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The Official ScratchJr Book: Help Your Kids Learn to Code
ScratchJr is a free, introductory computer programming language that runs on iPads and Android tablets. Inspired by Scratch, the wildly popular programming language used by millions of children worldwide, ScratchJr helps even younger kids create their own playful animations, interactive stories, and dynamic games.
The Official ScratchJr Book is the perfect companion to this free app and makes coding easy and fun for all. Kids learn to program by connecting blocks of code to make characters move, jump, dance, and sing.
Each chapter includes several activities that build on one another, culminating in a fun final project. These hands-on activities help kids develop computational-thinking, problem-solving, and design skills. In each activity, you'll find:
Step-by-step, easy-to-follow directions Ways to connect the activity with literacy and math concepts Tips for grown-ups and teachers Creative challenges to take the learning furtherBy the end of the book, kids will be ready for all sorts of new programming adventures!
162 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 25, 2015
48 people are currently reading
84 people want to read
About the author
Marina Umaschi Bers
11 books5 followersDr. Marina Umaschi Bers is a professor at the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development at Tufts University, with a secondary appointment in the Computer Science Department. She heads the interdisciplinary DevTech research group. Her research involves the design and study of innovative learning technologies to promote young children’s positive development. She also developed and serves as director of the graduate professional development certificate on Early Childhood Technology at Tufts University.
Dr Bers co-developed the free ScratchJr programming language, and created the KIBO robotic kit.To make KIBO widely available, she co-founded a start-up, KinderLab Robotics, Inc . As of 2020, KIBO can be found in over 61 countries. Furthermore, Singapore and Argentina have launched national programs including it. Dr Bers is the author of six books on the topic of children, new technologies and education, and many peer-reviewed journal articles. She is a pioneer in the field of early childhood technology with projects of national and international visibility and she has received multiple awards for her work, including the 2005 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). She currently serves as content director for the upcoming Wombats! animated show produced by WGBH Boston to air through PBS.
Since the late 90’s, when she did her doctoral work at the MIT Media Lab with Seymour Papert, Dr. Bers has conceived and designed diverse technological tools ranging from robotics to virtual worlds. Her early projects focused on helping teenagers explore issues of identity and values in complex, multicultural societies and her current work focuses on early childhood settings.
Dr Bers co-developed the free ScratchJr programming language, and created the KIBO robotic kit.To make KIBO widely available, she co-founded a start-up, KinderLab Robotics, Inc . As of 2020, KIBO can be found in over 61 countries. Furthermore, Singapore and Argentina have launched national programs including it. Dr Bers is the author of six books on the topic of children, new technologies and education, and many peer-reviewed journal articles. She is a pioneer in the field of early childhood technology with projects of national and international visibility and she has received multiple awards for her work, including the 2005 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). She currently serves as content director for the upcoming Wombats! animated show produced by WGBH Boston to air through PBS.
Since the late 90’s, when she did her doctoral work at the MIT Media Lab with Seymour Papert, Dr. Bers has conceived and designed diverse technological tools ranging from robotics to virtual worlds. Her early projects focused on helping teenagers explore issues of identity and values in complex, multicultural societies and her current work focuses on early childhood settings.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 27, 2015
Not sure if I am giving a 5 to the book or the app. The Scratchjr app is fantastic and a great way to introduce young children to the logic and algorithmic thinking behind coding. I did work through all the activities and they are clear, easy-to-follow with each chapter building on the skills/concepts from the previous chapter. The book has some great suggestions to extend the learning and connect with literacy activities. However, the help on the app itself is fantastic, so you don't need the book to learn Scratchjr. The book is actually for adults; this book is not an early-reader.
October 9, 2018
I love this book and refer to it all the time. I've been teaching ScratchJr at the library and this has great lesson plan ideas, easy step by step instructions, and great ways to lead children into collaborative learning. This is a MUST read.
February 7, 2021
Many of you may be familiar with Scratch if you've got kids about 15 or so years old or younger. It's the hot language for the elementary and (in some places) middle school set to teach programming. It's particularly great for the younger kids because programming takes place using blocks that slot into each other. This allows for the kids not to have to worry about spelling or curly braces or semicolons. You just plug blocks into each other and code. I scoffed at it at first until I saw the complex programs kids can create with Scratch. Scratch Jr is almost exactly the same thing, except it's for younger kids and it's a tablet program.
I went through this book with my five year old twins. My son was a bit too impatient and bounced out halfway through. My daughter stuck with it and make it all the way through the final big project at the end. The book is written as if speaking to the children, but each chapter has a "for grownups" section that gives some advice for how to take the chapter's lessons a bit further. It seems targeted at educators, but shouldn't be any trouble for parents to use (as I did) as long as you aren't someone for whom technology seems to be bewildering. There are TONS of images showing you exactly what to do for the base program. From there it should be easy to extrapolate for the challenge programs. The authors have done an amazing job here and I can't think how they could have done any better.
As I said in a review for another programming book for kids (and on my blog) I believe I tried to get my oldest into programming the wrong way - with a kids book on Python programming. While Python is an extremely easy language to learn, it was a little too much to learn programming concepts at the same time as learning to type and specific syntax. If you have a child in your life who's about 5-7 years old, this book is a perfect introduction into programming. Almost everyone has a tablet nowadays, so it even works if the family doesn't have a desktop or laptop computer. If they really enjoy it, feel free to graduate the kid to Scratch. (You can program it online or download offline programs if you have an inconsistent Internet connection) Every kid is different (I began my programming journey when I was 8 (decades ago) with BASIC), but I would wait to introduce them to Python or Ruby until they're 11 or so.
I went through this book with my five year old twins. My son was a bit too impatient and bounced out halfway through. My daughter stuck with it and make it all the way through the final big project at the end. The book is written as if speaking to the children, but each chapter has a "for grownups" section that gives some advice for how to take the chapter's lessons a bit further. It seems targeted at educators, but shouldn't be any trouble for parents to use (as I did) as long as you aren't someone for whom technology seems to be bewildering. There are TONS of images showing you exactly what to do for the base program. From there it should be easy to extrapolate for the challenge programs. The authors have done an amazing job here and I can't think how they could have done any better.
As I said in a review for another programming book for kids (and on my blog) I believe I tried to get my oldest into programming the wrong way - with a kids book on Python programming. While Python is an extremely easy language to learn, it was a little too much to learn programming concepts at the same time as learning to type and specific syntax. If you have a child in your life who's about 5-7 years old, this book is a perfect introduction into programming. Almost everyone has a tablet nowadays, so it even works if the family doesn't have a desktop or laptop computer. If they really enjoy it, feel free to graduate the kid to Scratch. (You can program it online or download offline programs if you have an inconsistent Internet connection) Every kid is different (I began my programming journey when I was 8 (decades ago) with BASIC), but I would wait to introduce them to Python or Ruby until they're 11 or so.
August 2, 2020
This book is written in a step by step manner to introduce coding for the kids.... Parents or teachers must read this book before teaching coding to the children....
November 29, 2016
Great. A 9yo can navigate the entire book and all the challenges alone. A 7yo, not a reader, needed a human navigator but got the hang of the programming very quickly. Scratch Jr. is enjoyable to them and entertaining. They take pride in what they build and the creativity flows freely.
August 7, 2016
What a fun book! I can see K-2 students would love it.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews