from a garden sprinkler. The Scratch
pen draws a trail behind each clone, making
colourful background patterns.

The clones’ different

directions make
them form a spiral.

Wow! This project has

got me in a spin.

Each line is drawn using

Scratch’s Pen extension,
which lets any sprite draw.

Each cloned ball flies in

a straight line from the
centre to the edge.
 SPIRALIZER 95

The ball in the centre Click this icon to

is the original sprite; switch from full-screen
all the others are clones. mode to editor mode.

△ Clones
Clones are working copies
of sprites. When a clone is
created, it appears on top
of the existing sprite and
has the same properties,
such as direction, size,
and so on.

△ Scratch pen
Every sprite can draw a
trail behind it wherever
it goes – just add the
green “pen down” block
to its code. By adding
the Pen extension you
get extra blocks added
to the blocks palette to
change the pen’s colour,
shade, and thickness.
96 ART

Ball clones 1 Start a new project. Remove the

cat sprite by right-clicking on it
Scratch allows you to create hundreds of and selecting “delete”. Load the
clones from a single sprite, filling the stage ball sprite from the sprites library.
with action. Each clone is a fully working The ball has several different
coloured costumes. Click the Ball
copy of the original sprite but also runs
Costumes tab and choose the
some special code that only affects clones. colour you like best.

2 Add this loop to make clones of the ball.

When you run this code nothing much will 3 To make the clones move, add this code to the ball
sprite. Every new clone will now run its own copy
appear to happen. Actually, it’s making lots of this code when it appears. The code makes the
of clones of the ball sprite, but they’re all on clone move away from the centre in the direction
top of each other. You can drag them apart the parent sprite was pointing when it was cloned.
with the mouse (but only in editor mode, Run the project.
not full-screen mode).

when I start as a clone

forever
when clicked This shrinks
the ball.
move 2 steps
set size to 30 %
This block moves
go to x: 0 y: 0
the ball to the
centre of the stage.
forever ▷ What’s going on?
The parent sprite changes its
create clone of myself direction a little before each clone is
created. As a result, the clones move
turn 10 degrees off in slightly different directions,
one after another. Each clone travels
Each time this
block runs, a new
in a straight line to the edge of the
clone is made. stage, making the clones form an
ever-expanding spiral pattern.

4 The clones will stop appearing after a while as

Scratch won’t allow more than 300 clones on
the stage at once. Any instructions to make
new clones after this are ignored. The clones
The clones
stop forming at the centre and all the existing collect at the
clones collect around the edge of the stage. edge because
the “move”
block can’t
take a sprite
completely
Once there are 300 off the stage.
clones on the stage, no
more clones are created.
 SPIRALIZER 97

5 To fix this problem, add an “if then” block inside the

clone’s “move” loop to delete the clone when it gets 6 To make the spiral show up better, add
a black background. Click the paint
to the edge. Run this version. Now the balls should symbol in the backdrops menu to
disappear at the edge as fast as they are made, and the right of the sprites list to create a
the spiral should continue for as long as you want – new backdrop. Use the fill tool to paint
Scratch will never reach its clone limit. the backdrop solid black.

Is this clone touching

when I start as a clone the edge of the stage?

forever Add this “if

then” block
move 2 steps inside the loop.

if touching edge ? then

delete this clone

Just as you can make clones,

you can also destroy them.

Taking control
There are two numbers in the ball’s code that you can change to alter
the spiral’s appearance. One is the change in the angle before each new
clone appears. The other is the number of steps in the “move” block,
which determines the clones’ speed. If you create variables for these
numbers, Scratch lets you add a slider control to the stage so you can
change them while the project is running. This makes experimenting easy.

Click here to open the Type the variable’s

“New Variable” window. name here.

7 Select the ball sprite Code Costumes Sounds

in the sprites list. Variables New Variable

Motion
Make a Variable
Choose Variables
Looks my variable
in the blocks palette New variable name:
and then use the Sound set my variable to 0

“Make a Variable” Events change my variable by 1 Angle

button to create two Control
show variable my variable

variables: “Angle” Sensing

hide variable my variable
For all sprites For this sprite only
and “Speed”. Operators
Make a List

My Blocks

Variables Make a Block Cancel OK

My Blocks

Click “OK”.
98 ART

8 Keep the variables ticked

in the blocks palette
so that they appear
on the stage. Angle 0

Speed 0

The variables are shown

on the stage like this.

Variables

Make a Variable

Angle

my variable

Speed

Leave the ticks

in the tick boxes.

9 Now change the ball’s

code to use the variables. set Angle to 10
These blocks set the
starting values for
“Angle” and “Speed”.
set Speed to 2

when clicked

set size to 30 % Insert the “Speed”

variable block into
go to x: 0 y: 0 the “move” block.
when I start as a clone
forever
forever Speed
create clone of myself
move 2 steps
turn 10 degrees
if touching edge ? then

delete this clone

Angle

Insert the “Angle” variable

block into the “turn” block.
 SPIRALIZER 99

10 Run the project and everything should

work just as before. Right-click on the 11 Both variables will now have a slider control.
The sliders let you instantly change the values
“Angle” variable on the stage and select stored in the variables. Run the project and
“slider”. Do the same for “Speed”. try moving the sliders. The patterns of the
ball clones will change instantly.

Angle 10 Angle 10

Speed 2 Move the two sliders

slightly apart on the
normal readout stage so that you can
Speed 2 see them fully.
large readout
slider
Use the mouse to adjust
the value of this variable.

12 Now try experimenting

with different values.

Angle 3 Angle 3 Angle 49

Speed 1 Speed 30 Speed 5

Angle 3, Speed 1 Angle 3, Speed 30 Angle 49, Speed 5

When the space-bar is

pressed, every clone runs
this code and deletes itself.

13 You might find it handy to clear the stage of clones

from time to time, so add this code to turn the
when space key pressed
space-bar into a clone destroyer. Each clone runs
all the ball sprite’s code except the one headed delete this clone
by a green flag, so this code will affect every clone.
Run the project and tap the space-bar to try it out.
100 ART

The mighty pen

Scratch has extensions – extra blocks of code that can be
added to projects. One of these extensions is a magic pen.
If you switch the pen on, it will draw a line wherever the
sprite goes. Every clone has a pen too, so by turning them
on you can create some amazing art.

14 To add the extra Pen blocks click “Add

Extension” at the bottom left of the screen
when clicked
and choose “Pen”. Add these green blocks
to activate the pen for every clone. set Angle to 10

set Speed to 2

set size to 30 %
This block removes
all pen trails so the go to x: 0 y: 0
stage starts blank.

forever
erase all
create clone of myself
This activates set pen size to 1
the pen so turn Angle degrees
that every pen down
clone leaves Type 1 in here
a trail. for a thin pen.

15 Run the project to see a beautiful display. You can use

the sliders to try different numbers. Odd numbers work When many lines are drawn close
to each other, imperfections line
well for “Angle” – try 7 or 11 – because the whole pattern
up and make strange swirls called
moves around a little each time, filling the space and
“Moiré patterns”.
creating interesting effects.

Angle 10 Angle 7

Speed 2 Speed 2
 SPIRALIZER 101

16 Add an “erase all” block to your

clone-destroyer code. This makes
when space key pressed
the space-bar wipe the stage clear
of everything, creating a blank erase all
canvas for your art. delete this clone
Insert an “erase all” block
here to remove all pen
traces from the stage.

17 As a final experiment, change the

pen colour for each clone so that
Angle 10

each one draws in a new colour. Speed 2

when clicked

set Angle to 10

set Speed to 2

set size to 30 %

go to x: 0 y: 0

erase all

set pen size to 1

pen down

forever

create clone of myself

I can spin
a rainbow!
turn Angle degrees

change pen color by 1

Insert this block

to change the pen
colour for each clone.
102 ART

18 Run the project and explore the range of effects

you can create by changing the sliders, the pen
Play with the sliders to see
size, and the pen’s colour. Try thicker pen sizes what stunning visual effects
and see what happens. Don’t forget you can you can make.
clear up by pressing the space-bar.

Angle 10 Angle 31

Speed 2 Speed 10

Pen size = 1, Angle = 10, Speed = 2 Pen size = 1, Angle = 31, Speed = 10

Angle 10 Angle 10

Speed 2 Speed 2

Pen size = 10, Angle = 10, Speed = 2 Pen size = 100, Angle = 10, Speed = 2
 SPIRALIZER 103

Hacks and tweaks This project

looks best in
full-screen mode!
The spiral generator is perfect for customizing.
Here are some more suggestions for changes,
but don’t be afraid to experiment with the code
and try your own ideas. You could even adapt
the project to make a game in which the player’s
sprite has to dodge the flying balls.

▷ Colour control PenChange 0

You could make a new variable, “PenChange”,
with its own slider (as in step 10) to control how
quickly the lines change colour. Insert the new
variable block in the “change pen colour” block.
Then right-click on the slider to set the range. (If
you give the “Angle” slider a negative minimum,
you’ll be able to reverse the spiral’s direction.)

forever

create clone of myself

turn Angle degrees

change pen color by 1

Make a variable called

“PenChange” and add
PenChange it to the green block. When you find a great
spiral, copy the numbers
from the sliders to make
your preset code.
▷ Favourites
You can create keyboard
shortcuts to set the spiral’s when 1 key pressed when 2 key pressed
variables to your favourite
patterns. Then simply hit set Angle to 7 set Angle to 2
the keyboard shortcut to
show someone your most set Speed to 10 set Speed to 1
dramatic creations.
104 ART

▽ Turn it into art

Add these code blocks to hide the balls and
sliders when you press the down arrow key
and bring them back with the up arrow key.
You can save the picture as an image file on
your computer by right-clicking on the stage.

when down arrow key pressed

hide This block

hides all
the clones.
hide variable Angle

hide variable Speed

These hide
the sliders.

when up arrow key pressed

show Remember
that these code
show variable Angle blocks run for
all the clones
on the stage.
show variable Speed

◁ Ball control
Instead of generating clones in a spiral pattern, you
can make them follow the mouse-pointer. Just replace the
Angle 10
“turn” block with a “point towards mouse-pointer” block.
Speed 2
Now try painting with the mouse.

Clones shoot out from

the centre towards the
mouse-pointer.

turn Angle degrees

point towards mouse-pointer

 SPIRALIZER 105
▷ Sunset
You can drag the original ball sprite anywhere on
the stage and then hit the space-bar to clear the
old pattern. See if you can create the artificial sunset
pattern shown here. Hint: you’ll need a pen size of 1
and the “Angle” variable set to 7. Don’t forget there’s
a “go to” block in the code that will reset the position
each time the project is run – you can take that block
out or change the coordinates once you’ve found
a good sun position. You could even add another
full-sized ball sprite in yellow to be the sun.

TRY THIS
Clone lab
Experiment with clones to get a feel for how they a “go to x: y:” block to see some crazy effects.
work. Start a new project and add a clone creation You can even add some keyboard controls and
loop to the cat and give each clone a simple bit sound effects for fun. Once you’ve mastered
of code to run when it starts. Experiment with clones, you’ll find you can do all sorts of things in
a “pen down” block or put random numbers in Scratch that are almost impossible without them.

when clicked when I start as a clone

repeat 10 point in direction pick random –180 to 180

create clone of myself forever

change color effect by 25 move 10 steps

if on edge, bounce
106 ART

Fantastic Flowers
Create a virtual meadow and fill it Click the green flag
to start the project.
with colourful flowers. In this project,
you’ll learn how to make your own
customized Scratch blocks. Each time
one of these runs, it triggers special
code called a subprogram, which
paints a flower.

How it works
When you run the project, a flower appears
wherever you click the mouse. Scratch uses
a simple ball sprite and a “stamp” block to
draw each flower. The ball stamps an image
of itself to create each petal, moving back
and forth from the flower’s centre each time.

draw flower

△ Subprograms
Scratch lets you create your own custom blocks
to trigger code that you’ve already built. Then,
instead of having to make that code every time
you need it, you simply use the new block.
Programmers use this trick all the time and
call the reused code a subprogram.

draw flower with 4 petals

△ Adding inputs
You can create blocks that have windows for
inputting numbers or other information, like
the example shown here, which lets you set
the number of petals.
 FA N TA S T I C F LO W E R S 107

Each flower is created with Create your own backdrop

a custom “draw flower” block. for the flowers.

You can choose the colours

and number of petals or
randomize them.

Another custom block

draws flower stalks.

I think it must
be spring!
108 ART

Make a flower 1 Start a new project. Remove the

cat sprite by right-clicking on it
Follow these steps to make code and selecting “delete”. Click on
that creates a flower when you click the sprite symbol and load the
on the stage. Once it’s working, you ball sprite from the sprites library.
The ball is the building block for Ball
can reuse the code to make the making each flower.
special flower-drawing block.

2 Build and run this code to draw a simple flower with five petals.
The loop runs five times, drawing a ring of petals centred on the
ball sprite’s starting position. Each petal is a “stamp” image of
the ball sprite. Remember, you’ll need to add the Pen extension
using the “Add Extension” button at the bottom left.

The ball moves in the

current direction a little
when clicked and stamps a copy of itself.

repeat 5
It moves back It then turns to face a new
move 25 steps to the centre. direction. There are 360 degrees
in a full circle, so each turn is
stamp
one-fifth of a circle.
move –25 steps 4 5

turn 360 / 5 degrees 1

3
2
The “repeat” loop
stamps five petals.
stamp
The “stamp” block after the
loop makes the flower’s centre.

EXPERT TIPS
Doing maths
Computers are very good at maths. You can Add Subtract
use the green Operators blocks in Scratch to
do simple sums. For more complex calculations, + –
you can also put Operators blocks inside each Divide
other or combine them with other blocks. If
blocks are put inside each other, the computer * /
works from the innermost blocks outwards,
as if the inner blocks were in brackets. Multiply (Computers usually
use a * sign to avoid confusion
with the letter x.)
 FA N TA S T I C F LO W E R S 109
More blocks
The next step is to turn the flower-drawing
code into a flower-drawing block. You
can then use this block to grow flowers
wherever you want.
Type the name of the
new block here.

3 To make a new Scratch block, select My Blocks

in the blocks palette and click “Make a Block”.
Make a Block

A window will open up. Type in the name of

your new block: “draw flower”. draw flower

My Blocks

text
Make a Block
Add an input Add an input Add a label
number or text boolean
Click here to
create the
Run without screen refresh
new block.
Cancel OK

4 Once you’ve clicked “OK”, you’ll see the new

block under My Blocks. Before you can use it, Make a Block
you’ll need to create the code it will trigger
(or “call”, as programmers say).
draw flower

5 In the code area you’ll see a new “define”

header block with the same name as the
when clicked Delete this block.
block you’ve just created. Move the flower
code under this header. The code will now
run whenever the “draw flower” block runs. repeat 5

move 25 steps

stamp
define draw flower
move –25 steps

turn 360 / 5 degrees

Drag the code to
the “define” header.

stamp
110 ART

6 Next, build new code to use the “draw flower”

block. When you run it, you can draw flowers with 7 Run the project and click around the
stage to create a patch of flowers.
a click of your mouse.

The blocks inside the “if then”

when clicked block run only when the
mouse button is pressed.
forever

if mouse down? then

go to mouse-pointer

draw flower

This block works as if all the Wherever you

code under the “define” header click the mouse, a
was squeezed in here. flower appears.

8 The stage will soon fill up, so make

some code that clears away the flowers when space key pressed
when you press the space-bar.
erase all This removes images
stamped on the
background, but not
the original sprite.
EXPERT TIPS
Subprograms
Good computer programmers always
break up their programs into easily
understandable chunks. Code that
define draw flower
does something useful that you want
to reuse within the program is moved
repeat 5
into a “subprogram” and given a name.
When the main code runs, or “calls”, move 25 steps
a subprogram, it’s as if the code in the stamp
subprogram is inserted at that point. draw flower move –25 steps
Using subprograms makes programs
shorter, easier to understand, and turn 360 / 5 degrees
simpler to change. Always give your
custom blocks helpful names that
stamp
describe what they do.
Scratch’s custom blocks
are subprograms.
 FA N TA S T I C F LO W E R S 111
Paint by numbers
If you wanted to make a lot of identical flowers, you
could simply draw a flower sprite. The real power of
custom blocks comes when you add inputs to them
to change what they do. To make flowers of different
colours with different numbers of petals, you can
add input windows to the “draw flower” block.

9 To add an input window to

control the number of petals in
define draw flower
flowers, right-click (or control/
shift-click) on the “define” Add Comment
header block and choose “Edit”. repeat 5
Delete Block
move 25 steps
Edit
stamp

move –25 steps

turn 360 / 5 degrees

stamp

Choose this option.

10 A window will open up. Select

“Add an input number or text.”
Make a Block

draw flower

text

Add an input Add an input Add a label

number or text boolean

Run without screen refresh

Cancel OK
112 ART

11 An input window now appears in the

block. Type “number of petals” into
Make a Block

this window and click “OK”.

draw flower number of petals

text

Add an input Add an input Add a label

number or text boolean

Run without screen refresh

Cancel OK

12 You’ll now see a “number of petals” block

in the header block. You can drag copies of this off
the header block and drop them into the code. Drag
and drop copies into the “repeat” and “turn” blocks
where the number of petals (5) is mentioned.

A new block appears

inside the header block.
define draw flower number of petals

repeat number of petals

move 25 steps
Drag the “number
stamp of petals” block into
these two places.
move –25 steps

turn 360 / number of petals degrees

stamp
 FA N TA S T I C F LO W E R S 113

13 Look at the “draw flower” block in your code

and you’ll see that an input window has 14 Run the project and click on the stage.
Your flowers should have seven petals.
appeared. The number you type here will be Don’t forget – you can clear the stage
used in the define code wherever “number by pressing the space-bar.
of petals” appears. Type in the number seven.

when clicked

forever

if mouse down? then

go to mouse-pointer

draw flower 7

Now the flowers have

Type 7 here. seven petals each.

15 For more variety, insert a “pick random” block

into the “draw flower” block instead of typing 16 Now add extra inputs to change the colour of
the petals and the flower’s centre. Right-click
in the number of petals. Try it again. on the “define” block again, choose “Edit”, and
then add two number inputs called “petal
colour” and “centre colour”.

when clicked
Click here if you want to
delete an input window.
forever
Make a Block
if mouse down? then

go to mouse-pointer
draw flower number of petals petal colour centre colour

draw flower 7

text

Add an input Add an input Add a label

number or text boolean

Run without screen refresh

Cancel OK
pick random 5 to 10

Type 5 and 10 into the “pick

random” block to set the minimum
and maximum number of petals.
114 ART

17 Add two new blocks to set the petal and

flower-centre colours. Remember to drag the
correct blocks onto these from the header.

define draw flower number of petals petal colour centre colour

repeat number of petals

move 25 steps
set color effect to petal colour
stamp

move –25 steps

turn 360 / number of petals degrees

stamp

set color effect to centre colour

18 Now add an “erase all” block to the

main code. Remove the “pick random”
when clicked
block from the “draw flower” block and
type the numbers 6, 70, and 100 into it erase all Add this block to clear
to make six-petalled blue flowers. Run the stage when you
the project to check it works. forever run the project.

if mouse down? then

go to mouse-pointer

draw flower 6 70 100

Colour of flower centre

Number of petals Petal colour

 FA N TA S T I C F LO W E R S 115

19 You can make all your flowers different by

using random numbers for each input in
the “draw flower” block.

when clicked

erase all

forever
In Scratch, colours go
if mouse down? then from –100 to 100.

go to mouse-pointer
pick random –100 to 100
draw flower 6 70 100

pick random –100 to 100

pick random 5 to 10

20 Run the project and click around

the stage to make a flower garden.
Don’t forget you can press the
space-bar to clear the stage.

Don’t forget to save your

work from time to time
if you use Scratch offline!
116 ART

Flower stalks
Real flowers grow on stalks, so follow the next few steps to
add stalks to your virtual flowers to make them look more
realistic. Using custom blocks makes the code easy to read
so you always know what’s going on.

21 Choose My Blocks in the blocks palette and then click

“Make a Block”. Call the new block “draw stalk”. After
you’ve typed the name of the block, add number inputs
for the length and thickness of the stalk. Then click “OK”.

Make a Block

draw stalk length thickness

text

Add an input Add an input Add a label

number or text boolean

Run without screen refresh

Cancel OK

22 Build this code below the “define” header block.

Drag the “length” and “thickness” blocks from
the header to where they’re used in the code.

define draw stalk length thickness

set pen size to thickness

set pen color to

Click here to set
pen down the pen colour.

change y by length

pen up This moves the sprite

straight up the stage.
 FA N TA S T I C F LO W E R S 117

23 Next, add the new “draw stalk” block to the

main code. Fill in the numbers to set the stalk’s
length to 100 and its thickness to 5.

when clicked

erase all
Stalk length
forever

if mouse down? then draw stalk 100 5

go to mouse-pointer Stalk thickness

draw flower pick random 5 to 10 pick random –100 to 100 pick random –100 to 100

24 Run the project. You can now make a whole

meadow of coloured flowers. Experiment 25 For a finishing touch, add
a backdrop for your flower
with different numbers in the “pick random” meadow. You can paint
blocks to change the look of your flowers. your own backdrop by
clicking the paint symbol
in the backdrops menu
to the right of the sprites
list. Alternatively, click the
backdrop symbol to
load one from the library.

Blue Sky
480 x 360

Playing Field
480 x 360
118 ART

Hacks and tweaks

Feel free to experiment with the code to change the
colour, size, and shape of the flowers as much as you
want. You don’t have to use the ball sprite as the Give your petal
template – try creating your own templates to generate a coloured outline
if you like.
more interesting shapes. With a little imagination you
can create all sorts of beautiful scenes.

▷ Different petals
6
Why not use the costume editor to add a different
petal to the flowers? Click on the Costumes tab
and add a new costume with the paint symbol .
Oval petals work well. You’ll need to add blocks
petal2
to the “define draw flower” code to swap between 72 x 22
the petal costume and the ball-a costume for the
flower’s centre.

▽ Flowers everywhere
Try swapping the main code for this one. It draws
flowers in random places automatically, eventually
covering the stage with them. Think about how
you could add position inputs to the “draw flower”
when clicked The chosen ranges block – you’d need to add x and y inputs and add
keep the flowers a “go to” block at the start of the block’s definition.
erase all away from the edges.
forever

go to x: pick random –200 to 200 y: pick random –140 to 140

draw flower pick random 5 to 10 pick random –100 to 100 pick random –100 to 100
 FA N TA S T I C F LO W E R S 119
Different sizes
By adding another input to the “draw flower”
block, you can control the size of your flowers. 1 Right-click the “define” header to edit it and
add a new input called “scale”. Make the
changes shown below to the code. When
You can also make the meadow look more 3D scale is set to 100 in the “draw flower” block,
by making the flowers smaller if they’re near the flowers are drawn at their usual size.
the top of the stage, as though further away. Smaller numbers will produce smaller flowers.

define draw flower number of petals petal colour centre colour scale

set size to scale % Add this block to set

the sprite’s size.
set color effect to petal colour

repeat number of petals Edit the header block

to create a new input.
move 0.25 * scale steps

stamp This sets how far the

petals are from
move –0.25 * scale steps the flower’s centre.

turn 360 / number of petals degrees

set color effect to centre colour

stamp

2 Now change the main code so it looks like this.

Look carefully at the calculations for the stalk
length and width and for the flower size. Y is 180
Stalk length is 20 at the at the top of the stage, so flowers further down
top of the stage and the stage will be larger, with longer, thicker stalks.
140 at the bottom. If you click from the top to the bottom of the
stage, you will get a 3D effect, with small flowers
when clicked at the back and larger ones at the front. You
Make the subtraction
could also use a loop to automatically draw
erase all block first, then insert
it into the divide block. flowers from top to bottom, or variables with
forever sliders to set the flowers’ properties.
if mouse down? then

go to mouse-pointer

draw stalk 240 – y position / 3 240 – y position / 50

draw flower 6 70 100 240 – y position / 2 Stalk width varies

from around 1 to 8.

Flower size is 30 at the top of

the stage and 210 at the bottom.
Games
122 GAMES

Tunnel of Doom
Scratch is the ideal playground for making and
perfecting games. To win at this game, you need The cat starts here.

a steady hand and nerves of steel. Take the cat

all the way through the Tunnel of Doom, but
don’t touch the walls! For an extra challenge,
try to beat the best time.

How it works
Use your mouse to move the cat all the way through
the tunnel without touching the walls. If you
accidentally touch a wall, you go back to the start.
You can try as many times as you like, but the clock
will keep counting the seconds until you finish.

◁ Cat sprite
Once the mouse-pointer has
touched the cat, the cat follows
it everywhere. You don’t need
to use the mouse button.

◁ Tunnel
The tunnel maze is a giant sprite that
fills the stage. The tunnel itself isn’t
actually part of the sprite – it’s a gap
that you create by using the eraser tool
in Scratch’s paint editor. If the cat stays
in the middle of the path, it won’t be
detected as touching the tunnel sprite.

◁ Home
When the cat touches the home sprite,
the game ends with a celebration.
 TUNNEL OF DOOM 123

Do you dare
to enter the
“Tunnel of Doom”?
Will your time
Time in seconds be the fastest?

Time 201

Best time 245

Reach home to
win the game.

You can draw

a tunnel in any
shape you like.

Move the cat

with your mouse.

If you touch the

tunnel wall you get
sent back to the start.
124 GAMES

Set the mood

Start by setting the scene for the game with some
appropriate music. You can choose any music you like from
the sound library in Scratch by following the steps below.

1 Start a new project. Let the cat sprite stay,

but change its name from Sprite1 to Cat
to keep things simple.
Type “Cat” as
the new name.

Sprite Cat x 0 y 0

Show Size 100 Direction 90

Sprite1

Cat
Blue highlight indicates
the sprite is selected.

2 Before building any code,

add some music to create
Code Costumes Sounds

the right atmosphere for 1 Sound Drive Around

the game. Click on the Trim
Sounds tab above the
blocks palette and then Meow
0.85
on the speaker symbol
to open the sound library.
2
Now choose “Drive Around”.
To preview a sound, click
the play symbol. Drive Around
0.38

Faster Slower Echo Robot Louder Softer Reverse

Click here to
preview a sound.
 TUNNEL OF DOOM 125

3 Add this code to the cat sprite to loop the music.

Use the “play sound until done” block, not “start 4 Now run the project and the music
should play… forever. Click on the
sound”, otherwise things go wrong as Scratch tries red stop button above the stage
to play your sound lots of times at once. to stop it again.

Choose your sound

when clicked in this menu.
STOP
forever

play sound Drive Around until done

Creating the tunnel

The next step is to make the twisty tunnel that
will challenge the player’s nerve and steadiness
of hand. How you draw the tunnel affects the
difficulty of the game.

5 Click the paint symbol

in the sprites menu to
Costume costume1

create a new sprite with

Choose any colour from
the paint editor. Choose Fill
the colour palette.
a colour you like and click
on the fill tool . Then
click anywhere in the
paint area to fill it with
a solid colour.

Fill tool

Eraser tool

This shows Bitmap

Mode is selected.
Convert to Vector
126 GAMES

6 Now select the eraser tool and use the spinner

buttons next to its icon at the top of the Eraser tool
painting area to set the width of the tunnel.

7 Use the eraser to make gaps in the top left and top right
where the maze starts and ends. Then draw a wiggly tunnel
between the two corners. If things go wrong, click the undo
symbol at the top and try again. Make sure the eraser
is nearly full size.

Costume costume1

100
Fill Start position.
End position.

The tunnel
should be
chequered,
not white. Convert to Vector

8 To make the maze look more interesting,

use the fill tool to paint the central area a
different colour. Don’t fill the tunnel with
a colour or the game won’t work.

Click in this area to fill

it with a second colour.
 TUNNEL OF DOOM 127

9 Now click on this sprite in the sprites

list and rename it “Tunnel”. 10 With the tunnel sprite selected in the sprites list,
click on the Code tab and build this code to position
it correctly and to animate it. Run the project to test it.

when clicked The loop makes the

colour of the maze
go to x: 0 y: 0 keep changing.

Tunnel forever

change color effect by 2

Mouse control
Now add some code to the cat to turn the
project into a working game. The code blocks
build step by step, so test them as you go
along to check they work properly.

11 Select the cat sprite and add this code. It shrinks the cat
and positions it at the start of the tunnel. Once the mouse-
pointer touches the cat, it will move with the mouse. Note
that players don’t need to click on the cat to pick it up. The
code stops with a “Meow” if the cat touches the tunnel walls.

This stops the cat

when clicked from disappearing
behind the maze.
set size to 20 %

Choose a smaller go to front layer This sets the cat’s

size if the cat gets start position in
stuck too easily go to x: –210 y: 160 the top-left corner.
in the tunnel.
wait until touching mouse-pointer ?

repeat until touching Tunnel ?

Nothing happens
until the player ‘s go to mouse-pointer
mouse-pointer
touches the cat.

play sound Meow until done

128 GAMES

EXPERT TIPS
Repeat until loops
The useful “repeat until” loop
repeats the blocks inside it until
when clicked
the condition at the top of the
block becomes true, and then repeat until touching Bone ?
the blocks below are run. The block
makes it easier to write simple, dig
readable code, like this example.

eat bone
Unlike the “forever” block,
“repeat until” has a bump at
the bottom allowing more
blocks to be added to it.

12 Run the game. You should be able to control the cat once
you’ve touched it with your mouse-pointer. Try moving it
along the tunnel. If you touch the wall, the cat will meow
and get stuck. If the cat gets stuck too often, reduce the
number in the “set size” block, but don’t make it too easy.

Help, I’m stuck!

 TUNNEL OF DOOM 129

13 At the moment you have to restart the game if you

touch the wall. Add this loop to the code to send
the cat back to the start for another try if it touches
the wall. Test the game again.

TRY
AGAIN!
Drag the top of the “forever”
block above the “go to” block when clicked
and it will expand to fit
around all the blocks below.
set size to 20 %

go to front layer
forever
go to x: –210 y: 160

wait until touching mouse-pointer ?

repeat until touching Tunnel ?

go to mouse-pointer

play sound Meow until done

14 Click the sprite symbol in the sprites list to add a

new sprite to the game. Choose the Home Button
sprite and rename it “Home” in the sprites list. On
the stage, drag it into the top-right corner.

Place the home

sprite above the
tunnel’s exit.

15 It will probably be too big, so add this code

to shrink it. Run the project and reposition
when clicked
the house on the stage if you need to.
set size to 50 %
130 GAMES

16 Next you need to add some

code to check if the cat has
when clicked
made it home. Select the cat
in the sprites list and add the set size to 20 %
blocks shown here. The blocks
inside the “if then” block run only go to front layer
if the cat is touching the house.
forever

go to x: –210 y: 160

wait until touching mouse-pointer ?

repeat until touching Tunnel ?

Open the menu, create a new go to mouse-pointer

message, and call it “Well
Done”. You’ll need it later.

This stops the music

and a timer code that play sound Meow until done
you’ll add later.

if touching Home ? then

stop other scripts in sprite You’ll need to load the sound

“Guitar Chords2” from the
broadcast Well Done sound library before you can
choose it here.
play sound Guitar Chords2 until done

stop this script

This releases the cat

from mouse control.

17 Run the game again. Try getting through the tunnel

to the house. When you succeed, the music should
stop, the cat will stop moving, and your celebration
music will play. If you can’t get through the tunnels,
then you need to make the cat smaller, but you can
test the game’s end by clicking on the cat and
dragging it home (this is cheating!).
 TUNNEL OF DOOM 131
Against the clock
Tunnel of Doom is more fun if you add a timer to
show how quickly you’ve made it through the
tunnel. Then you can challenge other players to
beat your best time.

18 Click on Variables in the blocks palette and

make a variable called “Time”. Leave the tick 19 Add this code to the cat. It simply counts
the seconds since the game started. Move the
box checked so the variable is shown on “Time” variable to the top centre of the stage
the stage. so the player can see it easily.
Type the
name here.
This resets the
when clicked timer at the start
New Variable of each game.
set Time to 0
New variable name:
forever
Time
wait 1 seconds
For all sprites For this sprite only
change Time by 1
Cancel OK One is added
to the value of
“Time” each second.

20 Try the game again. When you get the

cat home the timer stops, leaving your 21 To make winning the game feel more rewarding, add
a new sprite to show a message congratulating the
final time displayed on the stage. player. Click on the paint symbol to make a sign in
the paint editor using coloured shapes and the text
tool. The one shown here is just a suggestion – you
can use your own ideas.

Wow! That was a

speedy escape. Circle tool

Well done!
You did it!

To draw perfect
circles, hold shift
when you use
this tool.
132 GAMES

22 To make the sign work, add these code

blocks to your new sprite. The first one 23 Your game is now complete. Test
it thoroughly (by playing lots)
hides the sign when the project starts, and then challenge your friends
and the second is triggered when the to see if they can beat your times.
“Well Done” message is sent by the cat.
It displays the sign and makes it flash.

The sprite shouldn’t Time 201

when clicked be seen at the start

of the game.
hide

go to x: 0 y: 0 This puts the sprite

in the centre of
the stage.

when I receive Well Done

show

go to front layer

forever

change color effect by 20 Rapid colour

changes make
the sign flash.

Hacks and tweaks

This game is bursting with possibilities. Save a copy and
start experimenting! You could add extra sound effects
or extra sprites, such as a floating ghost to scare the cat
back to the start or a friendly bat that jumps the player
to a later spot in the tunnel.

▷ Let’s twist again

You can make the game harder or easier by changing when clicked
how wide and twisty the tunnel is. You could also create
tunnels with branches – perhaps make the player choose switch costume to pick random 1 to 3
between a short narrow tunnel and a long wide one. You
could even make several different costumes for the tunnel Set the upper limit
sprite and choose a random one at the start of each game to the number
by adding this code. of costumes.
 TUNNEL OF DOOM 133
▽ Best time
You can make the game show the best time achieved Time 35
so far, like a high score. Make a new variable called
“Best time” and drag it next to the “Time” display Best time 15
on the stage. Then add the code below to the cat
to capture new best times when the cat gets home.

The best time

achieved is shown
on the stage.

This block is true True if your time

the first time you was quicker than
run the game. the old record.
when I receive Well Done

if Best time = 0 or Time < Best time then

set Best time to Time

This block stores the

last game’s time as
the new best time.
I won!
▽ Who’s the best? Let’s celebrate!
You can display the name of the quickest player by
making another variable, “Best player”, and showing
it on the stage. Add these two blocks shown here to
the best-time code.

when I receive Well Done

if Best time = 0 or Time < Best time then

set Best time to Time

This asks the player to

give his or her name when
there’s a new best time.
ask What’s your name? and wait
Whatever the player
set Best player to answer types is stored in the
“answer” block once.
134 GAMES

Window Cleaner
Messy windows? You’d better get up and clean them!
This frantic game counts how many splats you can
clean off your computer screen in a minute. You
can wipe away the splats either by using a computer
mouse or by waving your hand in front of a webcam.

How it works
The game starts by cloning a splat sprite and scattering ▽ Splat sprite
clones with different costumes randomly across the stage. This game has one sprite
with several costumes,
When motion is detected by the webcam, Scratch uses
which you’ll paint yourself.
its “ghost” effect to make the splats fade. If you wave your By cloning the sprite you
hand enough, they eventually disappear. The aim of the can cover the screen with
game is to remove as many splats as you can in one minute. splats of messy gunk.

Score 42

Countdown 8

△Controls
First you’ll clean up the
splats with your mouse,
but later you can change
the code to detect the
Each splat is a clone of Wave your hand to movement of your hand
the project’s single sprite. rub out the splats. with a webcam.
 WINDOW CLEANER 135
Slime time!
To make some mess on the screen, you need to
draw some slimy splats. Follow these instructions
and you’ll be in a mess in no time at all.

1 Start a new project. Remove the cat sprite by

right-clicking (or control/shift-clicking) on it 2 The paint editor
will open. Click on
Fill

and selecting “delete”. Click on the paint symbol “Convert to Bitmap”.

Color 57
in the sprites menu to paint a new sprite. To make your first
splat, choose a colour
Click here from the palette.
to create a Saturation 70
new sprite.

Paint Brightness 100

3 Select the brush tool

and draw the outline of a Costume costume1
large splat. Use the entire
painting area as the splat
Fill 10
will get shrunk later.

Brush tool

Yay! This is more

fun than paintball!

Convert to Vector
136 GAMES

4 Next, choose the fill tool and

click inside the outline to make
a solid splat.

If the fill colour leaks

out of your shape, click
Fill with colour undo and close any
gaps in the outline
before filling.

5 To make another splat

costume, click on the paint
1
symbol in the costumes
menu at the bottom left
(not the one in the sprites costume1
list). This will make a new 401 x 304

blank costume. Draw a

splat with a different Paint
colour. Make at least four 2
costumes altogether. Click here
to create
costume2
new costumes. 384 x 244

Vanishing splats
Now it’s time to add code to the splat sprite to make the game
work. Follow the next steps to make several clones appear
and then disappear when the mouse-pointer touches them.

6 Click on the Code tab to make

some variables. Choose Variables MaxSplats
The maximum number of
splats that can be on the
screen at any one time.
in the blocks palette and then
select the “Make a Variable”
button to create three variables: my variable
Leave the box ticked so the
“MaxSplats”, “Score”, and
score appears on the stage.
“SplatsOnScreen”. Uncheck the other three.
Score

SplatsOnScreen The actual number of

splats on the screen
at the moment.
 WINDOW CLEANER 137

7 Add this code to the splat sprite. It sets the maximum

number of splats on the screen to 10 and resets the “Score”
and “SplatsOnScreen” to zero, ready for a new game. The
“forever” loop checks whether there are fewer splats than
the maximum and, if so, adds a new one. Don’t run the
game yet as you won’t see anything.

The original sprite stays

when clicked hidden and players only
see its clones.
hide

set MaxSplats to 10

set SplatsOnScreen to 0

set Score to 0

forever

if SplatsOnScreen < MaxSplats then

set size to pick random 10 to 25 % Change this number

to match how many
costumes you’ve drawn.
switch costume to pick random 1 to 4

go to x: pick random –200 to 200 y: pick random –150 to 150

create clone of myself

Each splat goes
to a random
location.
This adds
the new splat.

8 Add this second bit of code to the This keeps track of

sprite. Each new clone will run it. the number of splats.
when I start as a clone
It makes the new splat visible (it’s
hidden at first) and then waits for change SplatsOnScreen by 1
the mouse-pointer to touch the
splat. When it does, the splat show
disappears with a “pop” and the
player scores a point. wait until touching mouse-pointer ?

The clone is hidden change Score by 1

when it’s created, so
you need to show it. change SplatsOnScreen by –1

start sound pop Nothing happens until the

player’s mouse-pointer
touches the splat.
delete this clone
138 GAMES

9 Run the game to test it. Ten splats

should appear. You should be able
to remove the splats by touching Score 42

them with the mouse-pointer, but

new splats will appear too. However,
there’s a problem – the game never
comes to an end.

Goodbye, splat!

Countdown 10 Make a new variable and

call it “Countdown”. This
Nothing puts a player under pressure like will tell the player how
Countdown
a time limit. The next bit of code will give much time they have
the player a one-minute countdown in left. Keep it checked so
it appears on the stage.
which to zap as many splats as they can.

Set the number

11 Add this code to launch the

countdown. Once the timer
when clicked
of seconds here.

has ticked down, it stops

the other code blocks from
set Countdown to 60
making any more splats and
sends out a message that
repeat until Countdown < 1
you’ll need later on.

wait 1 seconds
Tick down
a second.
change Countdown by –1

This stops new

splats appearing. stop other scripts in sprite

broadcast Time’s Up! Select “New message” in the

menu and call it “Time’s Up!”

12 Test the game. It should end when the timer

reaches zero. But there’s a small problem: any
when I receive Time’s Up!
leftover splats can still be cleaned up for points,
even though the game’s over. To prevent Every clone will run this
delete this clone
this, add this tiny bit of code to remove any code, so all the clones
remaining splats. Now try the game again. will be deleted.
 WINDOW CLEANER 139
Camera control 13 Make a new variable and call it “Difficulty”.
This can be set anywhere from 0 to 100 –
You can make the window cleaning more realistic the higher the number, the harder the
by adding camera controls. You’ll need a webcam game. Uncheck the tick box so the variable
attached to your computer to complete the next isn’t shown on the stage.
section. When playing the game with the webcam,
stand well back from the computer screen so that
Difficulty
most of your body is visible on the stage.

14 To use the webcam you need to add the Video Motion

extension. Click “Add Extension” at the bottom left of the
when clicked
screen, then choose Video Motion. The blocks will now be
in the section called “Video Motion”. Add this code to set set Difficulty to 40
the value of “Difficulty” and turn on the webcam. Try setting
“Difficulty” to 40 to start with. You can adjust the value later turn video on
if the lighting and background in your room make the game
too easy or hard. Don’t run the game yet. This activates
your webcam.

15 To use the camera to delete

the splats instead of the mouse, when I start as a clone
change the “when I start as
a clone” code like this. change SplatsOnScreen by 1

show

wait until touching mouse-pointer ?

change Score by 1 Delete this block.

The clone is removed
only after 5 motion change SplatsOnScreen by –1
detections, making it
disappear gradually. start sound pop

delete this clone

repeat 5

wait until video motion on sprite > Difficulty

change ghost effect by 20

This makes the clone The code waits until

more transparent. it detects motion
over this clone.
△ How it works
The old code just waited for the mouse-pointer to touch the splat clone
before removing it. Now we wait for the webcam to detect motion in the
area touching the clone, but we do this five times, increasing the ghost
effect each time so the clone gets fainter. So as you rub the splat, it
becomes transparent and then disappears.
140 GAMES

16 Run the game. You’ll probably get a pop-up asking if Scratch

can use your webcam. It’s OK to click “Accept”. You’ll then be
able to see yourself behind the splats. Try rubbing some splats
out with your hand. If they aren’t disappearing, put a lower Click here to switch
number in the “set Difficulty” block and rerun the game. to full screen.

Score 42

Countdown 8

It’s easier to
play this game in
full-screen mode.

Hacks and tweaks

Here are some tips to tweak this game, but feel free to try
out your own ideas. Once you know how to use Scratch’s
motion-detection feature, you can create all sorts of games
that encourage players to jump about and have fun!

The “High Score”

variable only changes
when a player beats it. ◁ High score
when I receive Time’s Up! It’s easy to add a high
score to the game: just
if Score > High Score then make a new variable,
“High Score”, and add
set High Score to Score this code. You could also
show the top player’s
name (see how in the
Tunnel of Doom project).
 WINDOW CLEANER 141
◁ Time’s running out...
when clicked To warn the player that their
time is nearly up, add a sound
set Countdown to 60 that plays on each tick of the
clock for the last 10 seconds.
repeat until Countdown First load the “Boing” sound
< 1
from the sound library. Then
add this “if then” block inside
wait 1 seconds
the countdown loop.
change Countdown by –1

stop other scripts in sprite

broadcast Time’s Up!

if Countdown < 10 then

start sound Boing

▽ Difficulty slider TRY THIS

If you find you have to change the difficulty
setting a lot, you can display it on the stage as Multiplayer version
a slider. Check the variable’s tick box to make it
Here’s a challenge to test your coding skills.
appear on the stage. Then right-click (or control/
shift-click) on it and choose “slider”.
Save a copy of your Window Cleaner game
and then try to adapt it to make a multiplayer
game in which each player has to rub out splats
of a particular colour. You’ll need to create score
Difficulty 40 variables for each player, and you’ll need to add
“if then” blocks to the clones’ code to update
normal readout the different scores depending on which
large readout costume has been rubbed out.

slider
if costume # = 1 then

change Blue Score by 1

Difficulty 40
Each costume colour will need
an “if then” block like this.
Simulations
144 S I M U L AT I O N S

Virtual Snow
You don’t want real snow inside your computer –
it would melt and ruin the circuits. This project
shows you how to make perfectly safe virtual
snow using Scratch. It falls from the sky and
can be made to settle on the ground or stick
to things.

How it works
Each snowflake is a clone that moves down
the stage from top to bottom, jiggling from side
to side like a real snowflake. When the snowflake
lands on something or hits the bottom, it stamps
an image of itself.
The snowflakes are clones
of a simple circle shape.

△ Snowman
In this project, you can load any
sprite and make snow stick to it.
The snowman sprite works well.

△ Hidden pictures
You can add invisible objects that
slowly reveal themselves as the
snow sticks to them. Use a sprite
from the library, draw your own
Snow falls from the top The snow piles object, or write your name in
and settles at the bottom. up on the sprite. huge letters.
 VIRTUAL SNOW 145
Let it snow
Start off by drawing the snowflake costume,
which is simply a white circle. Then make it snow
by creating clones – each one a tiny snowflake
falling from the top to the bottom of the stage.

Type “Snowflake”
here.

1 Start a new project. Delete

the cat sprite and click on the Sprite Snowflake x -31 y -34
paint symbol in the sprites
menu to make a new sprite Show Size 100 Direction 90
with the paint editor. Before
you start painting, rename Snowflake
the sprite “Snowflake”. Information panel

Choose solid
colour here.

2 In the paint editor, choose

the circle tool and draw Costume costume1
a small white circle in the
middle. Hold down the
Fill
shift key as you draw Filled Outlined
the circle to make sure
it isn’t oval-shaped. Select white

Circle tool

Convert to Vector
146 S I M U L AT I O N S

3 To make sure the circle is the right size, drag one of the
corners of the box that appears around it to resize the
circle. Aim for a size of 50 x 50. If the box disappears,
use the select tool to draw it around the circle again.

Code Costumes Sounds

Costume Costume1
1

Fill
costume1 Copy Paste Delete Flip horizontal Flip vertical
50 x 50

The costume’s
size is shown
here.

Select tool

Convert to Vector

4 Now add a background so

5 To make things more Vertical
Fill
that you can see the falling interesting, you can use a gradient
snow. Click on the paint blend of two colours to
symbol in the backdrops fill the background. Make
menu to create a new sure “Convert to Bitmap”
backdrop in the paint editor. is selected in the bottom Swap

left. Then select the fill Color 63

tool and choose the
vertical gradient option.
Choose the darkest blue Saturation 85

Click here to as your first stored colour,

Paint paint a new and a paler blue as the
backdrop. second stored colour. Brightness 71
 VIRTUAL SNOW 147

6 Now select the fill tool and click in the backdrop to

fill it. You can use any colours you like, but snow
shows up better on dark colours.

Costume backdrop1

Fill

Fill tool

The background
fades from dark
blue to a paler blue.

Convert to Vector

7 You’ll need to add the Pen extension

as you did in previous projects (see
when clicked
page 100). Select the snowflake from
the sprites list and open the Code tab.
erase all The original sprite hides and
Add this code to make clones of the
only the clones fall as snow.
snowflake. Don’t run the project yet. hide

set size to 10 %
This shrinks
forever the snowflake.

create clone of myself

wait 0.03 seconds

148 S I M U L AT I O N S

8 Now add this code to make

the cloned snowflakes fall
when I start as a clone
from the top of the stage
to the bottom, jiggling
as they go. go to x: pick random –220 to 220 y: 170

change size by pick random 0 to 3

The snowflake starts at
the top of the stage.
show
Snowflakes aren’t
all the same size.
forever
This makes the change y by –3
snowflake fall.

change x by pick random –1 to 1

This makes it jiggle

if y position < –175 then
left and right.
delete this clone

The snowflake disappears

at the bottom.

9 Run the project. The snow should

fall down the stage before
disappearing at the bottom.
 VIRTUAL SNOW 149
Snowdrifts 10 First to make the snow settle at the bottom. You could just
leave the clones there, but Scratch won’t let more than 300
In really cold weather, snow clones appear on the stage at once, so you’d run out of snow.
doesn’t just vanish when it An easy fix is to stamp a copy of each clone before deleting it.
hits the ground – it piles up.
It’s simple to make your
if y position < –175 then
virtual snow settle or stick
to other things. Just follow
these steps. delete this clone

Insert a “stamp” block into

the snowflake’s “if then” block. stamp

11 Run the project and snow should

collect on the floor, but only in if y position < –175 then
a thin layer. To make it build up,
add another “if then” block to stamp
stamp copies of the clones
whenever they touch anything delete this clone
white – such as other snowflakes.

if touching color ? then

stamp
Click here and choose white
delete this clone from the colour palette.

There’s no business
12 Run the project and watch the snow
pile up. You’ll notice a problem. The
like snow business!
snowflakes are building up in beautiful
sculptures rather than settling in a
blanket, as real snow does.

Snowflakes stick to
anything white.
150 S I M U L AT I O N S

13 To make the snow settle in a thick blanket, try this

change to the code. Now when a snowflake touches Add an “and” block
to check both
something white, it rolls a dice – only if it gets a 1 conditions are true.
does it stick. This makes the snow less sticky and
more likely to travel further and build a solid layer. This block is true when
Scratch rolls a 1.

if touching color ? and then

stamp
pick random 1 to 6 = 1
delete this clone

14 Run the project to see what happens. You can

experiment with changing the 6 in the random
block to other numbers. The bigger the number,
the flatter the settled snow.

15 Now add a sprite for the snow to fall on. Click

the sprite symbol in the sprites list and choose
something from the library, such as the snowman.
Add a new “if then” block to the code, as shown
here, to make the snow stick to your sprite.

if touching color ? and pick random 1 to 6 = 1 then

stamp

delete this clone

if touching Snowman ? and pick random 1 to 6 = 1 then

stamp

delete this clone

 VIRTUAL SNOW 151
EXPERT TIPS
Turbo Mode
If you’re impatient to see the snow
building up, you can speed things
up by putting Scratch in “Turbo Shift-click
Mode”. Hold down shift and click the green
on the green flag before you run flag to switch
the project. Scratch then runs the Turbo Mode
on and off.
code much more quickly, with
minimum time between blocks.
Your snowdrift will now pile
up much faster.

Secret pictures
It’s easy to modify this project so that the snow
sticks to an invisible object, slowly revealing it. Save
your project as a copy before you try doing this.

16 Click on the paint symbol in the sprites list

to create a new sprite. Name it “Invisible”. Now
use the paint editor to create your hidden
object. It can be anything – a house, an
animal, or someone’s name – but make it big
and use only one colour. You can give the
sprite more than one costume if you like.

This hides the sprite

but allows snowflake
17 Add this code to the invisible sprite
to position and hide it using the when clicked clones to detect it.
ghost effect. Using a “hide” block
set ghost effect to 100
wouldn’t work because that would
stop snow sticking to it.
switch costume to pick random 1 to 3

go to x: 0 y: 0
Put the number of
costumes here.
152 S I M U L AT I O N S

18 Change the clone code to look like this. Now the

snowflakes will only settle on the invisible sprite. They
just disappear if they reach the bottom of the stage.
Another snowy day!
My favourite!

when I start as a clone

go to x: pick random –220 to 220 y: 170

change size by pick random 0 to 3

show
The snow no longer
forever
settles at the bottom
change y by –3 of the stage.

change x by pick random –1 to 1

A 1 in 20 chance of
if y position < –175 then
sticking lets snow
fill the whole shape.
delete this clone

if touching Invisible ? and pick random 1 to 20 = 1 then

stamp
Snow sticks to the
delete this clone ghosted sprite.

19 Next add a cool backdrop like “Winter” from the library

and watch your hidden shape appear in the snow. You
can remove the “wait” block from the clone-making
loop or use Turbo Mode to speed things up.
 VIRTUAL SNOW 153

Hacks and tweaks TRY THIS

Starship
Falling snow or rain can make a great addition If you change the snowflake
to any project or game. Try these hacks to send a into a white or yellow dot and
snowstorm through your whole Scratch collection! remove the random “change x”
block that jiggles the falling
snow, you get a starfield
moving from the top to the
▷ Sticky snowballs bottom of the stage. Add a
Occasionally, you might see black backdrop, a spaceship,
clumps of snow just hanging and some asteroids and you’ve
in the sky. This starts when two made a simple rocket game.
snowflakes touch each other as
they fall and stamp themselves
in the sky. Once there, the clump
grows as more snowflakes stick to
it. If you follow the instructions in
this project carefully it shouldn’t
happen too often, but if it does,
try experimenting with the
numbers in the code. You can
change the size and speed of
the snowflakes, the amount they
jiggle, and the delay between
making each clone.

▽ Adding snow to a project

You can use the falling snow code blocks from steps
1–8 to add snow to another project – a great addition
to a project like a Christmas card. The snow doesn’t
sense other sprites so is just a special effect. You’ll
need to add a “go to front layer” block to the start of
the clone code to make the snowflakes fall in front
of other sprites. Change the snowflake to a dark
grey raindrop if you want to make it rain.

Add this block to the

start of the existing code.

when I start as a clone

go to front layer

go to x: pick random –220 to 220 y: 170

154 S I M U L AT I O N S

Firework Display The rocket

You might think you’d need lots of Click the green
shoots upwards
sprites to create a firework display, but flag to start
before each
firework explodes.
the project.
Scratch’s clones feature makes it easy.
Clones are great for making explosions
and other moving patterns. Computer
graphics created with this technique
are known as “particle effects”.

How it works
Click anywhere on the stage to make a
rocket shoot up to that point and explode
into a colourful firework. Each firework
consists of hundreds of clones of a single
sprite. The project uses simulated gravity
to make the clones fall as they fly outwards,
while flickering or fading.

◁ Rocket
Each firework starts off as a rocket
launched at the click of a mouse.
You can use a simple coloured line to
represent the rocket or create a more
detailed one in Scratch’s paint editor.

◁ Clones
To create the globes of coloured
“stars”, this project uses 300 clones,
the maximum number that Scratch
allows. Each clone follows a slightly
different path at a slightly different
speed to make the stars spread out
in a circle.
 F I R E W O R K D I S P L AY 155

The stage flashes

white at the moment
of detonation.

Each explosion is
made up of hundreds
of clones that spread
out from the rocket.

Find out how to add

curving trails in the “Hacks
and tweaks” section.

You can create your

own backdrop for
the firework display.
156 S I M U L AT I O N S

Creating the rocket 1 Start a new project and delete the cat sprite by
right-clicking on it and then selecting “delete”.
The first step in the project is to create Click on the paint symbol in the sprites menu
the small rocket that shoots up into the to create a new sprite and open the paint editor.
sky and explodes in a blaze of fireworks. Rename the sprite “Rocket”.
The code will make the rocket fly to
wherever you click the mouse-pointer.

2 Convert to Bitmap and use the

line and brush tools to paint a Costume costume1
rocket firework. A simple red line
will do the job as the rocket will Fill 10
be small, but you can make it
more realistic if you like.
Line tool
Brush tool

Select tool Fill tool

We have
ignition!

Convert to Vector

3 When you’re happy with the

firework, use the select tool to drag 4 Select the stage in the lower
right of Scratch and click on Stage
a box around it. Then grab one of the Backdrops tab. Change
the corners and shrink the costume the name of “backdrop1” to
until it’s no wider than 10 and no “Flash”. This will provide a
taller than 50. You can see the size flash of light when a firework
in the costumes list. goes off. Click the paint
symbol in the backdrops
menu to create the main
Backdrops
These numbers backdrop and call it “Night”.
1 show the costume’s 1
dimensions.

costume1
10 x 50 Click here to select
the backdrop.
 F I R E W O R K D I S P L AY 157

5 To make the night background

more interesting, you can use Costume Night
two colours to create a gradient
rather than filling it with solid Fill
black. Select the fill tool and
choose the two darkest blues
in the vertical gradient. Then
use the fill tool to paint the
background so it’s dark at the
top but pale at the bottom. For
extra decoration, add black and
yellow rectangles to create a
city skyline.

Convert to Vector

when clicked
The loop pauses
6 Next, select the rocket sprite and
add this code to make it shoot up
to wherever the mouse is clicked.
hide until the mouse
is clicked.
forever
The rocket starts at the
wait until mouse down? bottom, directly under
the mouse. This block makes
go to x: mouse x y: –180 the rocket move
smoothly upwards.
show

glide 1 secs to x: mouse x y: mouse y

hide

broadcast Bang
Choose “New message” The stage turns white
and call it “Bang”. for an instant.

7 Run the project and try clicking on the stage.

A rocket should launch towards the mouse-pointer
when I receive Bang
each time you click. Now add this next bit of code switch backdrop to Flash
to the rocket sprite to make the stage flash at the
moment the firework goes off. wait 0.1 seconds

switch backdrop to Night

158 S I M U L AT I O N S

Exploding stars 8 Click the paint symbol in the sprites list

to create a new sprite and call it “Stars”.
Real fireworks are packed with hundreds of Before drawing it, select “Convert to Vector”
“stars” – flammable pellets that glow with in the bottom left of the paint editor, as
dazzling colours as they fly apart and burn. using vector graphics will help keep the
stars circular even when they are very small.
You can simulate the appearance of firework
stars by using Scratch’s clones feature. Follow Convert to Vector Make sure you
the instructions here to create the stars and select this.
make them explode.

9 Click the plus sign to zoom

in as the costume will be very
Code

Costume
Costumes

Stars
Sounds

small. A simple green circle is 1

Group Ungroup Forward Backward Front Back
all you need to create a star. Fill Outline 1
Choose bright green in the costume1
5x5
colour palette and select the
circle tool. To draw a circle,
hold down the shift key on
the keyboard as you drag.

Convert to Bitmap

10 Look in the costumes list to check the circle’s

size – it needs to be about 5 x 5. If it’s too large 11 Now add the following code to the stars
sprite to create 300 hidden copies that will
or small, choose the select tool and click on form the explosion.
the green circle to make a box appear around
it. Click on one of the corners and drag it to
change the size. when clicked

hide
1
repeat 300

create clone of myself

This makes a
costume1
5x5 working copy
of the sprite.
 F I R E W O R K D I S P L AY 159

12 Click on Variables in the blocks palette and make a new variable

called “speed”. Choose “For this sprite only” in the dialogue box. New Variable
This allows each clone to have its own copy of the variable with
its own value, which makes each star unique. Uncheck the New variable name:
variable’s tick box so it doesn’t appear on the stage.
speed

13 Next, add this code to the stars sprite to

create an explosion. Every clone will run
For all sprites For this sprite only

its own copy of this code. Cancel OK

Speed of
slowest stars
when I receive Bang
Speed of
set speed to pick random 0.1 to 3 fastest stars

set ghost effect to 0 Each firework is a

different colour.
change color effect by 25
The explosion begins at the
go to Rocket top of the rocket’s climb.

point in direction pick random –180 to 180

show
The stars spread out
repeat 50 in every direction.

move speed steps

14 Add this second “repeat” loop to the bottom

of the code to make the stars slow down, 15 Try running the project. When
the rocket explodes, you should
fade away, and then disappear. This block see hundreds of colourful stars
reduces the stars’ fly outwards before fading.
speed a little
repeat 50 with each repeat.

set speed to speed * 0.9

move speed steps

change ghost effect by pick random 1 to 3

The random block makes the

stars fade at different rates,
hide
making them appear to twinkle.
160 S I M U L AT I O N S

Hacks and tweaks

Try some of these changes to create new types of
firework with multiple colours or trails. You can also
use clones to create many other visual effects – or
“particle effects”, as computer artists call them.

▽ Sticky stars
You might sometimes see a trail of stars in a line if you send up a rocket
straight after running the project. This happens if the stars explode
before all the clones are created. To fix the bug, add a “broadcast” block
to the bottom of the “when flag clicked” code in the stars sprite and
change the rocket’s code to run only after it receives the message.

Stars sprite Rocket sprite

when clicked when I receive Ready when clicked

hide hide
forever
repeat 300
wait until mouse down?
create a clone of myself
go to x: mouse x y: –180

show

broadcast Ready glide 1 secs to x: mouse x y: mouse y

hide

broadcast Bang

▽ Changing colours
Firework-makers use chemicals to create different
The colours
colours. Try this hack to the stars sprite to make change as the
the colours change as the firework explodes. firework expands.

Increase the number

when I receive Bang to see the colours
change more quickly.
repeat 100

change color effect by 2

 F I R E W O R K D I S P L AY 161
▽ Multicoloured fireworks
Try the next hack to give each firework
stars with lots of different colours.
When the message is
received, every clone runs
its own copy of this code.

when I receive Bang

set color effect to pick random –100 to 100

▷ Gravity trails
To make the stars arc downwards when I receive Bang
under the pull of gravity, leaving
set speed to pick random 0.1 to 3
colourful trails in their wake,
rebuild the code as shown here. set ghost effect to 0
Remember to delete the original
change color effect by 25
code when you’ve finished. As
the timer increases, the stars pen up
The pen creates
fall more quickly, which is how go to Rocket the trails.
gravity really works. See if you
can figure out how to change the pen down
colour of the trails or make them point in direction pick random –180 to 180
brighten or fade out (hint: you’ll
need to add the Pen extension). show

reset timer

repeat 50
This sets the timer
to 0. It then counts move speed steps
up in seconds.
change y by 0 – timer

The stars fall at an

ever greater speed as repeat 50
the timer counts up.
set speed to speed * 0.9

move speed steps

change y by 0 – timer

change ghost effect by pick random 1 to 3

This deletes hide

the trails. erase all
162 S I M U L AT I O N S

Fractal Trees
You might think that drawing a tree
requires an artistic eye and a lot of Each leaf is a clone of
fiddly work, but this project does the the Scratch ball sprite.

job automatically. The code creates

special shapes called fractals, simulating
the way that trees grow in nature.

How it works
When you run the project, a tree grows in
a split second from the ground up. The tree
is a fractal – a shape made from a repeating
pattern. If you zoom in to just a part of a
fractal, it looks similar to the whole shape.
This repetition is easily generated in
a computer program by using loops.

The branches get

thinner and greener
towards the ends.

Branches are
drawn with the
Scratch pen.
This section looks
like a miniature
version of the
whole tree.
 F R AC TA L T R E E S 163

A swarm of ball clones draws Click on this icon

the tree, doubling in number to escape the
after each layer of branches. full-screen mode.

Romanesco broccoli

Lake Nasser in Egypt

Veins in the human body

△ Fractals in nature
Lots of natural objects have
fractal shapes, including
trees, river systems, clouds,
blood vessels, and even
broccoli. Natural fractals
form most often when
something keeps dividing
into branches, which is how
trees and blood vessels grow.
164 S I M U L AT I O N S

How it works
In the project Dino Dance Party, we saw how the ballerina’s
dance routine is based on an algorithm – a set of simple
instructions that are followed in strict order. In this project,
the code that draws the tree is also based on an algorithm.
Try following the three steps below with a pen and paper.

1 Draw a straight line

with a thick pen. 2 At the top of the line
draw two shorter, thinner 3 Is the tree finished? If the answer
is no, go back to step 2. Repeating
lines at an angle – one to the these simple instructions in a loop creates
left and one to the right. a complicated pattern with hundreds of
branches, just like a real tree.

Leaves and branches

Follow these steps to build a fractal tree, using Scratch’s ball sprite
for leaves and the Scratch pen to trace branches. The code creates
new clones each time a branch divides, making more and more
clones as the tree grows from a single trunk to a mass of twigs.

1 Start a new project and delete the cat sprite.

Click on the sprite symbol and add the ball 2 Click on Variables and make the following
variables for your project: “Angle”, “Length”,
sprite from the library. Rename it “Leaf”. Open and “ShrinkFactor”. Make sure to uncheck their
the Costumes tab and choose the green costume. tick boxes so they aren’t shown on the stage.

Variables

Make a Variable

Click here to make Angle

Leaf
each variable.
Length

my variable

ShrinkFactor
 F R AC TA L T R E E S 165

3 Add this code to the leaf sprite. Remember,

you’ll need to add the Pen extension. You’ll
also need to create two new messages: “Draw
Branch” and “Split Branch”. Don’t run it yet.

when clicked

erase all

pen up

set size to 10 %

set Angle to 30
These three variables
set Length to 90 set how the tree looks.

set ShrinkFactor to 0.75

go to x: 0 y: –170

point in direction 0 Click here and choose

brown to make the
set pen color to pen colour brown.

set pen size to 9 This draws the

tree’s trunk.
pen down
Each time the loop
broadcast Draw Branch and wait runs, a new layer of
branches grows. Each layer of
repeat 8 branches is shorter
than the one before.
broadcast Split Branch and wait

set Length to Length * ShrinkFactor

broadcast Draw Branch and wait

4 Now add this separate code. When

it receives the “Draw Branch” message
when I receive Draw Branch
from the main code, it tells every clone
move Length steps
to draw a branch and then changes
the settings so the next branch will
change pen color by 5
be greener and thinner.
change pen size by –1
166 S I M U L AT I O N S

5 Add the next bit of code to make the branches

divide. It works by cloning each ball, forming a
pair, and rotating them to face different directions.
Once this code is run, there will be two clones at
the end of every branch, each facing a different
direction – ready to draw the next two branches.
The ball rotates to
form an angle with
the previous branch.
when I receive Split Branch

turn Angle degrees

create clone of myself The ball rotates back twice

as much, ready to draw
turn Angle degrees the opposite branch.

turn Angle degrees

6 Run the project and you should create a beautiful

tree. To make the “leaves” disappear and show only Remember to use
the twigs, click the red stop symbol on the stage. the full-screen mode.

“Angle” sets how far

“ShrinkFactor” controls how the branches spread
much shorter each branch is than apart at each split.
the previous one (75 per cent of the
previous branch in this example).
The “Length” variable
sets the trunk’s length
in steps.
 F R AC TA L T R E E S 167

7 To make your tree stand out better,

try changing the backdrop colour.
168 S I M U L AT I O N S

Hacks and tweaks

You can change the settings used in this
project to grow trees in amazingly varied
shapes. You can also add a bit of randomness
so that every tree is different.

▽ Different angles
Try experimenting with the value of “Angle” in the first orange block. You could also
add a “pick random” block to generate randomly shaped trees. If you want to keep
trees looking natural, set the minimum and maximum to 10 and 45. To make playing
with the variable easier, check its tick box to show it on screen and turn it into a slider.
You’ll need to delete the “set Angle” block from the code if you do this.

set Angle to pick random 10 to 45

Angle = 10 Angle = 20 Angle = 45 Angle = 90

▽ Ever-changing angles
If you move the “set Angle” block inside
the “repeat” loop, the angles between
branches will change as the tree grows.

repeat 8

broadcast
set Angle to pick random 10 to 45

set Length to Length * ShrinkFactor

broadcast Draw Branch and wait

 F R AC TA L T R E E S 169
▽ How tall is your tree?
Try changing the values of “Length” and
“ShrinkFactor”, but be careful – it’s easy
to end up with very short trees or trees
that are too big to fit on the stage.

Angle = 30
Length = 90
ShrinkFactor = 0.5

Angle = 30, Length = 50, ShrinkFactor = 0.9

Change this number or ▽ Don’t run out of clones!

turn it into a variable set
The number inside the “repeat” loop controls
at the start of the code.
how many times the branches split to create
a new layer of branches. Eight is the maximum
to get all the tiny twigs drawn because it uses
repeat 8 255 clones and Scratch has a limit of 300 clones.
broadcast Split Branch and wait

set Length to Length * ShrinkFactor

broadcast Draw Branch and wait

170 S I M U L AT I O N S

Grow a forest
You can adapt this project to grow trees wherever
you click, covering the stage with a forest. Make
the following changes to the code to do this.

Open the menu and

create a new message
called “Kill All Clones”.

1 Add this code to stamp the leaves

onto the tree before deleting the
when I receive Kill All Clones
clones for the next tree.
stamp

delete this clone

 F R AC TA L T R E E S 171

2 Change the main code

to look like this.

when clicked

erase all

forever

not These two

wait until mouse down?
blocks ensure
only one tree is
wait until mouse down? drawn for each
mouse-click.
pen up

set size to 10 %
The branches are shorter
set Angle to 25
to make the trees smaller.
set Length to 30

set ShrinkFactor to 0.75 A tree grows

wherever you click.
go to mouse-pointer

point in direction 0

set pen color to The trunks start thinner

because the trees are smaller.
set pen size to 6

pen down

broadcast Draw Branch and wait

repeat 8

broadcast Split Branch and wait

set Length to Length * ShrinkFactor

broadcast Draw Branch and wait

This stamps the leaves

and recycles the clones.
broadcast Kill All Clones and wait
172 S I M U L AT I O N S

Snowflake Simulator
Snowflakes are famous for their
amazingly varied shapes – it’s said
that no two are the same. Even
so, all snowflakes share the same
underlying structure, with six similar
sides. This pattern, known as six-fold
symmetry, makes snowflakes easy
to mimic on a computer. You can
use the same technique as in the
Fractal Trees project, but this time
every shape will be unique.

How it works
When you run this project, a snowflake
appears on the stage. Later you can make
snowflakes appear wherever you click.
Each snowflake is a bit like a fractal tree
with six trunks. By using random numbers
to set the lengths and angles of the white
lines, you can create an endless variety
of unique shapes – just like in nature.
S N O W F L A K E S I M U L AT O R 173

△ Real snowflakes
Snowflakes are six-sided because
they grow from ice crystals, which
are hexagonal. As a snowflake
grows, slight changes in air
temperature affect the way ice
crystals build up. Because every
snowflake follows a different
path and experiences different
changes in temperature, every
snowflake is unique.

△ Snow-FAKE
The drawing starts with six versions
of the sprite to match the six-fold
symmetry of a real snowflake.
After that, the lines split in two
repeatedly, like the fractal tree,
but with more varied angles.
174 S I M U L AT I O N S

Symmetrical branches
To see how this project uses the ideas from Fractal
Trees to make a snowflake, start by following these
steps to create a simple, non-random snowflake.

1 Start a new project and delete the cat sprite.

Click on the paint symbol in the sprites menu 2 To make the snowflakes
show up, paint the backdrop Stage
to create a new blank sprite. You don’t need to black. Select the stage in the
paint a costume because all the drawing will lower right of Scratch and
be done by the code. click the Backdrops tab
above the blocks palette.
Then click the fill tool in
the paint editor and fill the Backdrops
paint area with black.
1
Click here
to select
Sprite1
the stage.

3 Click on Variables in the blocks

palette and add five new
Code
Variables
Costumes Sounds

variables to the project: “Angle”,

“Length”, “Levels”, “Symmetry”, Motion
Make a Variable
and “SymmetryAngle”. Uncheck
Looks Angle
their tick boxes so that they
Click here to make
don’t show on the stage.
Sound Length each variable.

Events Levels

my variable
Control

Symmetry
Sensing

SymmetryAngle
Operators

Variables

My Blocks Uncheck all the

tick boxes.
 S N O W F L A K E S I M U L AT O R 175

4 Select the sprite in the sprites list and give it the

following code blocks. Remember to add the Pen
extension. The code creates clones pointing in
The original sprite and the clones
different directions to make a symmetrical pattern.
all run this code, each drawing
an arm in its own direction.
This number sets
how many arms Open the menu and
when clicked the snowflake has. create a new message
called “Draw Level”.
set Symmetry to 6
when I receive Draw Level
erase all
move Length steps
set pen color to

set pen size to 1

Click on the oval
and choose white.
pen up

go to x: 0 y: 0
This calculates the angle
between each arm.
pen down

set SymmetryAngle to 360 / Symmetry

repeat Symmetry – 1
The loop adds five
create clone of myself clones pointing in
different directions.
turn SymmetryAngle degrees

You can change the number

of arms each snowflake has
set Length to 100 to vary the pattern.

broadcast Draw Level and wait

Open the menu and

create a new message
called “Draw Level”.

5 Run the project. Snowflakes

need “Symmetry” set to 6,
but try other values.

Symmetry = 6 Symmetry = 7 Symmetry = 4

176 S I M U L AT I O N S

6 To fill in the rest of the snowflake, each clone will

draw a succession of branching lines, like a fractal
tree. Make the following changes to the main code,
but don’t run it yet.

when clicked

set Symmetry to 6

erase all
set Levels to 4
set pen color to

set pen size to 1

Add this new block.
pen up

go to x: 0 y: 0

pen down

set SymmetryAngle to 360 / Symmetry

repeat Symmetry – 1

create clone of myself

turn SymmetryAngle degrees

Change “Length”
to 20 for now.
set Length to 20

broadcast Draw Level and wait

Delete this block.

repeat Levels

set Angle to 15
Add a new loop to
create the branching broadcast Draw Level and wait
pattern on each arm.
 S N O W F L A K E S I M U L AT O R 177

7 Add three new blocks

to the “When I receive”
when I receive Draw Level
code to create new
clones. These create a
move Length steps
new clone and make
the old and new clones
face different directions.

turn Angle degrees

create clone of myself

turn 2 * Angle degrees

8 Now run the project.

You’ll see a branching
snowflake like this.

Use full-screen
mode to see a bigger
snowflake up close.

9 See what happens when

you change the number of
“Levels” in the “set” block at
the top of the main code.

Levels = 1 Levels = 2 Levels = 3 Levels = 4

178 S I M U L AT I O N S

10 Now to make each snowflake different. Add

some “pick random” blocks to the main code.
Add these new “pick
random” blocks.
set Length to pick random 30 to 150

repeat Levels

set Angle to pick random 140 to 180

broadcast Draw Level and wait

11 Run the project –

you’ll get a different
snowflake every time.

Hacks and tweaks

Experiment! There are so many numbers to play
with in this project; changing any one of them
will give very different patterns. Play with the
symmetry, levels, angles, and lengths. You can
even add colours to your creations.

▷ Oddflakes
set Length to pick random 30 to 150
Try this quick change
to make odd-looking
snowflakes. It varies repeat Levels
the line lengths after
each branch point,
creating a wider range set Angle to pick random 140 to 180
of flaky weirdness.
broadcast Draw Level and wait
Move the “set Length to”
block into the “repeat” loop.
 S N O W F L A K E S I M U L AT O R 179
▽ Click-a-flake
Make snowflakes wherever you click
on the stage with these modifications
to the code. There’s also code to clear the
stage when you press the space-bar in
case things get too messy. Make sure
you keep the code from step 7.

Snowflakes appear
wherever you click.

when clicked

set Symmetry to 6

set Levels to 4

erase all

set pen color to

set pen size to 1 Add a “forever” loop to

make endless snowflakes. Add two “wait” blocks to
forever
detect a full mouse click.
wait until not mouse down?

wait until mouse down?

pen up
Replace the old “go to”
go to mouse-pointer block with this new one.

pen down

set SymmetryAngle to 360 / Symmetry

repeat Symmetry – 1
Change the numbers to
create clone of myself make the snowflakes smaller.
This code clears the
turn SymmetryAngle degrees
stage of snowflakes.

set Length to pick random 10 to 50

when space key pressed
repeat Levels erase all

set Angle to pick random 140 to 180

Add this new code
broadcast Draw Level and wait to delete clones.

broadcast Kill All Clones and wait when I receive Kill All Clones
Add this block so Scratch
delete this clone
won’t run out of clones.
Music and
sound
182 MUSIC AND SOUND

Sprites and Sounds

Do you have a younger brother or sister who’s always
trying to play on the computer? Here’s something you
can create in Scratch to keep them amused. Click on
any sprite for a unique action and sound. This project
works especially well on a touchscreen computer.

How it works
Sprites and Sounds couldn’t be easier to play – simply ▽ Virtual circus
click the sprites or the background and you’ll hear This entertaining project is a
mix of funny sounds and moves.
a sound and see an animation or visual effect. You can add as many sprites and
sounds as you want to spice up
the show.
Each sprite performs
its own little show
when clicked.
The project works
best in full-screen
mode, which
stops you from
accidentally
moving the sprites.

Click anywhere
on the stage for
some sound
and action.
 SPRITES AND SOUNDS 183
Background action All together
Everything in this project does something now!
interesting when it’s clicked, including the
background. Follow these steps to create
the background, and then start adding sprites.

1 Start a new project. Ignore the cat sprite for now

and click on the backdrop symbol in the lower 2 With the stage selected, open the Sounds
tab above the blocks palette and then click
right of the Scratch window to open the backdrop on the speaker symbol. Choose “Fairydust”.
library. Load the “Stars” backdrop.

Stage 2

Fairydust
0:51

Backdrops
2 The blue outline
shows that the This sound is 0.51
stage is selected. seconds long.

3 Now build this code for the stage to create

some magic and sparkle when the backdrop 4 Drag the cat sprite to the
top-left corner of the stage
is clicked. Check if it works by clicking on and add this code.
the stage.

when this sprite clicked

when stage clicked set size to 120 %
start sound Fairydust set color effect to 10

repeat 10 play sound Meow until done

change color effect by 25 set size to 100 %

set color effect to 0

The program waits here

This makes the while the “Meow”
backdrop flash. sound plays.
184 MUSIC AND SOUND

5 Click on the cat and see him grow,

turn yellow, and meow before
EXPERT TIPS
Sound blocks
returning to normal.
There are two versions of the “sound” block.
When you use the “start sound” block, the
The cat grows in program starts playing the sound but immediately
size and changes moves on to the next block. This is useful for
its colour.
animations, as it allows you to make a sprite
move at the same time as the sound is playing.
The “play sound” block includes the words “until
done”. When you use this block, the program
waits until the sound has finished before moving
on to the next block. This is useful for, say, a
costume or size change that should last exactly
as long as the sound.

start sound Meow

play sound Meow until done

Sprite extravaganza!
Now add the following sprites and their code blocks. Some of the sprites have the
right sounds built in, but in other cases you’ll need to open the Sounds tab and
load the sound from Scratch’s sound library before you can select it in the code.
After building each bit of code, position the sprite on the stage and test it.

6 when this sprite clicked The duck wobbles

and quacks 5 times.
repeat 5 QUACK!
Duck move 10 steps

Laughing duck play sound duck until done

move –10 steps

wait 0.1 seconds

 SPRITES AND SOUNDS 185

7
This lights
the candles.
when this sprite clicked

switch costume to cake-a

Cake start sound Birthday
This sound is
Dancing cake point in direction 75 loaded by default.

repeat 4

turn 30 degrees

The cake wait 1 seconds

jiggles in time
to the music. turn 30 degrees
This makes
wait 1 seconds the candles
go out.

point in direction 90

switch costume to cake-b

8 9

Elephant Dog2
This is the
Elephant fanfare elephant’s Barking dog
trumpeting
costume.

when this sprite clicked when this sprite clicked

switch costume to elephant-b switch costume to dog2-c

start sound Trumpet1 play sound dog1 until done

Load “Trumpet1”
wait 0.3 seconds and “Trumpet2” play sound dog1 until done
from the library.
start sound Trumpet2 switch costume to dog2-a
Two sounds
wait 2.5 seconds play at once.
The dog
switch costume to elephant-a barks
twice.
186 MUSIC AND SOUND

10 when this sprite clicked

set rotation style left-right

Horse switch costume to horse-b The horse rears
up and whinnies.
Horsing about play sound Horse until done
Load both sounds
switch costume to horse-a from the library.
start sound Horse Gallop

repeat 16

repeat 6
The horse runs
back and forth. move 5 steps

turn 180 degrees

The “bubbles”
sound is loaded
by default.

11 when this sprite clicked

set rotation style left-right

start sound bubbles

Fish
repeat 2
Chilling fish
point in direction –90

wait 1 seconds
The fish flips
left and right point in direction 90
calmly while the
bubbles make a wait 1 seconds
gurgling sound.
 SPRITES AND SOUNDS 187

12 13 when this sprite clicked

start sound Chee Chee

Lion Monkey
repeat 10
King of the jungle Jumpy monkey
change y by 10

wait 0.1 seconds

Changing the monkey’s change y by –10
y coordinate moves
when this sprite clicked it up or down.
wait 0.1 seconds
switch costume to lion-b

play sound grunt until done

Find this sound in
switch costume to lion-a the sounds list.

Cheesy puffs
The last sprite is a bowl of tasty-looking cheesy puffs –
when you click on the bowl, the cheesy puffs will vanish.
There isn’t a suitable costume for the empty bowl, but you
can create one using Scratch’s paint editor. The following
steps show you how.

14 Add the Cheesy Puffs sprite from the library.

Then click on the Costumes tab and right-click 15 Select the duplicated costume “cheesy puffs2”.
In the paint editor, choose white or cream, and
(or control/shift-click) on the single costume use the circle tool to draw an oval over the
shown and select “duplicate”. cheesy puffs. Use the eraser tool to get rid
of any leftover bits.

cheesy puffs duplicate Use this

88 x 58 tool to
delete draw
an oval.
188 MUSIC AND SOUND

16 Click the Sounds tab above the blocks palette

and load the “Chomp” sound from the library. 17 Move all your sprites around so they fit nicely on
the stage. Then test the project, but remember
Then give this code to the sprite. to click the full-screen symbol first so that the
sprites don’t accidentally move when you click
them. Test every sprite. Note that you don’t need
to click the green flag to run this project, just click
The empty
on the sprites.
when this sprite clicked bowl.

switch costume to cheesy puffs2

play sound Chomp until done

wait 1 seconds

switch costume to cheesy puffs

A full bowl reappears

after a 1-second wait.

Hacks and tweaks

This project is really a collection of mini-projects – one per
sprite. This makes it easy to swap in new sprites or change
animations and sounds. Have a look in Scratch’s sprite and
sound libraries for inspiration. You could also draw your
own pictures or record your own sounds.

Change the header to

trigger the code with
when c key pressed a key instead of a click.

switch costume to cheesy puffs2

◁ Animal piano
play sound Chomp until done
For younger children, you could change the code blocks
wait 1 seconds so that the animations and sounds are triggered by key
presses rather than mouse clicks, turning the computer
switch costume to cheesy puffs keyboard into a kind of piano. Choose keys that are widely
spread to make the project into a game of “find the key”.
 SPRITES AND SOUNDS 189
▷ Record your own sounds Click here to
create a new Record Sound
If your computer has a microphone,
sound.
then you can give your project a
personal touch by recording your own
sounds. First select the sprite you want Begin recording by clicking
Record
to add a sound to – perhaps the lion, the button below
if you want to give him a better roar.
Go to the Sounds tab and click the Click the
microphone symbol in the sounds circle to start
menu. To start recording, click on the recording.
Record
orange circle. To stop, click the square.

Record Sound Record Sound

Click the
square to stop
recording.

Re-record
Play Save
Stop recording

Check your sound

▷ Editing sounds by pressing play.
Scratch makes it easy to edit sounds that you’ve recorded or uploaded.
Open the Sounds tab and select the sound you want to work on. The pink
pattern shows the volume of the sound as it plays. Use the “Trim” tool to
highlight parts of the sound you want to delete or move, and then use Highlight parts
the menus below to make changes or add effects. of the sound you
want to edit.

Code Costumes Sounds

1 Sound recording1
Trim

Meow2
0:29

recording1
00:00

Faster Slower Echo Robot Louder Softer Reverse

190 MUSIC AND SOUND

Drumtastic
This project turns your computer keyboard into a drum
machine. Type in anything you want and Scratch turns
the letters into repeating drum sounds using up to
18 different instruments, from cymbals and bongos
to pounding bass drums.

▽ Scratch drumkit
How it works The code turns every letter
When you run the project, the Scratch cat asks you to into a drum sound. There are
26 letters in the alphabet but
type something in the box. When you press return, the Scratch only has 18 drum
code turns each letter into a different sound and plays sounds, so some sounds
the phrase back over and over again. As the sounds are used for two letters.
play, the coloured drums on the stage flash in time,
while the Scratch cat walks to the beat.
A
Snare drum

Count 30

Words Scratch

B
Bass drum

C
Each drum Side sticks
lights up as
it’s played.

Make Some Noise!

D
The words The drums light up
you typed as the sounds play. Cymbals
 D R U M TA S T I C 191
Dancing cat
A,B,C,D...
To make the project more fun, the cat will dance and
shout out each letter in a speech bubble as the drums
play. Follow the steps below to create a custom block
that plays the drums and animates the cat.

1 Start a new project and keep the cat

sprite. Set the background to a solid 3 Now create a custom block for the cat sprite. Choose
“My Blocks” in the blocks palette and make a new block
colour by clicking the paint symbol called “play a drum”. This will trigger code that plays
in the backdrops menu, picking a a drum and makes the cat say the drum’s letter at the
cool colour, and using the fill tool same time. To keep things simple, the first version of
to create a coloured backdrop. Make the code will play the same drum sound every time.
sure you’ve clicked the “Convert to
Bitmap” button. My Blocks

Make a Block
Click here
to open the
paint editor.
play a drum

Paint

4 The new block will appear in the blocks

palette. Right-click (or control/shift-click) Type the name
on this block and choose “Edit” to add an of the input
input window for the drum’s letter. here: “letter”.

Make a Block

2 Select the cat sprite, click on

Variables, and add these variables
play a drum letter
to your project: “Count” and
“Words”. Leave them ticked so
that they show on the stage.

Click here to make

each variable. text

Add an input Add an input Add a label

number or text boolean
Make a Variable

Run without screen refresh

Count

Cancel OK
My variable

Words
Click “OK” to
Choose this option. complete the block.
192 MUSIC AND SOUND

5 Next add this code to the “define play a drum” header block.
For now, the cat just says the letter and the code plays only
LINGO
one type of drum: a snare drum. The code will get longer later Strings
so that different drums can play. Add the Music extension by
clicking “Add Extension” at the bottom left and choosing Programmers call a sequence of
“Music” to use the play drum blocks. words or letters a string. Think
of the letters as being strung
together like beads on a necklace.

define play a drum letter

say letter Drag the “letter”

block from the
next costume Dance, cat! header to here.

play drum (1) Snare Drum for 0.5 beats

6 Now add the code below to ask the user to type

something on their keyboard. This code sends
A, B, C, D, E...
the letters one at a time to the cat using the
“play a drum” block. Anything set as an input
in the “play a drum” block is put in the blue
“letter” block in the define code.

when clicked

ask Type something to make a drum sequence. Then press return. and wait

set Words to answer

forever This contains

whatever you typed. The number of letters stored
set Count to 1 in the variable “Words”.

repeat length of Words

play a drum letter Count of Words

change Count by 1
With each loop, a different letter
is set as the input in the “play a
drum” block.
On to the
next letter.
 D R U M TA S T I C 193

7 Run the project. Type “Scratch” and

press enter. The cat will shout out
the letters of “Scratch” to a drumbeat.

s c r a t c h

From letters to drums play drum (1) Snare Drum for 0.25 beats
The next step is to change the code
so that each letter plays a particular (1) Snare Drum a, s
drum. Scratch has only 18 drum
sounds, so some sounds will be (2) Bass Drum b, t
played by more than one letter. (3) Side Stick c, u
Spaces and punctuation will create Scratch’s
(4) Crash Cymbal d, v
brief pauses in the pattern of drums. “play drum”
block has
Scratch also ignores whether letters 18 built-in (5) Open Hi-Hat e, w
are capitals or not – “A” and “a” are sounds.
(6) Closed Hi-Hat f, x
treated the same.
(7) Tambourine g, y
(8) Hand Clap h, z

8 First you need to add four new variables: “Alphabet”, which

stores the whole alphabet in order; “AlphabetCount”, which (9) Claves i
stores a letter’s numerical position in the alphabet from
(10) Wood Block j
1 to 26; “NumberOfDrums”, for the number of different
drum sounds in Scratch; and “ChosenDrum”, to hold (11) Cowbell k
the number of the drum sound to be played.
(12) Triangle l
(13) Bongo m
Alphabet
Uncheck the (14) Conga n
tick boxes so
the variables AlphabetCount (15) Cabasa o
don’t appear
on stage. (16) Guiro p
ChosenDrum
(17) Vibraslap q
NumberOfDrums
(18) Cuica r
194 MUSIC AND SOUND

9 Add three new blocks to the start of the Scratch has 18

main code to set up the “Alphabet” and different drum sounds.
“NumberOfDrums” variables. The “Draw Type the alphabet
Drums” message will trigger code that in order here.
set NumberOfDrums to 18
draws the drums, but that code comes later. set Alphabet to abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

broadcast Draw Drums and wait

Open the menu to create

when clicked
a new message and call
it “Draw Drums”.
ask Type something to make a drum sequence. Then press return. and wait

set Words to answer

forever

set Count to 1

repeat length of Words

play a drum letter Count of Words

change Count by 1

10 Add this code to the definition of “play a drum”. It

converts each letter into a number and then uses
letter
that to play the correct drum sound. If no match is define play a drum

found, then a short pause, or “rest”, is used instead.

say letter

next costume
set ChosenDrum to 0
play drum (1) Snare Drum for 0.5 beats
set AlphabetCount to 1
Start
at “A”. length of Alphabet
Delete the block.
repeat

This loop if letter = letter AlphabetCount of Alphabet then

scans the
alphabet for set ChosenDrum to AlphabetCount
a match in
order to if ChosenDrum > NumberOfDrums then
convert the
letter into set ChosenDrum to ChosenDrum – NumberOfDrums
a number.
Play the chosen
play drum ChosenDrum for 0.5 beats drum sound.

Is the chosen
number
change AlphabetCount by 1 On to the next
bigger than letter of the
the number alphabet.
if ChosenDrum = 0 then
of drums?
Move it back rest for 0.25 beats No drum picked? Just
into range. take a short break.
 D R U M TA S T I C 195

11 Now run the project and

see if you can create
some cool drumbeats. a a a a abababab cd cd cd e e e e
Try “a a a a abababab”,
for instance. Remember
you can use spaces or
punctuation marks to
create pauses.

Light-up drums
To make the project look more
interesting you can add a circle
of 18 coloured drum clones –
one for each sound. Each drum
will light up when its sound plays.

12 Click on the sprite symbol

in the sprites list and add the
Drum sprite from the library.

Drum

13 Add a variable called

“drumID”, making sure you New Variable
select “for this sprite only” –
this lets every clone have its New variable name:
own copy of the variable. This Choose this option
variable will hold a unique ID drumID or the drums won’t
work properly.
number for each drum to help
them light up at the right For all sprites For this sprite only
time. Untick this variable so it
doesn’t show on the stage. Cancel OK
196 MUSIC AND SOUND

14 Add the code below to the Drum sprite. When this

code receives the “Draw Drums” message, it draws
a ring of coloured drum clones on the stage, each
with a unique ID number.

when I receive Draw Drums

hide

set ChosenDrum to 0

set drumID to 1

set size to 50 %

point in direction 90
Each drum is a
repeat NumberOfDrums different colour.

change color effect by 200 / NumberOfDrums

go to x: 0 y: 0

turn 360 / NumberOfDrums degrees The drums are drawn

around a circle.
move 130 steps

create clone of myself Each clone will take the value

of “drumID” from the original
change drumID by 1 sprite when it’s created.

Next drum

when I start as a clone

Each drum
15 The next bit of code makes the drums light up
as they play. Each clone waits for its unique ID
to match the “ChosenDrum” variable. When
show runs this code.
it matches, a brief change in colour makes
the drum appear to flash.
forever

wait until ChosenDrum = drumID

Wait for this
drum’s turn.
change color effect by 100

wait until not ChosenDrum = drumID

change color effect by –100

Wait for the
turn to be over.
 D R U M TA S T I C 197

16 Run the project. The drums

should light up in time to the
f g

sequence. Try the sequence

“abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz” e
to see all the drums work in a
order and to see how the
drums are reused after “r”.

d
b

Hacks and tweaks ▽ Tempo

The pace at which music plays is called its
Being able to create a sequence that tempo. The higher the tempo, the shorter
the beat and the faster the music. Scratch
controls something is very useful. has a handy tempo setting – you’ll find it in
You could adapt this idea to make the Music section of the blocks palette. Tick
an automatic piano, singing ducks, the tempo box to display it on stage. Add these
code blocks to the drum sprite so you can change
or an on-screen robot that follows a the tempo with the arrow keys. The space-bar
program in the form of letter sequences. will reset the tempo to 60 beats per minute.

TRY THIS tempo

Word piano
If you change the “play drum” block to a “play when space key pressed
note” block, you can create a singing animal.
You’ll need to set the total number of available set tempo to 60
notes to 26 so that every letter has its own note.

when up arrow key pressed

change tempo by 2

when down arrow key pressed

change tempo by -2
Mindbenders
200 MINDBENDERS

The Magic Spot

Run this project and stare at the cross in the middle while
the pink spots around it flash on and off. Within a few
seconds, a ghostly green spot will appear among the pink
ones, but it isn’t actually there. Scratch gets mysterious
with this amazing optical illusion.

How it works
I am
The spots take turns to disappear and reappear very quickly, number 5!
causing a gap in the circle that races round. This confuses
your brain, which fills in the missing spot with a different
colour, creating a magic green spot that doesn’t exist. Keep
watching and the magic green spot will erase all the pink
spots, but this is just an illusion too! △ Clones with identity
Keep your eyes fixed
Each circle is a clone. In this project,
on the cross to see This illusion works best you’ll see how each clone can have
the illusion. in full-screen mode. its own copy of a variable – in this
case, an ID number that’s used to
control which circle is hidden at
any moment.

△ Colour in your brain

This kind of illusion is called
A magic green an afterimage. If you stare at
spot appears something for a long time
in the gap. without moving your eyes, the
colour receptors in your eyes
tire and your brain starts to tune
colours out. So when the colour
suddenly disappears, you briefly
see a negative afterimage – a
sort of “colour hole”.
 THE MAGIC SPOT 201
Pink costume
A single sprite is all that’s needed to make
this illusion, but first you’ll need to draw
the pink spot and black cross as costumes.

1 Start a new project

and remove the cat
Fill
2 Select the circle tool and make sure the
“Filled” option is selected at the top of
sprite. Click on the the painting area. Make sure you are in
paint symbol in Color 85 Bitmap mode.
the sprites menu to
draw a new sprite.
Select the bright Saturation 70
pink colour in the
colour palette. Select this
tool.
Brightness 100
Make sure you choose
this colour or the illusion
might not work properly.
Filled Outlined

3 Click near the middle of the paint editor

and drag the mouse while holding the 4 Your newly drawn spot will appear in the costumes
list. The numbers under its name tell you its size.
shift key on the keyboard to paint a solid You need a spot about 35 x 35 in size, but don’t
pink circle. Make sure you position the worry if it’s wrong – the next step shows you
circle on the small cross in the middle of how to resize it.
the painting area.

costume1
Hold down the 80 x 80
shift key to avoid
making an oval.

The numbers
tell you the
costume’s size.
202 MINDBENDERS

5 If it’s too big or too small, drag one of the corners

of the box that appears around it to resize the
circle. If the box disappears, use the select tool
to draw it around the circle again. Name this
costume “Spot” at the top of the paint editor.
Drag this corner to
resize the circle.

Name the costume “Cross”.

6 The next step is to create the

black cross that appears in the 1
Costume Cross

middle of the illusion. Click the Fill 10

paint symbol in the costumes Spot
35 x 35
menu to start drawing a new
costume, then use the line tool
2 Line tool
to make a black cross about half
as big as the spot. To draw Cross
perfectly horizontal and straight 22 x 21

lines, hold down the shift key.

Zooming in makes
drawing the cross easier.

Convert to Vector

Circle of clones
Now to fill in the background and create the circle
of clones. The code will give each clone a unique Click here to
identification number that will make it easy to hide. create a new
backdrop.

7 To create the correct backdrop for the illusion,

click on the paint symbol in the backdrops
Paint

menu in the lower right of Scratch.

 THE MAGIC SPOT 203

8 Now select this grey colour. Make sure you

get the exact shade or the illusion might not 9 Click on the sprite and select the Code tab.
Choose Variables in the blocks palette and click
work properly. Use the fill tool to create on “Make a Variable”. Create a variable called
a grey backdrop. Just click anywhere in the “id” and select the option “For this sprite only”.
paint area. This is important as it allows each clone to have
its own copy of the variable with its own value.
Fill Uncheck the tick box in the blocks palette so
that the variable doesn’t show on the stage.
Color 0

New Variable Type

“id” here.
Saturation 0
New variable name:

Make sure you id

select this Brightness 80
shade of grey.
For all sprites For this sprite only
Select this
Cancel OK option.

10 Now add the code blocks shown here to create

12 clones of the pink spot arranged in a circle.
when clicked
This sets the
centre of the circle.
When a clone is created, it gets a copy of the
original sprite’s “id” variable, which means switch costume to Spot
each clone has a unique number.
go to x: 0 y: 0

The “repeat” loop runs point in direction 0

once for each spot.
set id to 0 The sprite
moves to the
repeat 12 rim of the circle.
A cloned
spot is made.
move 130 steps
This temporary code create clone of myself
shows that each clone The sprite moves
has its own “id” number. back to the centre. move –130 steps

turn 30 degrees
when I start as a clone
change id by 1
say id
The clone is given
a unique number.
204 MINDBENDERS

11 Run the project and each clone

will say its own value of “id”.
Each will be different, counting
0–11 around the circle.
0
11 1

10 2
The original
sprite doesn’t
run the “say”
block.
3
9

2 8 4

1 3
7
6
5

12 Now delete the smaller code as you

don’t need to see those speech
when I start as a clone
Delete this code.
bubbles during the illusion.
say id

Creating the illusion

Now to make the code hide each of the spots in
turn. You’ll need to make a new variable, called
“Hidden”, that will specify which clone should hide.
New Variable

Click the orange Variables block in the blocks

13 palette and make a new variable. Call it New variable name:
“Hidden”. Uncheck its tick box in the blocks Hidden
palette so that the variable doesn’t appear
on the stage.
For all sprites For this sprite only

Cancel OK
Make sure this
option is selected.
 THE MAGIC SPOT 205

14 Add the blocks shown below to

the bottom of the sprite’s code, 15 Now add this separate code to the sprite. All the
clones run this code. Only the clone whose “id”
but don’t run the project yet. number matches the “Hidden” variable will hide. As
the value of “Hidden” rises, each spot hides in turn.

when clicked
when I receive Hide Spot
switch costume to Spot

go to x: 0 y: 0 if id = Hidden then

point in direction 0 hide

set id to 0 else

repeat 12 show

move 130 steps

create clone of myself

move –130 steps

turn 30 degrees

change id by 1

The “Cross” costume

appears in the centre.

switch costume to Cross

set Hidden to 0
The “Hidden” variable
forever controls which spot hides.

change Hidden by 1

if Hidden = 12 then
The “Hidden” variable
counts up to 11 and set Hidden to 0
then jumps back to 0.

broadcast Hide Spot

This number controls the wait 0.1 seconds Open the menu and
speed at which the magic create a new message
spot moves around the circle. called “Hide Spot”.
206 MINDBENDERS

16 Run the project. You should see the gap move around the circle. Put the
stage into full-screen mode and stare at the cross. Within a few seconds,
you’ll see the magic green spot. Keep staring at the cross and the magic Stare at the cross
spot will start to erase the pink spots. When you look away from the to see the illusion.
cross, you’ll just see the empty gap again.

The magic spot

vanishes if you
look directly at it.

I’m seeing things!

EXPERT TIPS
If then else
The “if then” block is very useful for either
running or skipping a group of blocks
depending on the answer to a question. But
what if you want to do one thing for yes (true) Does my
and another for no (false)? You could use two id = “Hidden”? Hide
“if then” blocks, but programmers face this Yes
problem so often that they created another (true)
No
solution: “if then else”. The “if then else” block (false)
has two jaws, for two sets of blocks. The top
set runs on yes, the bottom set runs on no. Show
 THE MAGIC SPOT 207

Hacks and tweaks

You can use Scratch to investigate this curious optical
illusion further. Would the illusion still work if you change
the colour of the spots or background or change the
speed? What if there were more spots, or more than
one spot hidden at the same time? The possibilities
are endless. Save a copy and get fiddling with the code.

when I receive Hide Spot

set color effect to SpotColour

if id = Hidden then SpotColour 39

hide

else

show

△ Colour controls
To find out which colours make the illusion strongest,
create a new variable called “SpotColour” and add a slider
to the stage. Add a “set color effect” block to the sprite’s
code under the “when I receive” block. Run the project
and try different colours. Which ones work best? Does
the magic spot change colour too?

TRY THIS
Speed it up
Try adding a new variable, called “Delay”, to
set the speed of the magic spot. You’ll need to
add these two blocks to the code – see if you set Delay to 1
can figure out where to put them. Right-click
(or control/shift-click) on the variable on the
stage and choose “slider”. Does the illusion wait Delay / 100 seconds
still work if you slow it right down?
208 MINDBENDERS

Spiral-o-tron You can use a

microphone to make
the spiral move to
It’s easy to use Scratch’s Pen feature to the music!

create amazing visual effects, such as

this multicoloured spinning spiral. If your
computer has a microphone, you can adapt
the project to make the spiral react to sound.

With each turn, the cat

How it works walks slightly further.

There are many types of spiral, but this project paints

a very simple one. Just take a step, turn 10 degrees
to your right, take two steps, turn 10 degrees to
your right, take three steps, and so on. In this spiral,
each turn is
10 degrees.

This project looks best

in full-screen mode.

The coloured
line thickens
in response
to loud noises.

The spiral is
drawn using the
Scratch pen.
 SPIRAL-O-TRON 209
Build the spiral
This project shows you how to use Scratch’s pen to create
fast-moving, interactive effects. Follow the steps below to
build a simple spiral first. You'll need to add the Pen extension
like you did in previous projects.

1 Start a new project.

Delete the cat sprite 2 Now turn the stage
black to make the spiral 2

and click on the paint stand out. Click on the

symbol in the sprites backdrop’s paint symbol
menu. You don’t need in the lower right of
to draw a sprite as it’s Scratch. Pick black in the backdrop2
Spiral 480 x 360
just a guide for the pen. paint editor and use the
Call the sprite “Spiral”. fill tool to create a solid
black backdrop. Make sure Use the fill
you are in Bitmap mode. tool to colour
the backdrop.

3 The project needs lots of variables. Select

the spiral sprite and create the following StartDirection
variables: “Repeats”, “DrawLength”,
“DrawLengthIncrease”, “TurnAngle”, and The direction the sprite
“StartDirection”. Untick their check boxes faces at the beginning
so they don't appear on the stage.
DrawLength

Repeats Length of each straight

section of the spiral
How many sections
to draw altogether DrawLengthIncrease
TurnAngle
How much longer this straight
How much the sprite turns section is than the last section

4 Now create a custom

block to draw a Make a Block
spiral. Select My
Blocks and then click
on “Make a Block”. draw spiral

Type “draw spiral”. text

Click “OK”
to make
Add an input Add an input Add a label the block.
number or text boolean

Run without screen refresh

Cancel OK
210 MINDBENDERS

5 You will now see the “define draw spiral” header in the code
area. Add the following code to it. Read through the Scratch
blocks and think about the steps. Don’t run the project yet
as there isn’t any code to trigger the new block.

define draw spiral

point in direction StartDirection

pen up

go to x: 0 y: 0 This loop draws the

spiral using the method
explained earlier.
set DrawLength to 0

pen down

repeat Repeats

change DrawLength by DrawLengthIncrease

move DrawLength steps

turn TurnAngle degrees

pen up

6 Now add the main code to set

up the variables and trigger the when clicked
“draw spiral” block.
set Repeats to 900

set DrawLengthIncrease to 0.02

set TurnAngle to 6
These blocks set
the properties of set StartDirection to 0
our spiral.
set pen size to 5

erase all

draw spiral
 SPIRAL-O-TRON 211

7 Run the project. A spiral like this

will appear. It will take around
30 seconds to draw.

Spin the spiral

To make the spiral spin, Scratch will draw it repeatedly,
each time in a new position. To make this happen quickly,
you need to use a special trick to run blocks faster.

8 The spiral takes a long time to draw

because Scratch redraws the whole stage
define draw spiral Right-click here.
every time you add a new straight-line
section to the spiral. You can set the
custom block to not redraw the spiral Add comment
point in direction
until it’s finished. To do this, right-click Delete Block
on the “define” block and choose “Edit”. pen up
Edit

Click on “Edit”.

9 Now tick the box labelled

“Run without screen refresh”. Make a Block

draw spiral

text

Add an input Add an input Add a label

number or text boolean

Click here for Run without screen refresh Click “OK” to finish.
fast drawing.
Cancel OK
212 MINDBENDERS

10 Now run the project and the spiral will appear so quickly
that you won’t see it happen. The next trick is to keep
redrawing the spiral in different positions so it appears
to spin. Add a new variable called “SpinSpeed”, untick
its box, and change the main code to look like this.

when clicked

set Repeats to 900

set DrawLengthIncrease to 0.02

set TurnAngle to 6

set StartDirection to 0
set SpinSpeed to 10
set pen size to 5

The loop redraws the spiral

forever This block turns
with different start directions.
the whole spiral
erase all by SpinSpeed
degrees each time.
draw spiral

change StartDirection by SpinSpeed

Click here for

full-screen mode.

11 Run the project and watch the

spiral spin. Try switching to full-
screen mode for a hypnotic effect.
If you stare at the centre for a
while and then look away, you
might see things ripple weirdly
for a moment – an optical illusion.

The whole spiral

spins clockwise.
 SPIRAL-O-TRON 213
Add some colour
The pen colour can be controlled to create
some amazing effects. Simple changes to the
code create patterns like the one shown here.

12 Add another variable:

“ColourChange”. Then
set SpinSpeed to 10 Starts the spiral
with the same
change the code as shown colour each time.
here and run it to see the set pen size to 5
new colourful spiral.
forever set ColourChange to 3
erase all
set pen color to 0
draw spiral

change StartDirection by SpinSpeed

define draw spiral

point in direction StartDirection This block changes the colour

a little for each line section
drawn, giving a rainbow effect.
pen up

go to x: 0 y: 0

set DrawLength to 0
change pen color by ColourChange
pen down

repeat Repeats

change DrawLength by DrawLengthIncrease

move DrawLength steps

turn TurnAngle degrees

pen up
214 MINDBENDERS

Move to the music

If your computer has a microphone, you can make the
spiral react to sounds and music. You’ll need to use
special blocks that detect and measure sound volume.

when clicked 13 Add two new variables: “Sensitivity”

and “SoundLevel”. Change the main
code to look like this.
set Repeats to 900

set DrawLengthIncrease to 0.02

set TurnAngle to 6

set StartDirection to 0 Increase the value here

if your spiral isn’t moving
set SpinSpeed to 10 much to the sound.

set ColourChange to 3

set Sensitivity to 3
Scratch constantly measures Louder noises make
forever the sound volume and gives thicker spirals.
this block a value from 0 to 100.
erase all

set SoundLevel to loudness * Sensitivity

set pen size to SoundLevel / 5

set pen size to SoundLevel * 10

draw spiral
As the volume rises,
the colour flows
change StartDirection by SpinSpeed along the spiral.

14 Run the project and play some music

or sing near your computer. Scratch will
ask you to use your microphone – it’s
OK to click “yes”. The spiral will dance
to the music!
 SPIRAL-O-TRON 215

Hacks and tweaks ▽ Sliders

If you show the control variables on the stage,
you can right-click and add sliders to them.
Don’t be afraid to change the variables These allow you to experiment with different
values while the project is running.
or other numbers in the code to see what
happens. You can also add slider controls
ColourChange 35
to experiment with the look and motion
of the spiral.

▽ Presets ▽ Hiders
If you use your sliders to make a spiral you really You can add code blocks like these to show
like, write down all the values and then create a and hide your sliders when you hit certain
“preset” to set those values at the touch of a key. keys. That way they won’t spoil the view!

when x key pressed when h key pressed

set Repeats to 1200 hide variable ColourChange

set DrawLengthIncrease to 0.01 hide variable Sensitivity

set TurnAngle to 4

set SpinSpeed to 20 when s key pressed

set ColourChange to 1 show variable ColourChange

show variable Sensitivity

TRY THIS
Sound reaction
You can have a lot of fun in other
when clicked
projects making sprites react to loudness

sound. Tick the “loudness” block forever

to see the volume displayed on set size to loudness %

the stage. Try giving code blocks
set color effect to loudness
like these to some sprites or
invent your own code blocks.
when loudness > 50

say Be quiet! for 2 seconds

What next?
218 W H AT N E X T ?

Next steps
After working through this book, your knowledge of Scratch should
be strong enough to take you to new places. Here’s some advice
on taking your coding skills to the next level, as well as a few
suggestions on where to find inspiration for your own projects.

Exploring Scratch
The Scratch website www.scratch.mit.edu is a great place to see other
people’s work and share your own projects. Click “Explore” at the top
of the website to view projects that other Scratchers have shared.
There are lots of projects on the
Scratch website. Click here to see
what great stuff you can find.

SCRATCH Create Explore Ideas About Search Join Scratch Sign In

Click the Studios tab to see

Explore projects grouped by themes
that Scratchers have created.

Use this
menu to sort
Projects Studios projects by
Scratch’s main
All Animations Art Games Music Stories Tutorials Trending categories.

Firework Display Remix See Inside

by MagicLight01

Notes and Credits

Click anywhere on the stage to launch a

firework. You can only launch one firework
at a time.
Firework Display
MagicLight01 Click on any
project to
open its
project page.
◁ Project page
883 496 40 7727 c Jan 27, 2019 Add to studio Copy link ! Report
Each project has a main page that lets
you explore and run it. Click “See inside”
Click the Click the star Total views
to see the code. If you want to copy the
heart if to bookmark a project and change the code, look for the
you love project in your green “Remix” button. This links your new
a project. favourites list. project to the original.
 NEXT STEPS 219
▷ Sharing
To share one of your projects with other Scratchers, open
the project and click the “Share” button at the top of Scratch.
Anyone can find your project once you’ve shared it. You can
also see how many fellow Scratchers have tried your projects,
and people can “favourite” and “love” your project too.

Making your own projects

Scratch is a great playground for trying out your own
coding ideas. Open up a new project and see where
your computer mouse takes you.

▽ Doodling
Scratch is designed to make experimenting easy. Just when clicked
add a sprite you like and create some fun code blocks
like these. Maybe turn on the pen to see what loopy forever
pattern your sprite makes. Play with variables and
add sliders so you can see their effects immediately. if touching Elephant ? then

play sound Meow until done

when clicked

forever

point towards mouse-pointer

move 10 steps ▽ Have fun!

Programming can be great fun. Working
with others and sharing your projects
will really help your coding develop.
▽ Learn another language Why not join or start a code club at your
Why not stretch yourself and learn another programming school or local library? Or get together
language? Python is easy to get started in, and you’ll recognize with friends who like Scratch and have
many of the techniques used in Scratch, like making decisions a coding party where you can work on
using “if then” and repeating code with loops. themed projects together.

if a = 2 then
if a == 2:
say Hello!
print("Hello!")
else else:
say Goodbye! print("Goodbye!")

Scratch Python
220 W H AT N E X T ?

Glossary
algorithm call directory graphics
A set of step-by-step To use a function, procedure, A place to store files to Visual elements on a screen
instructions that perform or subprogram. A custom keep them organized. that are not text, such as
a task. Computer programs block in Scratch is a call to pictures, icons, and symbols.
are based on algorithms. the “define” code with the event
same name. Something a computer GUI
animation program can react to, such The GUI, or graphical user
Changing pictures clone as a key being pressed or interface, is the name for
quickly to create the A fully functioning copy the mouse being clicked. the buttons and windows
illusion of movement. of a sprite that can move that make up the part of
and run code blocks on execute the program you can see
backpack its own, separate from See run and interact with.
A storage area in the original sprite.
Scratch that allows export hack
you to copy things code To send something to the An ingenious change to code
between projects. A stack of instruction computer from Scratch, such that makes it do something
blocks under a as a sprite or a whole project new or simplifies it. (Also,
bitmap graphics header block that saved as a computer file. accessing a computer
Computer drawings are run in order. without permission.)
stored as a grid of file
pixels. Compare condition A collection of data stored hardware
with vector graphics. A “true or false” statement with a name. The physical parts of a
used to make a decision computer that you can see
block in a program. See also fractal or touch, such as wires, the
An instruction in Boolean expression. A pattern or shape that keyboard, and the screen.
Scratch that can be looks the same when you
joined to other blocks coordinates zoom in or out, such as the header block
to build code. A pair of numbers that shape of a cloud, a tree, or A Scratch block that starts
pinpoint an exact spot on a cauliflower. a bit of code, such as the
Boolean expression the stage. Usually written “when green flag clicked”
A statement that is either as (x, y). function block. Also known as a
true or false, leading to Code that carries out hat block.
two possible outcomes. costume a specific task, working
Boolean blocks in Scratch The picture a sprite shows like a program within a import
are hexagonal rather on the stage. Rapidly program. Also called a To bring something in from
than rounded. changing a sprite’s procedure, subprogram, outside Scratch, such as a
costume can create or subroutine. picture or sound clip from
branch an animation. the computer’s files.
A point in a program global variable
where two different data A variable that can be index number
options are available, Information, such changed and used by A number given to an
such as the “if then else” as text, symbols, any sprite in a project. item in a list.
block in Scratch. or numbers.
gradient (colour) input
bug debug Moving smoothly from Data that is entered into a
A coding error that makes To look for and one colour to another, computer. Keyboards, mice,
a program behave in an correct errors in like the sky during a and microphones can be
unexpected way. a program. beautiful sunset. used to input data.
 GLOSSARY 221
integer operator program sprite
A whole number. An integer A Scratch block A set of instructions that a A picture on the stage in
does not contain a decimal that uses data to computer follows in order to Scratch that code blocks
point and is not written as work something complete a task. can move and change.
a fraction. out, such as checking
interface whether two values are programming language stage
See GUI equal or adding two A language that is used The screen-like area of the
numbers together. to give instructions to Scratch interface in which
library a computer. projects run.
A collection of sprites, output
costumes, or sounds Data that is produced project statement
that can be used in by a computer program Scratch’s name for a program The smallest complete
Scratch programs. and viewed by the user. and all the sprites, sounds, instruction a programming
and backdrops that go language can be broken
list particle effect with it. down into.
A collection of items stored A visual effect in which
in a numbered order. lots of small patterns Python string
move in an organized A popular programming A series of characters. Strings
local variable way to create a larger language created by can contain numbers, letters,
A variable that can be pattern. Particle effects Guido van Rossum. Python or symbols.
changed by only one in Scratch usually is a great language to learn
sprite. Each copy or use clones. after Scratch. subprogram or subroutine
clone of a sprite has Code that carries out a specific
its own separate version physics random task, working like a program
of the variable. The science of how A function in a within a program. Also called
things move and affect computer program that a function or procedure.
loop each other. Including allows unpredictable
A part of a program that physics is often important outcomes. Useful when turbo mode
repeats itself, removing in simulations and games – creating games. A way of running Scratch
the need to type out the for example, to create projects that makes the
same piece of code realistic gravity. run code work much faster than
multiple times. The command to make normal. You can switch turbo
pixel art a program start. mode on and off by holding
memory A drawing made the shift key as you click the
A computer chip inside a of giant pixels or Scratcher green flag.
computer that stores data. blocks, mimicking Someone who uses Scratch.
the appearance of tweak
message graphics in early server A small change made to
computer games. A computer that stores files something to make it work
A way to send information
accessible via a network. better or differently.
between sprites.
pixels
The coloured dots variable
network simulation
on a screen that A place to store data that can
A group of interconnected A realistic imitation of
make up graphics. change in a program, such as
computers that exchange something. A weather
the player’s score. A variable
data. The internet is a simulator might re-create
procedure has a name and a value.
giant network. the action of wind, rain,
Code that carries out a and snow.
specific task, working vector graphics
operating system (OS) Computer drawings stored
like a program within software
The program that controls as collections of shapes,
a program. Also called a Programs that run on
everything on a computer, making them easier to
function, subprogram, or a computer and control
such as Windows, macOS, change. Compare with
subroutine. how it works.
or Linux. bitmap graphics.
222 W H AT N E X T ?

Index
centre tool 73, 76, 89, 131, 146, 156, “Convert to Vector” 158 Font menu 85
158, 202 coordinates 74, 83, 87, 89, 105, 118, “For this sprite only” variable 159
chance 60 131, 220 “forever” block 17, 29, 33, 129
“change color effect” block 26, copies of projects 57, 93 “forever” loops 42, 46, 67, 78, 137,
Page numbers in bold refer 30, 196 costume editor 118 179, 196, 212, 213
to main entries. “change pen color” block 101, costumes 220 fortune-telling project 60
103, 213 centring 146, 158 Fractal Trees 23, 162–71, 172, 174
“change size” block 92 changing 37, 43, 78, 132 fractals 162, 220
“change whirl effect” block 92 checking size 201–02 in nature 163
A
addition 108
Christmas cards 153
circle tool 75, 145, 187, 201
creating 187, 201–02
library 75
framing 79
full-screen mode 20, 31, 69, 82,
afterimages 200 “clear” block 31, 101, 110, 114 modifying 187 103, 166, 177, 212
algorithms 15, 44, 164, 220 “clear graphic effects” block 33 naming 202 function 220
“and” block 55, 150 clones 77, 220 Costumes tab 21, 37, 118, 136, 164 Funny Faces 70–79
Animal Race 22, 48–59 adding movement to 96 countdowns 57, 138, 141
animations 182, 184, 188, 220 creating symmetrical patterns cursor tools 20

G
arrow keys 32, 42, 43, 104, 197 with 175 custom blocks 106–19, 191, 209
art projects 13, 22, 80–119 deleting 97, 99, 101, 148, 149, 170
Birthday Card 22, 82–93 drums 195–96 games consoles 15
Fantastic Flowers 22, 106–19
Spiralizer 22, 94–105
Firework Display 154–61
Fractal Trees 163–66 D games projects 13, 15, 120–41
Tunnel of Doom 22, 122–33, 140
Ask Gobo 22, 60–69 hiding 104 data 220 Window Cleaner 22, 134–41
atmosphere 124–25 maximum number 96, 149, 154, debug 220 ghost effect 33, 78, 92, 134, 139,
169, 179 “define” blocks 211 151, 159
Snowflake Simulator 175–77 “define” header block 110, 111, 112, “glide” block 83
special code affecting 96 113, 116, 119 global variables 220
B Spiralizer 94–97
stamping a copy 149
degrees, and direction 89
dice 64
Gobo 60–69
“go to” blocks 76, 105, 127, 131
backdrop 17
adding a message to 84–85 unique identification number difficulty “go to front layer” block 153
changing colour 167 195, 196, 202, 203–04 making games harder 58 “go to mouse-pointer” block 28,
library 39, 51, 119, 152, 183 Virtual Snow 144, 145, 147–49 slider 141 127
loading a new 39, 51, 62, 86 Window Cleaner 134, 136–39 Dino Dance Party 17, 22, 34–47, gradient tool 147, 157
backpack 19, 21, 220 clubs, coding 8, 219 164 graphics 13, 220
Birthday Card 22, 82–93 code 15, 16, 221 directions 89 “greater than” block 66
bitmap graphics 220 building 16, 28–29 directory 220 green flag 17, 29
“Bitmap Mode” 72 changing 30 division 108 grow tool 202
blocks 16, 220 running 29 Drumtastic 23, 190–97 GUI (graphical user interface)
actions performed by 17 timing of 83 10–11, 221
custom 106–19 triggering (“calling”) 109, 110
ready-made 15, 16 working together 17
Eedit custom block
H
running faster 211 code area 20, 21, 28
blocks palette 20, 21, 28–30, 159 Code tab 21, 38, 89, 147, 203
bookmarking projects 218 coding 111–13 hack 220
Boole, George 66 clubs 8, 219 editing sounds 189 hacks and tweaks
Boolean conditions 66 parties 219 editor mode 96 Animal Race 57–58
Boolean expressions 220 what is coding? 10–23 “equal to” block 66 Ask Gobo 67–69
Boolean operator: “not” 55 colour eraser tool 122, 125, 126, 187 Birthday Card 92–93
boxes, drawing 85, 146, 156 blending 146 Events blocks 29, 31 Cat Art 32–33
broadcast blocks 91, 160 changing 26, 30–31, 32, 78, explosions 154, 158–59 Dino Dance Party 46–47
“broadcast message” block 54 160–61, 207 export 220 Drumtastic 197
“broadcast and wait” block 165 gradient 147, 157, 220 Fantastic Flowers 118
brush tool 72, 73, 75, 135, 146, 156 optical illusion 200–07 Firework Display 160–61
bugs 15, 220
see also hacks and tweaks
colour palette 72, 73, 77, 125, 146,
201 Ffaces, creating your own 70–79 Fractal Trees 168–69
Funny Faces 78
conditions 66, 220 The Magic Spot 207
Control blocks 29 “Fairydust” 183 Snowflake Simulator 178–79
Fantastic Flowers 22, 106–19
C
control key 19 Spiral-o-tron 215
controls “favourite” 219 Spiralizer 103–05
C programming language 14 camera 134, 139–40 File menu 36 Sprites and Sounds 188–89
C++ programming language 14 keyboard 42, 188 files 220 Tunnel of Doom 132–33
calculations 108 making games harder 58 fill tool 73, 77, 79, 97, 125, 136, 147, Virtual Snow 153
call 109, 110, 220 mouse 19, 28–29, 122, 127–30, 174, 191, 203, 209 Window Cleaner 140–41
camera control 139–40 134, 138, 154, 156, 157 Firework Display 23, 154–61 hand movement, controlling by
Cat Art 22, 26–33 touchscreen 182 fisheye effect 33 134
 INDEX 223
hardware 220
header blocks 220
repeat until 128
and repeating patterns 162, NO Dino Dance Party 34–47
Drumtastic 190–97
“hide” block 151 164, 168, 176, 178 names, player’s 50, 51 Fantastic Flowers 22, 106–19
“Hip-Hop” dance postures 47 and sprite movement 38 networks 221 Firework Display 154–61
hypnotic effect 212 “loudness” block 215 “New message” block 54 Fractal Trees 162–71
“love” 218, 219 “next costume” block 37, 38 Funny Faces 22, 70–9
“not” block 55 The Magic Spot 200–07

Iice crystals 173

offline Scratch 18 sharing 218, 219
online Scratch 18 Snowflake Simulator 172–79

“if then” blocks 42, 43, 66,

M operating systems (OS) 14, 221
operators 221
Spiral-o-tron 208–15
Spiralizer 22, 94–105
Mac computers 18
97, 110, 130, 141, 149, 150, macOS computers 18 Operators blocks 55, 66, 108 Sprites and Sounds 182–89
194, 206, 219 Magic Spot, The 23, 200–07 optical illusions 23, 200–07, 212 Tunnel of Doom 22, 122–33
“if then else” block 206 “Make a Block” 109, 209 “or” block 55 Virtual Snow 144–53
information storage, variables 48, 51 “Make a Variable” button 50 output 221 Window Cleaner 22, 134–41
input 220 maths 108 Python 15, 219, 221
input windows 111, 112, mazes 122–23, 125–27, 132
113, 191
integer 220
menus 20
P
interactive features 15
interface, Scratch 10–11
message blocks 54–55, 130
messages 48, 221 paint editor
Birthday Card 88
QR
microphone 208, 214 questions, asking 60–69
internet 18 symbol 93, 189 Dino Dance Party 37 random block 150, 159
invisible objects 144, 151–52 mindbenders 23, 198–215 Firework Display 156 random locations 137
The Magic Spot 23, 200–07 Funny Faces 72–74 random numbers 60, 63, 64,
Spiral-o-tron 23, 208–15 Magic Spot 201, 202 67–69, 105, 115, 172
Snowflake Simulator 174
JK Minecraft 15
mirror images 46 Tunnel of Doom 122, 125, 131
Virtual Snow 145, 146
random orders 69
Raspberry Pi 18, 19
Java 15 mobile phones 15 recordings 93, 188
JavaScript 15 Moiré patterns 100 Window Cleaner 135 rectangle tool 75, 79
keyboard More blocks 109, 191, 209 parent sprite 96 “remix” button 218
letters as sounds 190, Motion blocks 28, 41, 76 particle effect 154, 160, 221 repeat loops 46
193–95 motion detection 134, 139, parties, coding 219 Birthday Card 92
and mouse control 19 140 Pen blocks 30, 31, 95 Dino Dance Party 44–45
shortcuts 103 mouse “pen down” block 95, 100, 105, 210 Drumtastic 192, 194, 196
sprite control 42, 188 control 28–29, 122, 127–30, “pen up” block 210 Fantastic Flowers 108, 112
134, 138, 154, 156, 157 photos, adding 93 Firework Display 159
creating code blocks 16 physics 221 Fractal Trees 168, 169

L mouse-pointer
moving sprites 26, 104
“pick random” blocks 64, 68, 113,
115, 117, 132, 150, 168, 177
Snowflake Simulator 176,
178
laptops 15 right-clicking 19 pixel art 221 Spiral-o-tron 210
“length” block 116 “move” block 96, 98 pixels 221 repeat until loops 128
“less than” block 66 movement “play sound until done” block 125, rotation styles 41, 46
libraries 221 and costume change 37–39, 184 “Run without screen refresh” 211
backdrop 39, 51, 119, 43–5 “point in direction” block 42, 210 running programs 29
152, 183 moving patterns 154 programming see coding
costumes 75 multicoloured effect 32 programming languages 13,
sounds 40, 57, 86, 124, 130, 14–15, 219, 221
141, 184–87, 188
sprite 36, 75, 96, 188, 195
multiplayer games 141
multiplication 108 see also Java; Python; Scratch
programs 221
Ssaving work 31, 93, 115, 132, 141, 151
music 13
line tool 75, 156, 202 adding 40, 124–25 algorithms 44 online and offline Scratch 18
Linux computers 18 Drumtastic 190–91 Boolean conditions 66 “say” block 47, 51, 64, 68–69, 192
lists 221 Happy Birthday 86, 87, Boolean operators 55 scale 119
local variables 221 90–91, 93 building 16 scores 50, 51, 137, 140
Looks blocks 30 recording your own 93, 214 loops 33 Scratch 13, 15
loops 29, 33, 119, 219, 221 singing animals 197 making choices 43, 60 downloading and installing 18
and clones 77, 96, 105, 152 Spiral-o-tron 208, 214 running 17, 29 exploring 218
countdown 139, 141 stopping 130 subprograms 106, 110 getting Scratch 3.0 18–19
forever 42, 46, 67, 78, 137, 179, tempo 197 writing 12 how Scratch works 16–17
196, 212, 213 music and sound projects 23, project page 218 online and offline Scratch 18
loops inside loops 45 180–97 projects 221 Scratch 2.0 19
music 40 Drumtastic 23, 190–97 Animal Race 22, 48–59 Scratch interface 20–21
repeat 44–45, 46, 92, 108, Sprites and Sounds 23, Ask Gobo 22, 60–69 a typical Scratch project 17
112, 159, 168, 192, 194, 182–89 Birthday Card 22, 82–93 versions of 19
196, 210 Cat Art 22, 26–33 website 218
224 W H AT N E X T ?

Scratch pen 94, 95, 100–02, 162, Spiral-o-tron 23, 208–15 “stop” block 59 global 220
208–09, 219 Spiralizer 22, 94–105 strings 192, 221 for individual clones 97–99, 159,
Scratchers 221 sprites 16, 221 Studios tab 218 195, 200, 203
secret pictures 144, 151–52 adding accessories to 75 subprograms 106, 110, 221 local 221
“See inside” 218 adding code 136, 137 subtraction 108 The Magic Spot 207
select tool 85, 88, 156 adding more 51–53, 57, 132 subtraction block 119 playing with 219
Sensing blocks 42 adding movement 16, 41 supercomputers 15 position 59
servers 221 adding sounds 182–89 symmetry and random numbers 63, 64
“Share” button 219 adding speech 47 six-fold 172, 173 sliders to alter value of 94,
sharing projects 218, 219 built-in sounds 184 values 175 97–99, 102
shift key 19, 131, 145, 151 centre point 73, 76, 131 Snowflake Simulator 174
shortcuts, keyboard 103 changing colour 16, 67 Spiral-o-tron 209, 212, 213, 214
shrink tool 202
simulations 23, 142–79, 221
changing costumes 36, 37, 67
changing size 32, 62, 92, 119, Ttabs 20, 21 Window Cleaner 136
Variables blocks 50, 59, 63, 65, 97,
Firework Display 23, 154–61 127, 128, 129, 130 131, 136, 159, 164, 174, 191
Fractal Trees 23, 162–71, 172, 174 copying 39 templates 118 vector graphics 158, 221
Snowflake Simulator 23, 172–79 creating your own 16, 70–79, 88, tempo 197 vertical gradient 147, 157
Virtual Snow 23, 144–53 151, 156, 188 text tool 85 Virtual Snow 23, 144–53
singing animals 197 dancing 34–47 thought bubbles 59 volume 214, 215
six-fold symmetry 172, 173 delivering messages 16 touchscreen computers 182
sliders invisible 151–52 trees

W
difficulty 141 mouse control 122–23, 127–30 fractal 162–71
hiding 104, 215 painting new 135–36 true/false statements 55, 66
playing with 219 painting with 26–33 Tunnel of Doom 22, 122–33, 140 “wait” blocks 38, 152, 179
and value of variables 94, 97–99, renaming 52, 74, 76, 88, 124, 127, turbo mode 151, 152, 221 “wait until” blocks 55, 196
102, 103, 215 145, 164 “turn” blocks 78, 89, 98, 112, 166, web browsers 14, 18
Snowflake Simulator 23, 172–79 selecting new 36, 62 196 webcams 134, 139–40
software 18–19, 221 setting direction of 99 “turn 180 degrees” block 46 websites 15
sound 13, 180–97 sprites library 36, 75, 96, 188, tweaks Scratch 18, 218
adding 93, 124, 141, 214 195 see hacks and tweaks “when green flag clicked” block 29
Drumtastic 190–97 sprites list 20 two-player games, Animal Race 48 “when I receive” block 165, 166,
editing 189 using photos to make 93 170, 177, 196
previewing 124 see also clones “when space key pressed” block
recording your own 188, 189, 214
library 40, 57, 86, 124,
Sprites and Sounds 23, 182–89
stage 17, 20, 221 UV 31, 197
Window Cleaner 22, 134–41
130, 141, 184–87, 188 centre of 74 undo 126 Windows operating system 14, 18
Spiral-o-tron 208, 214 clearing 31, 33, 99, 110, 115, 179 unpredictability 60, 64 word processors 14
Sprites and Sounds 182–89 decorating 51 upload 93
tempo 197 flashing 156 variables 51, 221
volume 214, 215
Sound blocks 184
position on 74
code blocks 40
Animal Race 48, 50, 51
Ask Gobo 60, 63, 64, 65, 66 XYZ
sound effects 57, 67, 105, 132, 189 see also backdrop countdown 138 x coordinates 74
Sounds tab 21, 40, 57, 124, 183, “stamp” block 26, 30, 31, 77, 106, difficulty 139, 140, 141 y coordinates 74
184, 188 108, 149–50, 170 Drumtastic 191, 193, 195 yes/no questions
special effects 13, 26, 33, 67, 78, starfield 153 experimenting with 168–69 Boolean operators 55
92, 153 “start sound” block 57, 130, 184 Fantastic Flowers 119 if then else 206
speech bubbles 61, 191 statements 221 Fractal Trees 164–65 zoom 21, 158

Acknowledgements
Dorling Kindersley would like to thank Caroline Hunt and Steph Lewis for The publisher would like to thank the following for their kind
proofreading; Helen Peters for the index; Sean Ross for help with Scratch; permission to reproduce their photographs:
Ira Pundeer for editorial assistance; Nishwan Rasool for picture research
assistance; Abhijit Dutta, Priyanka Sharma, and Mark Silas for code testing; (Key: a-above; b-below/bottom; c-centre; f-far; l-left; r-right; t-top)
and Vishal Bhatia for pre-production assistance.
134 123RF.com: Jacek Chabraszewski (b); Dreamstime.com: Pavel Losevsky
Jon Woodcock would like to thank all his code clubbers over the years for (b/background); 163 Corbis: Trizeps Photography / photocuisine (cra); NASA:
teaching him how to think in Scratch; and Matty and Amy for all their questions. (cr); Science Photo Library: SUSUMU NISHINAGA (crb); 173 NOAA: (tr)

Scratch is developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at MIT All other images © Dorling Kindersley
Media Lab. See http://scratch.mit.edu For further information see: www.dkimages.com