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Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children

scratch.mit.edu

61–70 of 397 posts

Re: Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children

#61
I love that my son enjoys scratch, but I wish there was some way to have parental controls on the social aspects of it! I am a little uncomfortable with the fact that random users have messaged my son and there really isn't anything I can do besides periodically logging in myself

Re: Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children

#62
post #14

My 9 year old daughter surprised me yesterday with her little game made with Scratch. I was impressed. I surprised her back when I did user-testing haha. She discovered the fun world of bugs and user's doing things they shouldn't!

> I surprised her back when I did user-testing Wait till she gets tough PR reviews. This block is ugly, and our team does not like looking at it :P

AND This damn kid WORKS FROM HOME every darn day and doesnt even let me know on Slack!

Re: Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children

#63

I find Scratch so confusing. So many menu options, drop downs , select here click here. Very frustrating experience. I don't think my child (8 years old) learns coding from it. I'm trying to find away to introduce him to Basic. But he looses interest once he sees just lines. Scratch is flashy and things can be moved and clicked which is what the kids are used now, but I just don't see any educational or fun value add…

honestly, you don't need to use the menus much at all. it's mostly just drag and drop from the block pallette. this thing has been specifically designed to be easy for kids to use, and all the evidence is that it has worked amazingly well.

Re: Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children

#65
post #28

My 4 year old made his first program using Scratch Jr. What was this program? He made a story where cats jump up and down 25 times and then walk away. He recorded sound effects for the cats that repeated as the cats jump. It’s simple but offers so much more of a creative outlet than games/educational apps aimed at his age group.

Thanks for mentioning this option -- much easier to use for early readers!

Re: Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children

#67
post #50

Folks here who used scratch with their kids, what is the next step after scratch? How did you introduce a language/platform to your kid? I have introduced python and my kid is able to pick it up, but am unable to come up with projects that sustain interest. It feels dry without UI and one shouldn't be doing web dev with python too. So what is the progression for python and kids?

BBC microbit is a decent transition in my experience. It gives a couple sensors and simple LED and sound output built in which helps come up with ideas for playing around with it.

The IDE also allows you to switch back and forth between scratch and, I think js or python, and see the code output of the scratch you've written.

Re: Scratch is the world’s largest coding community for children

#68
post #31

i (a 69 year old c++ dev) use it for writing interactive xmas & birthday cards - it really is great! give it a try.

For sure. Though designed for kids, Scratch is a lot of fun for adults as well. I encourage everyone to spend a little time playing with it. I think you'll be impressed.
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