Scratch

I have a feeling that it will not be easy to work with scratch for the littler ones -- a lot of it depends on their ability to read. I'm going to be experimenting with my 1st graders in the next week or so and I have a feeling that it will work out pretty well for them at the most basic level. I have my 5-year-old daughter in a PreK class at my school as well and she would be lost even though she knows more basics about computers than other children her age.

In the computer classes I teach (once every other week for half an hour for each student), I focus on things like basic keyboarding and mousing skills. I have a PreK-3 class which they've done nothing but play with the wonderful GPL paint program TuxPaint. They *still* get confused pretty easily. I don't know much about your situation, but IMHO I would try Scratch with the 6-year-olds if they've got sufficient reading skills and focus on the basics for the younger ones -- I think it's a great idea that you'd like to try it with them, but my only concern as a PreK parent and PK3-6th computer teacher is that you'd be setting yourself up for a lot of frustration. Whatever you decide to do, I wish for you the best. 

Logo is available with blocks that aren't much different from scratch's.
Any kid who can learn logo can learn scratch---in fact, the entry barrier for scratch is somewhat lower.

You will have to go slowly, not giving them the whole thing at once, but I think scratch is feasible for brighter 5 year olds.  (I'm less certain about 3 year olds---I would not be putting kids that young in front of a screen.)

That said, I limited my Tech Club to 4th grade and up, though the limitation was more due to the number of machines available and the time it takes to teach kids, not whether or not they are capable younger.

If a young kid just wants to draw on the computer, I think that KidPix makes a better tool than scratch.

Maybe three is too young as you say above (although am trying stuff out on my own children). I know my six year old would love to create simple games so for 5-6 year olds so I am thinking of creating two simple sprites in scratch one of which  you control to chase the other (or vice versa).
The kids in the computer club could draw or choose the background and then import the two sprites into scratch changing the costumes to their own design and viola - they will have created their own game.
Another option (maybe more for girls) is to have a choice of backgrounds  and a selecton of sprite characters that they move around to create a story so each sprite just has movement and speech bubbles.
I feel that 5-6 year olds should be able to handle the motons section in scratch - perhaps moving on to variables. Not sure about when to bring in iteraton.
For the drawing (and the youngest), I could look at kidpix but it is not free so I need to look around for something smilar.

redware wrote:

Maybe three is too young as you say above (although am trying stuff out on my own children). I know my six year old would love to create simple games so for 5-6 year olds so I am thinking of creating two simple sprites in scratch one of which  you control to chase the other (or vice versa).
[...]
I feel that 5-6 year olds should be able to handle the motons section in scratch - perhaps moving on to variables. Not sure about when to bring in iteraton.
For the drawing (and the youngest), I could look at kidpix but it is not free so I need to look around for something smilar.

My six-year-old is creating simple animations and games in Scratch.  When he gets stuck, he gets help from his ten-year-old sister or from me.

BTW, I love being able to tell people that my ten-year-old is helping my six-year-old with his programming. Thanks, Scratch team!

I don't think that Scratch is quite right for the average three year old.  There's another interesting question here, though: What would be a good programming language for three year olds?

We could maybe start experimenting with even more reduced dialects of Scratch.  Here's a sketch off the top of my head: Have just six colors (the primaries & secondaries), and instead of an "if" block you have to put a "touching color X" block into, just have six blocks with the six colors.  That'd be enough flow control.  Then into those you could put a handful of ways to respond: Bounce away, play a sound, etc.  The goal would be to make a situation where you could create complex interactions with just a few blocks, & there would be many more right answers than wrong answers.  I'm sure we can make languages to fit everyone's abilities.

<3

My six year old is also doing animations and games using Scratch. At first he did all the design - the background, the sprites and the costumes, and I did the programming, but I talked through what I was doing and showed him the blocks. I wanted to build up slowly, but he wanted to just dive in with BIG projects, so we did, lol!
We've only done 4 projects, and already he is trying things out on his own. He's managed to create a short adventure animation, which he is delighted with.
I think Scratch could be used to very great effect with the 5-6 age group.

For my 2 year old, I would rather create programs for him to interact with.
We also use TuxPaint for drawing, which is great and FREE. We've created pictures which we've imported into Scratch as backgrounds and stamps which we can use as sprites.

I have tried stuff out now on a couple of children aged 6 and 7 and they seem to grasp sequence, iteration, and control statements fine when taught in the context of moving a sprite around the stage.

I have created a set of notes for parents/teachers/club facilitators to follow in a series of lessons designed to teach both scratch and computer programming principles. PLEASE take a look at http://www.redware.com/scratch/ and give me some feedback (you can download a windows helpfile to take to class with you if you have no internet where you teach).

I first demonstrated creating an application and then got them to create their own application from scratch immediately afterwards. They remembered the concepts into the next day and I am very pleased with their progress, So I would say definately it is possible to teach scratch to six year olds ~(I am of course interested because my children are not yet 8 years old).

I think now the issue is to suggest projects for them to build which will keep them interested. I am starting with a name application where they animate sprites with the letters of ther name.

Regarding 3-5 year olds - I am sticking with onekey logo (also at http://www.redware.com/logo/) and prebuilt applications.

Last edited by redware (2007-06-06 17:53:14)

I thought I would interject here.  I think that age is irrelevant when it comes to these things - the child will know when he/she is ready, and as a parent/educator, you will know too.

I have a 4 year old who has been reading since last summer, when he was 3.  He plays chess, and he loves computer games.  Of course, he plays outside too, and does all those things that 4 year olds do, but given a choice between playing chess and playing T-Ball, he would rather play chess.

He has recently started toying around with Scratch.  His favorite is when I help him cut out a digital picture of himself ("Don't cut my arm off, Daddy!") and then he throws a ball to the Cat.  He likes recording his voice ("Here it comes!"), and playing it "When Mikey clicked". 

Would I do that with any other 4 year old? Probably not.  But as his father, it is my job - and delight - to feed the interests that he shows, so that he can make decisions with more information as he grows.

And besides, at least I am better than him at this, since I can't seem to beat him at chess!!!  :+))

Mike.

kevin_karplus wrote:

If a young kid just wants to draw on the computer, I think that KidPix makes a better tool than scratch.

your right, KidPix is good, my 7 year old brother does it ALL the time

Chess your son plays chess!!!! Im 14 and i dont know how to play chess lol!!! I am teaching my younger brother how to use scratch and he likes it but he gets frustrated if he cant do something 

Lanie624, archmage: it's so cool you're trying to teach Scratch to your younger brothers! I am curious, how do you guys teach Scratch to them? I think the Scratch Team and other Educators would love to know about your experiences teaching Scratch. I am sure we can learn a lot from you! Please share