Scratch – Programming For Kids
Tuesday 15 May 2007 - Filed under Code
This looks neat – Scratch is a “free programming tool that allows anyone to create their own animated stories, video games and interactive artworks“.
The site is getting hammered right now as this story was on Digg and the BBC site but it looks interesting, especially if you have kids. Abby loves working on the computer – and especially likes creative programs like TuxPaint. I’m certainly going to check this out. The BBC article also mentions HacketyHack which calls itself “the Coder’s Starter Kit”. Its built around Ruby and appears targeted at slightly older kids than Scratch.
Remember the days of plugging in the old Commodore into the TV set for some late night monochromatic programming. Those were the days! :)
2007-05-15 » Jim Priest
16 May 2007 @ 12:30 am
Thanks a ton for this – my 4-yr-old has learned a lot taking photos of himself on Photo Booth (comes with iMac) and will love Scratch. I posted about it on my “fun for kids” blog ad gave a shout-out back to you. Rad blog, and again, thanks.
10 June 2007 @ 12:57 am
I have been teaching my seven year old to program and he likes scratch (although he prefers playing harry potter). I have posted some course notes for parents and teachers at http://www.redware.com/scratch/.
24 January 2008 @ 8:35 am
For anyone finding this old post check out the new kids section on DZone: http://kids.dzone.com/