Easy Projects to Get Started with Scratch: Drawing 2D Shapes

I had my first computer programming experience in ninth grade. I had just moved, and my new guidance counselor persuaded me to take a computer programming class because there were no other open electives. I was dubious. It appeared that coding was either not fun, not cool, not easy, or perhaps all three.

We used a language called BASIC to learn about managing data sets, sorting lists, and computing algebraic expressions. I wasn't exactly frustrated, but I certainly wasn't hooked by line after line of green text on the solemn black screen. I found more enjoyment hypnotizing myself with the animated screensavers and playing the onboard video games rather than doing what I thought was the "real programming."

So I didn't code again until a college intro course in the language C++. It was another, even more challenging experience for me. The computing was more powerful, but the script was even more cryptic! I often felt adrift in a sea of code words and keyboard symbols -- much like a natural language such as French or Spanish, programming languages come with their own vocabulary, grammar, and syntax. Adding foreign language lessons to the extra dose of math wasn’t going to help me love programming.

This high entry barrier to the world of computer programming is not uncommon for most kids. Programming experiences typically don't appear until late in high school if not college, and perhaps the whole thing looks like a mess of semicolons and brackets to them. No wonder the U.S. is experiencing a dearth of young programming talent.

Why Wait? Let's Program Now!

Things have changed, however. A wave of new "gateway" programming languages have become available to teachers and students over the last few years, lowering the barriers for learning how to code while also broadening the view of what it means to program a computer. Building off the pioneering Logo language, the MIT Media Lab’s Lifelong Kindergarten Group developed Scratch, a programming language with graphic drag-and-drop code blocks that snap together like LEGO bricks. Code blocks are categorized by color and shape according to their function, and designed to prevent users from making dreaded syntax errors.

Scratch has quickly become the most popular programming language for kids today, partly because it was designed for learning, and partly because it's built around sharing with a huge online community. Scratchers are challenged to imagine, program, and share their coded creations with over 3.5 million other users who are eager to comment, compliment, and help each other. New stories, animations, and games are added every day, because Scratchers see programming as an interesting, playful way to express themselves.

Scratch also helps distill programming into its most pleasant and non-threatening core: just giving instructions to a computer -- that's all programming really is. My students start with Scratch in second grade, and they don't look back. By the time they're ready to graduate to more traditional languages like Python or Java, they aren't scared off by encountering hundreds of lines of text.

It was only after I was introduced to Scratch that my love of computer programming was finally born. It's fun and easy to use. The following tutorial is a brief introduction to coding with Scratch and can help young learners explore core math concepts like shape attributes and angles. We don't have to subtract anything from our curriculum to fit in computer programming and computational thinking. This is an absolute beginner's activity, so don't be shy! (If video tutorials are more your style you can watch the tutorial instead.)

Here's How

Getting to Know Scratch

1st Challenge: Draw a square.

For our first task, we'll teach our cat Sprite to draw a square on the Stage. Add the following code blocks on the left to the Scripts Area, and then click the Green Flag  to run your program and see the visual output on the right.

Did your Sprite draw a square? Guess what -- you are now a programmer! It can be as simple as that. But wait, can we make it simpler? Let's learn a clever way to get the same output with less effort.

2nd Challenge: Draw the same square using only ⅓ as many code blocks.

When you're working with students, ask them if they notice a pattern of "Move" and "Turn" blocks. We can teach the computer a simplified sequence with a "Repeat" loop.

Now we've optimized this square drawing program with a loop. That's something that computers do really well -- they can execute repetitive tasks without getting tired or bored. Let's keep going and teach the Sprite to draw a new shape.

3rd Challenge: Draw a triangle.

This is a great opportunity to talk to your students about measuring angles and degrees if they haven't yet been introduced to these concepts. You'll notice that the "Turn" value is a measurement of the exterior angle and that all three exterior angles of a triangle will add up to 360 degrees. Let's do another!

Final Challenge: Draw a simple, regular pentagon and use a mathematical "Operator" block

Wrapping Up

Remember, programming is just giving instructions to a computer. It's a simple concept but it has big implications. Teaching kids to program gives them a new sense of agency over their technology. Soon they'll grow from seeing themselves as simple consumers of technology into creative makers of technology. If they can teach their computer to draw, what else can they make it do? Think of programming not as a dry task but as a new medium for students to learn with and express their ideas.

With this first step into programming, you've explored four core computational thinking concepts: sequences, events, loops, and operators. Further posts in this series will include parallelism, conditionals, data, and more.

Here are some possible extensions for this activity:

Finally, some other Scratch educator resources: