Scratch Jr

Scratch Jr is a programming language specifically designed for 5-7 year olds. Scratch Jr is the sibling of the web based software Scratch. With the Scratch software, kids can create stories, interactive games, collages, or anything they can imagine!

Scratch Jr is designed to match the cognitive abilities of young children and provides an entry point for everybody, regardless of where they are at with their learning and abilities.

Kids love the digital storyboard concept, the colorful icons and built-in characters. With Scratch, they become the storytellers, the directors of the next great adventure.

Recommended Ages	Prep to Year 2 (ages 5 to 7)
Product Cost	Free
Where to Purchase	Google Play Store and Apple App Store

Activities

storytelling

Resources

Scratch Jr Blocks Guide (pdf)

Tips

What are the differences with Scratch Jr?

Scratch Jr is optimized for tablets using the touch interface, while Scratch is designed for PCs using a mouse

Blocks stack left to right instead of up and down. The blocks also take on a similar size in width and height. Looping blocks such as “repeat” loop above and over blocks placed in the loop.

There are less block categories and types of blocks, containing the blocks most used by 5-7 year olds. There are no conditional (if/else), variables or mathematic blocks compared to Scratch.

Broadcasts are limited to 6 broadcasts on each page which are identified by a colour, keeping it simple for kids.

Pages are known as Scenes in Scratch and like a book, a page contains characters and a background. Scratch Jr is limited to only 4 pages.

Paint Editor is simplified in Scratch Jr.

Sound recording is limited to around a minute each and each character can only have up to 5 recorded sounds.

What are the timings/measurements used in Scratch Jr?

The stage is divided up into a grid, 20 squares wide and 15 squares high

Each step in a motion block (up, down, left, right) is moving 1 grid square in distance

When using the Rotate left/right block, each step is 30 degrees. A full rotation is 12 steps

The delay block times each step as a tenth of a second. To delay your script for 1 second, you need to use 10 steps