Scratch is a new programming language developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab, that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -- and share your creations on the web.
Scratch is designed to help young people (ages 8 and up) develop 21st century learning skills. There are learning cards and tutorials to help your child get started.
http://scratch.mit.edu/
The site is a fascinating look into minds of children in this age group and the language they use.
Many years ago the flower people thought they were `radical’ because they used words like `Hip’ and `Groovy’. The words used in the forum are fascinating. The spelling is also extraordinary.
Users of Scratch have several pages of commands that they can call on to manipulate objects and create a wide variety of games.
The site is well documented with a variety of fascinating research papers that parents will enjoy reading.
If anyone does create a project please let us know.
As an organisation many years ago we used to teach programming. In fact a father told me a few weeks ago that he had computer lessons from us as a ten year old. He had been given a course of lessons for Christmas. He heads a computer agency today!
We hope you enjoy the `Scratch’ ride.
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