Scratch is the block-based coding language made by the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab. You build a program by dragging blocks together instead of typing, so nothing is ever misspelt and nothing crashes — which leaves a child free to think about the idea rather than the punctuation.
Scratch is completely free, and always has been. There is nothing to buy, no subscription, and no paid version with more features. Anyone telling you otherwise is selling something MIT gives away.
This is the age where a child can finish something and show it to somebody. Every project here ends in a thing that works.
Full Scratch now, in the browser or the offline app.
A character dances to a beat, changing costume in time with a drum.
Build it → Project 27 blocksApples fall from the top; move the basket with the arrow keys to catch them. Each catch scores a point.
Build it → Project 35 blocksSteer a sprite through a maze you drew yourself. Touching a wall sends you back to the start.
Build it → Project 45 blocksAn illustrated story that changes backdrop and characters as it goes.
Build it →Star Blocks, this site's own language, runs inside the page with nothing to download — and teaches the same ideas.
Ask GuruAcharya Samayeshwar
