New to Scratch or ready to learn about some of the features of the platform? Our Getting Started guide and tutorials are the perfect place to begin!

The Scratch online community is a global space where young people can create, share, and receive feedback from others around the world. It is a unique aspect of our coding platform that we encourage users to explore.

Scratch pioneered block-based programming, enabling young people to learn to code creatively and interactively. Creating Scratch projects fosters the development of computational and creative thinking skills that are critical for future success: learners identify problems, break them into smaller parts, debug them, and iterate on solutions.

Over the years, we’ve loved seeing the unique, exciting strategies educators use to explore Scratch and creative learning in their classrooms, clubs, and beyond. To learn more about our Creative Learning Philosophy, see our guide that lays out our guiding stars and includes a trove of facilitation tips and recommended reading. And we encourage you to explore the variety of Creative Learning Materials in our Learning Library (including lesson plans, coding cards, and educator guides).

When we adapt/remix or develop a creative coding activity/lesson, we look to:

• Design for tinkering and learning through play
• Design spaces for learners to bring themselves in and see themselves in the lesson (considerations we call the 4/5 P’s): Peers, Passion, Projects, Play, and Purpose
• Allow multiple pathways of engagement to foster a wide diversity of projects and support different experience levels (what we call low floors, wide walls, high ceilings or the “house model”)
• Create opportunities that naturally guide learners through the creative learning spiral (an iterative process of imagining, creating, playing, sharing, reflecting, and imagining again) by building in time and opportunities to play, share. and reflect

As facilitators, we want to support playful learning and tinkering mindset values, so that participants can:

• Engage playfully in projects that are meaningful to them and elicit joy
• Collaborate with peers to experiment, share, and celebrate ideas
• Develop a mindset that is comfortable with the discomfort of getting stuck (making room for risk and iteration)
• Develop a mindset that thinks critically about strategies for getting unstuck (saving space for the process to start again or help them imagine what’s next)

Six posters showing all the primary blocks, the project editor, extension blocks, as well as Makey Makey, micro:bit, and Vernier hardware diagrams and blocks.

Worksheets to help learners imagine, plan, iterate, and reflect throughout all of the phases of their project’s development.

Debugging is finding and fixing issues or errors in your code that result in it not working as expected or at all. Issues are often called bugs. Use these strategies to find bugs and fix problems.

Reflection is an important part of the Creative Learning Spiral. Use these sheets to facilitate project sharing and reflection on the creative process in your classroom.

Share with your learners and their families for a brief desription of Scratch and a helpful place to note their username and password.