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Scratch: Animation Software For Kids

An example of Logo on the Apple II

Screenshot by Syd Lexia

Back in the early eighties when yours truly was still in high school, personal computers were still the domain of social misfits with poor hygiene and the Apple II computer was the tool of choice for our computer classes. One of the things we were playing around with was Logo, a programming language with roots going back to the sixties (yikes!). The version we were using, Apple Logo, had us typing in commands such as “MOVE RIGHT 20” AND “MOVE DOWN 10” after which a little triangle shape, referred to as the “turtle” would move in the given directions and trace a line along its path. With enough patience, you could get the turtle to draw squares, spirals and all kinds of fun stuff. Trust me, back in the day, it was considered really cool.

Screenshot of the Scratch interface

Fast forward about twenty five years to the present time and kids get to build their own animations and interactive stories, essentially building simple video games. Now that little turtle I used to think is so cool looks about as hip as a game of Pong alongside the latest PS3 game. Still, I remain impressed by how far things have come along in such a short period of time, and anything that can encourage and bring out the creativity in youngsters is a pretty neat thing in my book.

Scratch is a free software developed by the tech masters at MIT, which allows kids to create animated pieces without needing to learn any programming. Finished projects can then be shared on the Web.

Unlike traditional programming where even slight mistakes in coding can lead to disastrous results, Scratch presents you with a simple graphical interface. It uses a concept similar to Lego, in which elements can only fit together in certain ways. For example, you select or draw a character, then assign attributes such as motion or sounds. Each type of attribute is represented by a color coded piece with a description, such as “move right 10”. That piece can then be combined with other movement descriptors, sounds or interactive behaviors. You have to literally fit each attribute module into one another, making the process pretty much idiot proof.

Obviously, if your child is extremely young, the interface may be too overwhelming regardless of its inherent ease of use, but with some help and patience kids can create some pretty cool animations.

This is a fantastic tool for creating simple animations that has opened up a whole new realm of creative expression for kids and the young at heart, well done MIT!