Scratch For Kids For Dummies

CHAPTER 3

Design Scratch Animals

Thanks to Scratch, you can have as many pets as you want, from a hamster to a hippopotamus to a hippogriff. In fact, a hippogriff would be the perfect logo for Scratch, don’t you think? You can look at a hippogriff as a mix of an eagle and a horse — way more Scratchy than a plain orange cat!

Most of you can draw a horse, a lion, or a dragon, but with Scratch, you can easily populate the savannah with dozens of lions or fill the sky with 300 dragons.

In those other how-to books, a digital paint lesson would begin with a simple creature like an ant, but not this book. A true dummy would start with a rather complicated animal like a ferocious turtle! What, you think that’s a joke? Not in my backyard, where I have seen a snapping turtle as large as a trash can lid and as fearless as a math teacher!

Create a Great Turtle

It’s up to you whether to work in the Offline Scratch Editor or to work online. If this is your first time using Scratch, check out Chapter 1 for guidance.

1. Go to scratch.mit.edu or open the Scratch 2 Offline Editor.
2. If you are online, click Create in the blue toolbar. If offline, select File ⇒ New.
3. Name your project. (Online, type Turtle into the Untitled text box; offline, select File ⇒ Save As and type Turtle.)

Let’s start this Scratch safari by shooing away an animal. As soon as you create a new project, delete that cat! Hold ...