Free Scratch Course for Kids: Build Your First Game in 5 Steps

Scratch is a free coding language from MIT where you snap blocks together instead of typing code. It's the best first step for kids aged about 7 to 11. In this free course your child builds a complete game, Catch the Apple, in five short steps.

Get started (free)

1. Open scratch.mit.edu in a web browser and click Create.
2. Optional: ask a parent to make a free Scratch account so you can save projects online. You can also save to your computer without an account.

Blocks live on the left, the stage (where your game plays) is on the right, and you drag blocks into the middle area to build scripts.

Step 1: Add a bowl you can move

1. Hover over the cat icon at the bottom right and choose a new sprite. Search for Bowl and add it. Delete the cat sprite (the bin icon) if you like.
2. Select the Bowl and build this script:
   • when green flag clicked
   • go to x: 0 y: -150 (the bottom middle of the stage)
3. Add two more scripts to move it:
   • when right arrow key pressed → change x by 15
   • when left arrow key pressed → change x by -15

Click the green flag and try the arrow keys. You just wrote your first program.

Step 2: Make an apple fall

1. Add the Apple sprite.
2. Build this script on the Apple:
   • when green flag clicked
   • go to x: (pick random -200 to 200) y: 170
   • forever
     • change y by -5

The apple starts at a random spot across the top and keeps falling. pick random is in the green Operators section.

Step 3: Catch it and score points

1. In Variables, click Make a Variable and name it score.
2. Change the Apple's script so the inside of the forever loop reads:
   • change y by -5
   • if touching Bowl? then
     • change score by 1
     • go to x: (pick random -200 to 200) y: 170
3. Just under when green flag clicked, add set score to 0.

Now each catch adds a point and the apple restarts at the top.

Step 4: Missed it? Game over

Inside the forever loop, add a second if block:

• if y position < -170 then
  • say "Game over!" for 2 seconds
  • stop all

(y position is in Motion and the < block is in Operators.)

Step 5: Make it harder as you go

Replace change y by -5 with change y by (-3 - score). Build it with the - block from Operators. The more apples you catch, the faster they fall.

Challenges

1. Add a Backdrop and a sound when you catch an apple (start sound in Sound).
2. Add a second falling object, like a rock, that takes away a point.
3. Give the player 3 lives instead of instant game over, using a lives variable.
4. Show "You win!" when the score reaches 20.

What your child just learned

Events (when key pressed), coordinates, loops, conditions, variables and randomness: the same core ideas behind every video game and app, and the same concepts they'll later write in Python.

Keep going for free

• The Tutorials button inside Scratch has dozens of free guided projects.
• Code.org has free, self-paced courses and Hour of Code activities.
• Ready for text coding? Try our free Python course for kids.

Want a live teacher to guide the next steps? See our Scratch course or book a free trial class.