on 16 November 2017
Here are the activities that each group will be working on today:
Newcomers
If you are new to CoderDojo and new to computer programming this is where you start:
Scratch 1 (Beginner)
This group is for people who want to learn Scratch but have never done it before or who have only done a little bit of Scratch. Make sure you sign in to Scratch so that you can save your work.
Escape Game
This week you will create an escape game in which a player must avoid other sprites that move randomly. Users increase their score by avoiding these sprites. Click on the link below and follow the instructions in the videos. Try to complete ALL five of the Add-Ons on the final step.
Click here for instructions for the Escape Game project
After you have completed all 5 add-ons try making some of your own customisations to the game. Can you think of ways that you could improve the platform game?
Team up with someone else in your group and play the 2 player version of your game (that you created in one of the add-ons). Play their game too and notice if there are any differences between your version and their version of the game.
Add your project to our studio
Share your project by clicking the Share button. If you don’t see the Share button, it is because you have not confirmed your Scratch account email address. After registering for Scratch, you will have received an email with a link to confirm your account. If you cannot find the email you can resend it. To resend the email, go to your Account Settings, click the Email tab, and follow the instructions there.
After you have shared your project add it to this studio.
Scratch 2 (Intermediate & Advanced)
1. Make sure all your previous projects are shared and added to the studio for each project
Your Snake game should be added to this studio
Your Missile Command game should be added to this studio
2. Pen Project: Make a visual display set to music
Use the PEN tools to make an interesting animated display with moving shapes and patterns. Add music that compliments the visual display. You can find some music here. Make your visual display change and do different things at different points in the music to compliment the music.
If we have time we might do a ‘show and tell’ so you can show everyone what you have created!
You can get ideas for pen displays from this video tutorial:
and this Scratch tutorial:
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/84486170/
If you need a refresher on the basics of using the pen tools you can follow this tutorial:
When you’ve completed your pen project, show it to one of the mentors. Make sure it is shared and add it to this studio.
Here are some examples to give you some ideas of what is possible:
Web Development (HTML, CSS & JavaScript)
Web page layout with HTML & CSS
Follow this tutorial to learn about different layout techniques. Create a Trinket project for this and try out and experiment with all the tutorial examples in Trinket. When you are finished, download your project files from Trinket and upload them to the show case page on your website. If you have time, you can use what you have learned to lay out your showcase page and/or other pages on your website.
Introduction to Robotics
This is a new session with Nathalie. An introduction to robotics using mBot robot kits and a block programming language called mBlock which is similar to Scratch.
Raspberry Pi (with Microcontrollers and other cool stuff)
A collaborative group exploring how computers can interact with the outside world through a range of sensors and controllers. Primarily we’ll be using the Raspberry Pi (http://raspberrypi.org) computer in conjunction with Arduinos (http://arduino.cc) and along the way we’ll learn about Python, C and C++ programming, digital and analogue electronics and about working together.
Electronics, Microcontrollers and Raspberry Pi session information