Scratch for Kids for Dummies

by Derek Breen

Scratch is a fast, fun, and easy way to get started in computer science Do you want to make cool games, impressive animations, and become an all-around Scratch super star? You've come to the right place! Packed with full-color photos and easy-to-follow instructions, Scratch For Kids For Dummies makes it easy to get started―even if you've never attempted computer programming or coding. Inside, you'll find out how to design and develop your own games, create amazing animations, interact with the online Scratch community, and much more! There's no doubting that Scratch is fun, but it also helps you learn to think creatively, reason symmetrically, and work collaboratively―essential skills for life in the 21 st century. Best of all, the software is completely free and runs right in your web browser! With the help of this down-to-earth and friendly guide, you'll quickly discover how to choose from a library of characters, backgrounds, and props, draw your own options, and open another user's project, modify it, and publish it online―all with the click of a button. If you're looking to make the most of MIT's Scratch software but don't quite know where to start, everything you need to try your hand at this popular multimedia programming tool is right here. So what are you waiting for?

371 pages, Paperback

First published March 16, 2015

About the author

Derek Breen began his first job, a daily paper route, back in 1980 with the intention of saving up enough money to buy his first computer. He purchased a Commodore 64 computer toward the end of sixth grade and spent most of the summer before starting junior high designing sprites, learning the Basic programming language and coding rudimentary games.

Derek was introduced to Scratch while working as a summer instructor for ID Tech Camp at MIT in 2011. While he could appreciate how the software enabled younger children to quickly produce animation and simple games, the pixelated graphics and programming limitations kept him from considering using it in the high school computer science classes he was hired to teach that fall.

Then Scratch 2.0 came along and suddenly his mind was blown by all of the possibilities. The addition of vector graphics, cloning and cloud-based variables added enough power to make it a complete multimedia-authoring platform, basically Adobe Flash for kids.

Derek is a founding member of the Instructional Design and Educational Media Association (IDIEM) and is an active member of the Scratch Educator (ScratchEd) community (scratched.gse.harvard.edu). Most recently, he worked as a graphic designer on the StarLogo Nova project (www.slnova.org) at MIT, as a teaching fellow in Instructional Design at Harvard Extension school and as a curriculum developer for i2 Camp (www.i2camp.org).

Previously, Derek worked as a computer science teacher at Prospect Hills Academy in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was the owner/operator of Mod, a cybercafé and digital learning center in Charlottesville, Virginia, and served as a new media producer for KCAL9-TV in Los Angeles, California.

Reviews

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to follow instructions. Good layout. Clear pictures. Like most For Dummies books, it was incredibly helpful.