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🚀 Lesson 1.3: Your First Project — Make the Cat Move & Talk

Time to actually build something! In this lesson you'll code the Scratch cat to walk across the stage and say hello when you click the green flag — your first real program.

📚 What You'll Learn

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

  • Drag, drop, and snap blocks together to build a script
  • Start a program with the “when 🟩 clicked” event
  • Combine Motion and Looks blocks to make a sprite act
  • Test, tweak, and troubleshoot a simple project
  • Coach your child through building it themselves

Estimated Time: 40 minutes  •  Project: a moving, talking cat

Ages 5–7 (with help) Ages 8–11 Ages 12+
In This Lesson

🎬 What we're building

Here's the finished program. Don't worry about how yet — this is our destination. When you click the green flag, the cat will walk to the right and greet you.

Three blocks. That's a complete, working program. Let's build it one block at a time.

💡 Before you start

Open a fresh project at scratch.mit.edu → Create. Make sure the cat (Sprite1) is selected in the sprite list, so your blocks land on the cat.

🎓 Learn It: Build it step by step

  1. Start with an Event

    Click the gold Events category. Drag “when 🟩 clicked” into the middle code area. This is the "hat" that starts your program.

    when ⚑ clicked

  2. Add some Motion

    Click the blue Motion category. Drag “move 10 steps” so it snaps underneath the hat block (you'll see a grey shadow when it's about to connect — let go there).

    when ⚑ clicked
    move 10 steps

    Now click the green flag. The cat scoots a tiny bit! Ten steps is small — we'll make it bigger soon.

  3. Make it talk

    Click the purple Looks category. Drag “say Hello! for 2 seconds” so it snaps below the move block.

    when ⚑ clicked
    move 10 steps
    say Hello! for 2 seconds

  4. Type your own words & a bigger move

    Click the white oval that says Hello! and type your own message, like Hello! I'm Scratch Cat. Then click the 10 in the move block and change it to 50 so the walk is easier to see.

    when ⚑ clicked
    move 50 steps
    say Hello! I'm Scratch Cat for 2 seconds

✅ That's it — you built a program!

Click the green flag. The cat walks right and says hello. You just wrote software. 🎉

🎓 Learn It: Run & understand it

Click the green flag to run it; click the red stop to end it. Here's what happens, in order — this ordering is called a sequence, the most basic idea in all of coding:

flowchart TD A["🟩 Green flag clicked"] --> B["Cat moves 50 steps to the right"] B --> C["Cat says your message for 2 seconds"] C --> D["Program ends"] style A fill:#FFBF00,color:#4d3800,stroke:#333 style B fill:#4C97FF,color:#fff,stroke:#333 style C fill:#9966FF,color:#fff,stroke:#333 style D fill:#e2e8f0,color:#1e293b,stroke:#333

Scratch runs blocks top to bottom, one after another. Change the order and you change the behavior — put "say" before "move" and the cat talks first, then walks. Try it!

🐛 Cat stuck at the edge?

Each green-flag click moves the cat 50 more steps, so it may march off the edge. To send it back to the start, drag the cat on the stage with your mouse, or add a Motion block “go to x: 0 y: 0” right after the hat to reset its position each run.

🛠️ Try It: Make it yours

The best learning happens when you change things and see what breaks or delights. Try these mini-challenges:

🎨 Easy

  • Change the message to a joke.
  • Change 50 to 200 — where does the cat end up?
  • Add a second “say” block for a reply.

🔥 A bit more

  • From Sound, add “start sound Meow” after the move.
  • From Looks, add “change size by 25”.
  • Add “turn ↻ 15 degrees” for a tipsy walk.
💡 Challenge: make the cat walk and look like it's walking

The cat has two costumes. Add a Looks block “next costume” between move and say, and run it a few times — the legs switch! (In Module 2 we'll make this loop smoothly for real walking animation.)

when ⚑ clicked
move 50 steps
next costume
say Hello! I'm Scratch Cat for 2 seconds

🐛 Common problems & fixes

What you seeLikely causeFix
Nothing happens on green flagBlocks aren't snapped together, or wrong sprite selectedCheck blocks connect with no gaps; select the cat in the sprite list
Cat moves but doesn't talkThe “say” block isn't attached under the othersDrag it until it snaps beneath the move block
Cat walks off-screenIt keeps moving 50 more each runAdd “go to x: 0 y: 0” after the hat, or drag the cat back
Cat is upside-down after turningRotation styleIn the sprite info, set rotation to “left-right” (we'll cover this later)
Bugs aren't failures — they're the normal, healthy middle of coding. Model calm curiosity: "Interesting! Why do you think it did that?"

🌱 Growth mindset: "It doesn't work… yet"

Professional programmers spend more time fixing code than writing it. Every bug you just hit is the same kind they hit — you're doing the real thing. When something breaks, try adding the word yet: "I can't make the cat talk… yet." Say it out loud in front of your child. Kids copy how grown-ups react to mistakes far more than anything we tell them about mistakes.

💬 Teach It: Coach your child through it

Now hand it over. You've done the build once, so you can guide without taking over. The magic words are questions, not instructions.

Run it as a treasure hunt, not a dictation

Instead of "drag the move block," try:

"We want the cat to walk. Which color do you think has moving blocks? …Let's look in the blue ones. See anything that says move?"

Let them own the fun parts

  • The message is theirs. Let them type anything (within reason) in the “say” block — this is where they light up.
  • The number is theirs. Let them pick how many steps and discover big vs. small.
  • The green flag is theirs. They press GO. Every single time.

👧 Ages 5–7

You handle the dragging if needed; they choose the words and press GO. Keep it to the three-block version. Celebrate loudly.

🧒 Ages 8–11

They do all the dragging. Offer the "make it yours" challenges. Ask "what should happen next?" and let them lead.

🧑 Ages 12+

Give the goal, not the steps: "Make the cat cross the stage and say two things." Let them puzzle it out; jump in only if stuck.

🌟 End on a high

Finish by having them show the project to someone — a sibling, grandparent, a video call. Presenting their creation turns "I made a thing" into "I'm someone who makes things."

🎯 Quick Check

Question 1: Which block should be at the top of the script so it runs when you press the green flag?

Question 2: Scratch runs the blocks in a stack…

Question 3: Your child's cat won't talk, though it moves. Best first check?

📓 Learning Journal

Take five minutes to write it down

A notebook, a notes app, or the back of an envelope — anything works. Writing things down helps them stick, and later you'll be able to look back and see how far you've come.

  1. Key concepts: In your own words, what is a sequence? Why does the order of blocks matter?
  2. What clicked: Which moment made you think "oh, I get it"? Snapping blocks together? The cat actually moving?
  3. Questions & confusion: What still feels fuzzy? (Write it down now — a later lesson will probably answer it.)
  4. Ideas to try: One thing you'd like the cat to do that you don't know how to do yet.
  5. Progress & feelings: How did it feel to write your first program? How did your child react when they pressed the green flag?

💡 Teach It tip: Give your child their own "coder's notebook." Even one drawing of what their cat did is a great first entry.

Summary & Module 1 Complete 🎉

🎓 Key Takeaways

  • Programs start with an Event block like “when 🟩 clicked”.
  • You build by dragging blocks so they snap into a top-to-bottom stack — a sequence.
  • Combine Motion and Looks to make a sprite act; edit the white ovals to change words and numbers.
  • Bugs are normal. Coach with questions and let your child own the creative choices.

🏆 You finished Module 1!

You went from "what is this?" to building and teaching a real program. You are officially your child's coding buddy.

🏅 What You've Accomplished

  • Built, ran, and changed a real program
  • Fixed your first bugs
  • Coached your child through building it themselves

📋 Before the Next Lesson

  • Save or File → Save to your computer your cat project
  • Let your child change the message three more times
  • Write your journal entry

❓ Common Questions at This Stage

My child wants to skip ahead to making a game. Should I let them?

Let them explore freely — curiosity is the fuel. But keep coming back to the lessons. Games are built from exactly the sequences, loops, and choices in Module 2, so a little patience now pays off quickly.

I felt slow. Is that normal?

Completely. Dragging and snapping feels clumsy for the first hour for everyone. By Lesson 2.2 it will feel automatic. It's a marathon, not a sprint.

Do I need to memorize where every block lives?

No. The colors do the remembering for you: blue moves, purple looks, gold starts things. You'll learn the rest just by using them.

🔭 Looking Ahead

In Module 2: Core Coding Concepts, this one-shot action becomes living behavior — timing that feels natural, loops that repeat, and choices with if/then. Your cat is about to get a lot more interesting.

💛 Encouragement for the Journey

A week ago this was a mystery. Today you wrote software and taught it to someone you love. That's not a small thing — keep going.

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