- Scratch Junior is a fun, easy-to-use platform where you can create your own games, animations, and stories using blocks. Instead of writing code, you use colorful blocks to give instructions to characters (called sprites) and make them move, talk, jump, dance and sing.
- Children can create their own characters and backgrounds, modify characters in the paint editor, add their own voices and sounds, even insert photos of themselves and then use the programming blocks to make their characters come to life. It’s like telling a digital story where you control everything!
- Whether you want to create a simple animation or an exciting game, Scratch Junior makes learning a fun adventure for kids. Let your imagination run wild and see what you can build!
Scratch Junior for Tablet and Desktop Application:
Scratch Junior is primarily designed as a tablet application to provide Touch-Friendly Interface. However, with unofficial adaptations, it can also run on desktop systems. Both let you create projects, and save to your device.
Scratch Junior for Tablets:
Scratch Junior is specifically designed for young children to drag and drop blocks using a touchscreen. Scratch Junior’s tablet app is available on popular platforms like iOS, Android, Amazon Fire, and Chromebooks with touchscreen support, ensuring it is widely accessible for children worldwide. Once downloaded, the app works without an internet connection.
Advantages:
- Kid-friendly and highly intuitive.
- Portable, allowing children to learn anywhere.
- Encourages creativity with built-in drawing tools.
Scratch Junior Desktop Application:
The ScratchJr desktop app lets you create projects without the need of internet connection. Scratch Junior is free to download. It maintains the same look and feel as the tablet version but adapts controls for use with a mouse and keyboard.
Download Scratch Junior for Desktop : https://jfo8000.github.io/ScratchJr-Desktop/
Exploring the ScratchJr Environment and Tools
When you open ScratchJr, you step into a colorful, friendly space where you can bring your ideas to life! Let’s take a tour of the ScratchJr environment and explore the tools that make coding fun.
1.ScratchJr Environment Overview
The ScratchJr interface consists of several key sections, each serving a specific purpose:
Stage Area
- What it is: This is where the action happens! The stage is the big white area in the middle where your characters (sprites) and Backgrounds are displayed. The characters can move, talk, and perform. Think of it like the screen of a movie or game!
- What you can do: Watch your project come to life here.
Programming Area
- What it is: This is where you build your block code. It’s the blank space in the bottom where you snap blocks together to give instructions to your sprites.
- What you can do: Drag blocks into the coding area to create sequences (called scripts). This tells your sprites what to do—whether it’s moving, talking, or playing sounds.
Characters Pane
- What it is: Displays the characters or objects (sprites) in the project. You can find it on the left of the Stage Area.
- What you can do: You can add, delete or select characters. You can add a sprite from the library, draw your own, or upload an image. You can add as many sprites as you like and make them interact with each other!
Pages
- What it is: It is present at the right of the stage area. It displays the pages in your project. Each page has its own stage, characters, and scripts. We should link pages to create story progression or multi-stage games.
- What you can do: Divide projects into multiple scenes or pages.
Block Categories and Blocks Palette
- What it is: This is the house that contains all the programming blocks needed to program actions. It’s on the left side of the screen below the character pane.
- What you can do: Drag a block into the programming area, then tap on it to see what it does.
Blocks are categorized by colors:
Motion Blocks (Blue) : Move, Hop, Rotate, etc.
- Look Blocks (Purple) : Show, hide, change size, etc.
- Sound Blocks (Green) : Play sounds or record custom audio.
- Control Blocks (Orange) : Start and stop actions, repeat loops.
- Triggering (Event) Blocks (Yellow) : Start scripts when specific events occur (e.g., tapping a character).
- End Blocks (Red) : Signal the end of a script.
Undo and Redo
- What it is: These editing tools are present to the right of the Block Palette. They are used to undo and redo actions.
- What you can do: If you make a mistake, you can tap Undo to go back in time, reversing the last action. Use Redo to reverse the last Undo.
Background Selector
- What it is: You can choose or customize the background to set your stage (like the background of your project).
- What you can do: Change the setting of your game or story with cool backgrounds.
Green Flag and Red Stop Sign
- What it is: The Green Flag is like the start button. It runs your project, so you can see everything in action. The Red Stop Sign is the stop button, used to end your project.
- What you can do: Click the green flag to start the fun! If you want to stop or pause your project, click the red stop sign.
Save
- What it is: It saves the current project and goes to the home screen. ScratchJr automatically saves progress as children work on their projects. This feature minimizes the risk of losing work and makes it simpler for children to focus on creating without worrying about manual saving.
- What you can do: You can click on it to save the current project and exit to the Home page. Saved projects appear in the Project Library, which can be accessed from the home screen.
Presentation Mode
- What it is: It lets children showcase their creations in a fullscreen, distraction-free environment. This mode is perfect for demonstrating interactive stories, animations, or games to an audience.
- What you can do: On clicking it you can expand the stage to the full screen.
Add Text
- What it is: This is used to add text to your projects like title to enhance storytelling and label characters.
- What you can do: On clicking it you can write titles and labels on the stage.
Reset Character
- What it is: This is used to Reset all characters to their starting positions on the stage.
- What you can do: On clicking it you can bring all characters back to their original positions or states within a project.
Project Information
- What it is: It refers to details about a child’s project, such as its name, content, and saved state. Managing project information helps organize and identify creations, especially when working on multiple projects.
- What you can do: Using this you can change the title of the project and see when the project was created.
Programming Script
- What it is: Programming Scripts are sequences of connected blocks that control how characters move, behave, and interact on the stage. These scripts enable children to bring their stories, games, and animations to life.
- What you can do: Snap blocks together to make a programming script, telling the character what it has to do. Tap anywhere on a script to make it run. To delete a block or script, drag it outside the programming area. To copy a block or script from one character to another, drag it onto the character’s thumbnail.