This is an 18 minute video tutorial for my 1st and 2nd grade coding club students, demonstrating how to use the draw tools in Scratch Jr (for iPad) and add some basic blocks to make characters (sprites) interact.
This is based on a lesson included in the book, “The Official ScratchJr Book: Help Your Kids Learn to Code” by Marina Umaschi Bers (@marinabers) and Mitch Resnick (@mres).
I added this video tutorial to a YouTube playlist which includes other PBS Scratch Jr. videos I’ve made along with my husband, Wes Fryer (@wfryer).
Last year I taught several coding clubs for elementary students using “regular” Scratch, and those resources are available on my school teacher website: mrsfryer.casady.org/home/scratch.
I will introduce this snowman activity in Scratch Jr. this week to my 1st and 2nd graders. This is our third meeting. In the first two classes, I introduced coding vocabulary and basic movements through several “unplugged” (offline) activities inspired by Code.org’s “CS Fundamentals Unplugged” lessons. I also used these offline coding activities after Christmas break with my 3rd grade language arts students.
If you use this tutorial with your own students, have questions or feedback, please reach out to me on Twitter @sfryer!