This post is part of a series that gives you a look inside Scratch Lab, where we help invent the future of creative coding for kids.

What if you could interact with Scratch by waving your hands in the air? You could paint a rainbow with your fingertips, make your sprites into animated puppets, play a game, cast a spell or make music with hand gestures… or whatever else you can imagine.

We’ve been prototyping a new extension called “Hand Sensing” and testing it out with kids. Hand Sensing uses on-device AI: the AI model it uses to detect hands with your webcam runs on your computer, and doesn’t send data to Scratch or anywhere else. It’s safe and private, just like our existing Face Sensing extension.

We’re using an AI model from Google that finds the position of each fingertip, along with other parts of the hand. Hand Sensing blocks use these positions to do things like move a sprite to the tip of your index finger or detect whether your hand is open or closed.

Through our own testing and Google’s fairness evaluation, we are confident that this model is not biased. The evaluation found no difference in accuracy across hand images of different genders and skin tones. Lighting conditions, gloves, objects in the hand, jewelry, henna and other obstructions can affect the accuracy.

Play Testing Results

We’ve gotten some great feedback in our play tests so far, in-person with kids at a middle school, and online with members of our Scratch Youth Advisory Board. We saw evidence that Hand Sensing is simple and understandable, following the pattern of our existing blocks: they feel familiar while opening up new possibilities.

The kids created a variety of creative projects, including a flappy bird game controlled with your hand, a shark puppet that opens and closes its mouth, a magic spell that sends a lightning bolt from your finger, and a story where you move a food truck puppet with one hand and a cat puppet with the other.

Hand Sensing is especially motivating because it gets kids moving their bodies. They waved their arms, laughed, and tried out each other’s projects. One shouted: “It meows when I open my hand!” We find that body movement leads intuitively to new ideas. And ideas that come from your own body can motivate you to persist through challenges.

Designing Hand Sensing: Puppets or Projectiles?

When we design creative tools for kids, we look for a “sweet spot” where a simple feature opens a wide range of possibilities. The “point in direction of finger” block lets you control which way your sprite is facing by bending your finger, and it’s really expressive. But during play testing, we ran into a question about exactly how it should work. And we had to ask ourselves which direction we wanted the space of possibilities to point.

What does “direction” mean in Scratch? When you create a new project, the Scratch cat sprite appears, facing to the right. Its “direction” is set to 90 degrees. If you set it to 0 degrees, the cat faces up. So one might ask, what is the direction for a finger when it’s pointing up?

In our play test, one kid attached sprites to their fingers like puppets, moving them around to act out a scene. Another kid wanted cloned sprites to flow out of a fingertip, to make a projectile or “shooting” effect. We noticed that it was easy to make the puppets work with a simple stack of blocks, because we had set the direction for a finger pointing up to be 90, which meant the puppets were facing to the side. The projectiles, on the other hand, were shooting out in the wrong direction at first (but the problem could be fixed by adding a turn block).

So which use case is more important? We want to make all sorts of projects possible, across stories, games and interactive art. But the details of a design, like how the finger direction works, can shape what’s easy and what’s hard. It feels aligned with our values to emphasize puppets over projectiles. We want to make non-violent storytelling as simple and joyful as possible.

What’s Next

We’re still working on this and other experiments at Scratch Lab, and we can’t make any promises about when or if any particular feature will be released. But we love getting feedback from the community, and that is one of the things that helps us most in pushing the work forward.

Our approach to using AI is still taking shape. One thing we can say for sure is that we care about using AI in a way that is aligned with the values of Scratch, and with what kids want and need. For that reason we’re diving into the creative possibilities of on-device AI, like Hand Sensing, among other experiments. Stay tuned for more.

If you have feedback about Scratch’s work with AI, we’d love to hear from you. Please visit our feedback form.

Inside Scratch Lab: Hand Sensing was originally published in The Scratch Team Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Scratch’s low floors and infinite creative possibilities made it an easy choice for beginner Sarah. She grew her skills making games starring a bunny character named Bobby that her classmates loved. And as she gained more coding knowledge, she realized that her talents could make an even bigger impact.

Not Just Any Video Game

Sarah grew up in rural Canada, where there weren’t many likeminded friends for her to connect and code with.

“I remember feeling super lonely … I was in a small town, and there were just not a lot of kids interested in STEM. Specifically, not a lot of girls,” she says. “In elementary school, they closed down the robotics team because they didn’t have enough funding.”

In middle school, Sarah participated in a science fair connecting kids across regions in her area. She knew she didn’t want to make “just any video game”: she was ready to make a difference.

“My next-door neighbor was blind,” she says. “So I thought of her, and I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m going to make a video game for her.’”

Sarah interviewed her neighbor about her design requirements and created her first of several audio-based Scratch games: The Hero in the Maze. Audio cues guide players through a maze with a series of challenges and obstacles, like locked doors and hidden objects. The judges loved her focus on accessibility and creative approach to game-making, and she had the chance to share her game with an entire class of students at a local school for the blind.

When she saw the room full of kids enjoying her game, everything clicked into place.

“I was like, ‘Oh my God, I can just code this thing in my room and suddenly 30 people are using it.’ That made me realize the impact you can have, or the scalability of code in general. You make it once, and you can literally distribute it infinitely,” she says. “I just wanted to keep doing it. And I wanted whatever I made to reach more and more people. … That was the biggest lesson: how powerful this stuff is and what impact you can make, good or bad.”

Open Doors & Open Source

When learning to code in Scratch, Sarah’s favorite feature was remixing: the ability to build off of someone else’s code to find out how it works and make something entirely new.

“As someone who was learning, I got to see how very [skilled] programmers approached making games, and that helped me learn,” she says. “I think, when you’re young and you’re making these projects…you should take it as a compliment if someone remixes your project. That is the highest compliment — that someone thought your work was so cool that they wanted to build on top of it.”

Sarah went on to attend McMaster University, sharpen her computer science skills, and find a community of likeminded collaborators. While there, she developed and sold her first startup platform, a coaching tool for sales teams. She’s currently working at the AI startup Composio, and she’s thrilled that her work is reaching more people than ever. Sarah embraced her remixing roots through college and beyond, and she’s still proud to contribute to and learn from open-source projects — a “give and take” that she believes is foundational to the world of software development.

Her advice to Scratchers who are just setting out on their creative journey? “Take advantage of the fact that other people are open-sourcing their projects to learn. And just be open to this as part of the software engineering community, because it only gets more and more important later in your career.”

She’d also like to encourage young coders to put themselves out there and find their community, just like she did. Researching local creative spaces like science fairs or summer camps and sharing in safe online communities like Scratch can provide young people with invaluable feedback opportunities and chances to collaborate with new friends.

“Go share your work with your friends,” Sarah says. “Make games for your friends. Make a club at your school … And to all the people out there who are hopefully going to fall in love with programming the way that I did — go for it!”

Originally published at https://scratchfoundation.org on July 9, 2026.

From Scratch to Startups: Making an Impact with Sarah Simionescu was originally published in The Scratch Team Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

I first visited Jordan’s Za’atari refugee camp in 2023. At the time, it was home to 80,000 Syrian refugees. I approached the trip as a fact-finding mission, documenting the situation within the camp to understand the challenges faced by its young inhabitants. While there, I learned that the refugees are rarely granted work permits and most survive on handouts, illegal farming, or basic trading. It quickly became apparent that borderless technology skills like coding could open doors to remote work opportunities that provide sustainable income. This inspired me to create Dust Astronauts: a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching coding and creative thinking skills and providing career resources for refugees in Za’atari and beyond, using tools like Scratch.

Two months later, I returned to Za’atari to run our first coding course. We opted to teach Scratch because of its user-friendly interface and Arabic language conversion. After a two-day program, the children produced and presented social impact games. Our work in Za’atari opened a door into an expanded relationship with the Scratch Foundation. Dust Astronauts was featured on the Scratch Team blog, and we were invited to join the 2024–2025 Scratch Education Collaborative cohort. We also commenced a working partnership with MIT Media Lab’s Lifelong Kindergarten.

This past July, I returned to the camp. Much has changed both technologically and geopolitically since our last visit. The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence has raised new questions about the future of coding. On this visit, we ran a short demonstration showing students how to use AI to supplement their code. We used Replit, a company serendipitously founded by a Jordanian who relocated to San Francisco. The difference in the students’ Scratch projects was striking: this time, their Scratch work featured more robust and interactive code. Every project involved the keyboard, moving beyond simple storytelling to create dynamic games, ranging from tag and football to catching falling fruits in a basket. I documented this visit, and the footage will be developed into another documentary that captures the creativity of these young learners and the unfolding story of refugees preparing for return.

The physical conditions in the camp had changed notably. Everything was quieter, the streets were less crowded, and many of the kids who attended our previous workshops were no longer present. We learned that about 10% of the refugees had returned to Syria, with many others preparing to make the move at the end of the school year. Regional geopolitical events have radically reshaped the lives of these young refugees. In December 2024, Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Damascus collapsed after 24 years in power. World leaders moved to reset relations: in the US, sanctions on Syria ended and the US Embassy reopened in Damascus. These shifts raise pressing questions for the people of Za’atari: will they finally return home? What future awaits them in Syria?

All of this comes against the backdrop of major shifts in humanitarian aid. Global aid organizations have cut funding to the camp, shifting resources to more immediate conflicts or to refugee resettlement operations. But for many Syrian families, returning is not so simple. According to UNHCR surveys, 75% of residents in Za’atari say they will not return. Many say there are still no jobs, no homes, and persisting danger in the south. Most children born in Za’atari are stateless, complicating return logistics.

We interviewed four residents of Za’atari about returning to Syria. One boy was born in Syria but left when he was still an infant. He said that he and his brother will return to Syria in two weeks, and that he was not at all nervous. A girl we spoke to who was born in Za’atari was more cautious. She expressed her desire to return to Syria someday, but only if the groundwork is laid for her and others to have a real future there. She pleaded with us to help send aid to Syria. Other children in the camp asked questions that reveal how different their reality is from the world outside — one asked if they would still need permission to travel around Syria as they do in Jordan.

The adults seemed more hesitant. They are realistic about the challenges: destroyed homes, lack of services, and the uncertainty of what awaits. For others, Zaatari has already become home. An older woman told me she has no plans to leave. Her husband passed away in the camp, her sister lives nearby, and she has been here for 12 years.

For the kids who do return home, an uncertain future awaits. Our mission remains as critical as ever: using technology to unlock opportunities for those who need it most. I will never forget the hopes and dreams these children shared. Many asked us to continue our coding program in Syria. We will look to arrange a trip to visit our former students in Syria once it is safe to do so, and link our alumni with mentors and employers. Dust Astronauts will continue to operate in Za’atari and follow the progress of our former refugee students. We’ll expand geographically to other refugee camps and other groups in urgent need to access Tech-enabled economic opportunities, and further integrate new innovations in AI and co-pilot coding to ensure they stay ahead of the current rapid shifts in technology. The future is challenging, but bright.

Originally published at https://scratchfoundation.org on October 28, 2025.

Return to Sender was originally published in The Scratch Team Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Safety & Security

Face Sensing balances privacy and safety with play and imagination. Face Sensing blocks have already been trained on a data set consisting of photos of faces, and will not be “learning” from Scratchers’ data or transmitting any information outside of their devices. Much like Scratch’s Video Sensing blocks, images from Scratchers’ webcams will stay securely in their own browser while they explore this new feature — never stored by or visible to the Scratch Team, the Scratch community, or anyone else.

Endless Possibilities

Face Sensing blocks can “see” where features like noses, ears, and eyes are on your head. You can use those parts of your face to perform actions, guide sprites or costumes, or anything else you can imagine. These blocks open up exciting new possibilities for Scratch projects: you can make an interactive game, like guiding a sprite around obstacles using your nose; a face filter, like a clown costume with a nose, wig, and funky glasses; or something entirely different, like an immersive aquarium where you can blow bubbles and swim with fish.

Some educators who have tried Face Sensing blocks with their students have discovered even more opportunities for Scratch projects. For some students, learning is easier when you can move your body. Face Sensing projects are inherently kinetic, inviting Scratchers to bob their heads, wiggle around, and engage physically with their projects.

We have even seen educators invite students to create their own AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) devices to support neurodiverse students. Face Sensing gives all kids alternative ways to interact with projects, making these blocks especially engaging to students who struggle with mouse and keyboard inputs.

What Will You Create?

At Scratch, we’re always working to help kids understand and explore innovative new technologies so they can discover new ways to express themselves and create what they imagine. We are so excited to see the surprising, creative, and unique ways that Scratchers bring Face Sensing to life in their projects. Create a project today to explore these new blocks, and let us know what you think!

Resources

• Lesson Plan | Exploring Scratch & AI: Possibilities & Pitfalls
• Coding Cards | Face Sensing
• Video Tutorial |

• Worksheet | Face Sensing Project Sharing
• Blog | Exploring a Creative, Safe Introduction to Machine Learning

Originally published at https://scratchfoundation.org on October 8, 2025.

New Scratch Feature: Face Sensing! was originally published in The Scratch Team Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Imagine if every child could design their own creative assistant that reflects how they think, what excites them, and how they want to learn. We’re bringing that vision to life through an AI-powered tool that puts creative control in kids’ hands. Whether they want a debugging assistant, a storytelling partner, or a discovery tool to find peers and projects, young people decide how their assistant helps them create. For nearly two decades, children have been using Scratch to create, connect, and grow. Scratch made coding creative. Now, it’s doing the same for AI.

We’re excited to announce the upcoming Creative Learning Assistant (CLA), a new, opt-in feature designed to support children as they learn and create with Scratch. The CLA offers help only when asked, guiding young creators through moments of curiosity and uncertainty while prioritizing their agency. Beyond assistance, it reimagines search and discovery as a dynamic, social, and reflective experience that surfaces surprising ideas, enables personalized exploration, and amplifies peer connection. With the CLA, every child can find the right inspiration at the right time for them.

Meet Scratch’s CLA

Scratchers create nearly half a million projects every day, and they need a wide range of support: some could use a little assistance to find out why their code isn’t working the way they want it to, while others are stuck imagining what to create. Three in four Scratchers never share a project, hampering their ability to find support and connections within the community. We’re envisioning a different path forward. With the help of a creative co-pilot, Scratchers will be supported through every stage of the creative learning spiral: Imagine → Create → Play → Share → Reflect. Unlike conventional AI tools that focus on efficiency or automation, the CLA is built to nurture curiosity, spark ideas, and deepen learning.

Research shows that when kids connect with peers in positive digital spaces, their sense of well-being soars. That’s why we’re designing our CLA to bring Scratchers together. Imagine a child who loves to dance, stuck wondering how others sync up their animations to music in Scratch. Our CLA can break her question down into manageable steps that guide her to learn from her peers in the community. It may start by recommending she check out a dance party animation made by a fellow Scratcher. Then, it could prompt her to open the project’s code and explore the scripts that help the characters move in time to the beat. Once she’s improved her timing, the CLA could congratulate her and suggest that she leave a comment to thank the Scratcher who taught her something new. What was previously a frustrating, solitary roadblock transforms into a guided, social, and reflective experience.

Committed to Our Values

We’re centering our work in AI around the 4 Cs: developing features that nurture curiosity, caring, collaboration, and creativity. As our founder Professor Mitchel Resnick has shared, these attributes are more critical now than ever:

“We need to expand opportunities for children to develop the most human of their abilities. That is, we need to help them develop as creative, curious, caring, and collaborative learners. These qualities have always been important, but they are more important now than ever before, given the technological and political disruptions confronting today’s societies.”

–Prof. Mitchel Resnick

Share Your Thoughts!

Scratch’s CLA is about deepening curiosity, supporting expression, and cultivating joyful, meaningful connections. This feature is still in development, and we look forward to sharing more with you soon. Want to get a sneak peek at the CLA? Join the virtual Scratch Conference on July 24th for a live AI demonstration with Scratch’s developers!

We’d love to hear your thoughts, questions, and suggestions. Visit our feedback form to share them with us, and be sure to attend the Scratch Conference to hear the answers to some of your questions live from the Scratch Team.

Coming Soon: Your Creative Learning Assistant was originally published in The Scratch Team Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Get started with Animate a Name!

Animate a Name is one of Scratch’s most popular and beginner-friendly tutorials, perfect for familiarizing yourself with Scratch’s tools while making something personalized. Try animating the names of family members with some of their favorite things — think a “B” with a bouncing basketball or floating butterfly, or an acrostic poem with fun adjectives and descriptors. This tutorial is available inside the Scratch editor, so you can follow along while you code.

Celebrate furry friends with How to Make a Virtual Pet!

How to Make a Virtual Pet invites Scratchers to make a digital friend and imagine ways to take care of them. Have a pet at home? Try reimagining them in Scratch — how would they like to play? What are some of their favorite snacks? Could you brush them or give them a bubble bath? If your child’s imagination is running wild, think outside the box! Imagine a fantastical pet like a dragon, centaur, or dinosaur — with Scratch’s extensive sprite library, drawing tools, and photo upload tool, the sky’s the limit.

Code your story with How to Make a Story in Scratch!

Want a new way to relive all your vacation memories and summertime fun? Skip the vacation slideshows and try making a story in Scratch! This tutorial walks you through creating a character, setting a scene, and adding dialogue and animation. Recreate memorable trips, special gatherings, and beyond, or escape a rainy summer day by imagining an out-of-this-world family journey: road trip to space, anyone?

Don’t just play it, make it — with How to Animate an Adventure Game!

Does your child love playing video games? We believe one of the best ways to get kids excited about learning is to find activities that speak to their passions. With our How to Animate an Adventure Game tutorial, your child can create their own fun, interactive game with some of their favorite characters from Cartoon Network! Create a score counter, choose items for your character to collect, give them dialogue and movement, and more. Find this tutorial inside the Scratch editor!

Get everyone in on the fun with Face Sensing!

In Scratch Lab, we’re testing experimental new Scratch blocks and gathering feedback from the community before we incorporate them into Scratch. Want to become a beta tester and create Snapchat-style image filters? Try our Face Sensing tutorial! With Face Sensing blocks, you can create hats, glasses, moustaches, and more silly accoutrements that “snap” to different parts of your face using a specialized AI technology (don’t worry — your data stays safe and secure on your local device). Once you’ve made your project, invite the whole family to check it out! Face Sensing projects are inherently interactive and shareable, making them a great way to invite friends and family into your child’s coding adventures.

Ready to jump into your Summer of Scratch? We can’t wait to see what you create. Check out our Ideas page and the Scratch Team YouTube channel for even more tutorials and how-to guides. And stop by the Scratch Store to find stylish gear for all your summer fun — from Scratch Cat frisbees to tees, tanks, and BBQ aprons!

Sources:
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/summer-learning-loss-what-is-it-and-what-can-we-do-about-it/

Start Your Summer of Scratch with 5 Family-Friendly Tutorials! was originally published in The Scratch Team Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

“What We Say Really Holds Weight”

For Lisa, helping students understand what they’re capable of is personal. Childhood teachers told Lisa she wasn’t “math-brained.” Some even categorized her and her classmates into two groups: “my geniuses” and “the rest.” As she furthered her education and achieved her second Master’s Degree in Educational Technology, she realized that she was skilled at math, but her teachers had written her off because she wasn’t solving problems their way. This didactic approach left Lisa with a lasting impression of herself that was completely unfounded.

“Having that [experience] has led me into being a teacher not just of my students, but of other educators,” she says. “That is part of my passion, too — to uplift the voices of educators and help them uplift their students’ voices. What we say really holds weight … We could hear all the positive feedback in the world, but we always hold onto the negative things that were said to us.”

Now, students are the stars in Lisa’s classroom: from helping to choose tools like Scratch to weighing in on lesson plans, their feedback guides Lisa every step of the way. She believes that empowering students to take ownership of their learning has made all the difference in building their confidence and skills.

Motocross & Minecraft: Embracing Student Passions

Lisa celebrates the fact that students come to her classroom with knowledge not just from school, but from athletics, hobbies, and life experiences. Their interests inspire her to create unique lesson plans that make an impact on their learning for years to come.

Several years ago, Minecraft fever was sweeping Lisa’s classroom. A student’s mother asked Lisa to tell her child that playing Minecraft every day wouldn’t get him into college. Lisa suggested a different approach.

“I love for my students to see … all that they could be, all that their skills could lead them to. And just let them hear the human experience that no one had a straight shot from ‘I have this dream’ to ‘I got there.’ I like them to hear success, and define success on their own terms,” she says.

She invited her uncle, an architect, to talk to students about designing buildings. To bring the guest lecture to life, students explored the blueprints for their own school and discussed the design decisions the architects made. Then, Lisa channeled the class’s enthusiasm into a lesson plan: create a school in Minecraft or Scratch, using design parameters like extreme weather, transportation limitations, or drought conditions. For the Minecraft-loving student, the project was transformative. He’s since joined STEM afterschool clubs and hopes to attend a STEM high school, specializing in architecture and “making a difference with what he builds.”

Lisa’s classroom is full of stories like this. Last year, she taught a young motocross champion. The student thrived in competitions but struggled with her coursework, rushing through problems and struggling to understand the utility of academics. Lisa used Scratch to help the student see that she wasn’t “just an athlete”: she was a talented engineer with a strong grasp of mechanical concepts. Once she discovered what those skills could help her create, everything started to click.

“What I found with her is once she loved [coding], she’d get very focused and zero in,” says Lisa. “Well, that [focus] started to transfer into her academics. In her own words, she says, ‘I think I’m slowing down more. It’s like I’m debugging all of my work.’”

Now, that student is excelling in her sport and in the classroom. She started her own code club in middle school and is a leader in her peer group. Successes like these remind Lisa of why she loves using Scratch to bring subjects to life.

“[Scratch] is not just a Friday afternoon, ‘Go play for a few minutes.’ These are the skills that are going to build your students. They will transfer. I promise you,” she says. “Make it part of the curriculum. Integrate it into what you’re teaching across. And you’re going to see the reading come out. You’re going to see those writing skills improve. You’re going to see the math skills, the perseverance to have that productive struggle. This is a natural way of building confidence, of working through it. … It’s just so impactful for these kids, year after year. I’m such a believer in Scratch and letting their brains lead the classroom.”

What’s Next: Mythflix and Beyond

One of Lisa’s newest projects, “Mythflix,” was inspired by the many lesson plans before it that centered student agency, technology, and passion. Lisa invited students to create their own Netflix-inspired TV series reimagining classic Greek myths. As they plotted and animated their episodes in Scratch, they improved their literacy skills, learned to work with AI tools, and gained a deeper appreciation for the source material. While Lisa challenged them to make one episode, she says that every single student has made multiple, with some endeavoring to finish an entire series. The project also encouraged healthy collaboration between students, breaking down social and gender divides — peers who used to butt heads were voicing each other’s characters and swapping Scratch tips and tricks.

“Those labels? None of that exists,” says Lisa. “I could walk around and show you every [Mythflix] project and I could ask you, ‘Who’s my EL learner? Who’s gifted? Who’s my struggling reader or struggling with math?’ You wouldn’t know, because children will when they know they can.”

The energy around Mythflix was contagious — Lisa’s students are now teaching students in other classrooms to make their own animated series. Like Lisa, they’re energized by sharing their knowledge and empowering others to create. She’s been told that her students leave her class as “mini-mes,” spreading her motto everywhere they go: “Yes, you can!”

Next year, Lisa is building a computer science induction program to mentor new teachers and help them integrate computer science into their classrooms. She’s excited for the opportunity to expose more educators to the transformative power of programs like Scratch.

Her best advice for new Scratch teachers? “When it comes to coding and to CS, to STEM and project-based learning, failure is the fun part because we’re so used to ‘right or wrong’ in education. [Students] get to learn, OK, where are my mistakes? Let me grow from there. We have to show it’s OK to not know … Don’t be afraid to just try. Start small and then just let them go. They’re going to invent a whole new world that you’re not even seeing yet, but they’ll bring you there and you’ll be right along with them. You just have to loosen the reins and have fun with what you’re doing.”

Beyond Labels: Empowering Students Through Creative Coding was originally published in The Scratch Team Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

With more than 140 million users around the world, Scratch has grown into a global platform where young people express themselves, explore ideas, and build community through creative coding. With this extraordinary scale comes both opportunity and responsibility. As stewards of this digital space, the Scratch Foundation is deeply committed to ensuring that the platform remains a place where creativity can flourish safely. For nearly two decades, we’ve grounded our work in the steadfast belief that children deserve tools that center their passions and curiosities, and are also trustworthy and safe for young people to use. We are carrying forward this legacy into our integration of AI in Scratch — centering young people’s agency, safeguarding their experiences, and upholding the values that have always made Scratch a space where kids can create what they imagine.

As we begin to explore how we might use AI as a creative tool we’ve developed a set of “Guiding Stars” and “Lines in the Sand.” Our goal is to ensure that our use of AI is not just ethical and responsible, but also true to our creative learning principles. We’re excited to find new ways to use AI to help kids create and learn, but we are proceeding with care, so that anything we add to Scratch aligns with the values that have always been exemplified within the platform.

Guiding Stars

Our “Guiding Stars” shape the design of AI features:

• Creativity: Empower kids’ self-expression
• Agency: Keep power and choice in kids’ hands
• Equity: Make it free, fair, inclusive, and accessible
• Community: Emphasize human connection and collaboration

We aim to lead the way in introducing generative AI tools for kids that amplify their creativity rather than replacing it. By centering young people’s decisions in how they engage with AI, we put kids in control every step of the way. Our AI features will be free for kids everywhere. We’ll use best practices to mitigate bias and meet accessibility standards. And most importantly, people will stay at the heart of Scratch: kids, educators, parents, and beyond. Our use of AI will embrace human creativity, imagination, and connection, enabling young people to solve problems, design projects, and create new possibilities.

Lines in the Sand

Our “Lines in the Sand” are boundaries we set for the responsible use of AI in Scratch:

• Safe: Prevent harmful content
• Ethical: Protect children’s data
• Transparent: Share information about how it works
• Human-Centered: Never undermine human agency or relationships

While AI is changing rapidly, our values are not. By anchoring our work in these values, we are being intentional about the ways in which we will use AI responsibly. We’re developing our own strategies for guaranteeing that the tools we provide are safe and age-appropriate. And we’re rigorously and ethically protecting the data with which our users entrust us. As we iteratively develop and refine new tools, we’re integrating feedback and ideas from young people and educators. We’ll be transparent about the design and technology choices we make, and why we make them. And we’ll always keep the needs of people, especially kids, at the heart of our process.

Stay Tuned

But what are we actually working on? Look for a sneak peek at our Creative AI project in an upcoming post, where we’ll share a behind-the-scenes look at an AI tool that offers support for ideation, coding, debugging, reflection, and more.

Acknowledgements

This post was written with input from Scratch Foundation staff and others including (alphabetically): Kevin Bedeau, Will Dickerson, Andy Forest, Tif Gagnon, Margaret Honey, Maria Janelli, Becky Pfund, Mitch Resnick, Eric Rosenbaum, Kaylen Sanders and Annie Whitehouse.

Introducing: Creative AI at Scratch was originally published in The Scratch Team Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Every year, there are hundreds of Scratch Day events happening in classrooms, clubs, libraries, community centers, and beyond worldwide. In 2024, there were over 800 Scratch Days! Scratch Days bring kids, educators, families, and communities together to celebrate creative coding. With Scratch’s how-to guides, videos, organizer toolkits, and more, anyone can host a Scratch Day event that’s perfect for their community.

Scratch Day 101

What began as a birthday celebration for Scratch has become a global network of events where people gather to celebrate ScratchJr and Scratch, the free creative coding platform and online community for kids. Scratch Days bring together young people from the Scratch and ScratchJr communities to share projects, learn from each other, and welcome newcomers.

There’s no “right way” to host a Scratch Day: your event can be big or small, in-person or virtual, in school or in a community center. Brainstorm Scratch and computer-science-themed activities that engage your audience like arts and crafts, Scratch challenges, photo booths, a Scratch arcade, or something totally new! Your event doesn’t need to be costly — for example, you can repurpose materials you already have, encourage your community to bring their own devices, and decorate with student-made art. Like the Scratch platform, Scratch Days are intentionally flexible to fit the needs and interests of your learners and local community.

The Scratch Team has created some resources to help you imagine engaging activities and get the word out about your own Scratch Day:

😸 Scratch Day Organizer Planning Toolkit (newly updated for 2025!)
This multimedia toolkit has everything you need to get started for Scratch Day — find ideas for agendas and activities, get inspiration from Scratch Day events held around the world, discover facilitation tips, and access free downloads of promotional materials, posters, and more.

😸 Scratch Day Media Kit (newly updated for 2025!)
Get the word out to your community with our Media Kit. Find Scratch Day-themed illustrations, images, and logos to create compelling handouts, social media posts, and more.

💡 Scratch Team Tip: Local outlets like newspapers, parent and family blogs, Facebook community groups, and beyond publish event calendars. Many of these outlets will allow you to submit your event to their calendar for free. This is a great way to reach out to community members who aren’t already in your network without a budget-breaking advertising campaign.

😸 Scratch Day Map
Want to let the world know how they can join your Scratch Day celebration, and add your event to our global network? Submit your event to the Scratch Day Map!

Scenes from Scratch Days Around the US

In 2024, the Scratch Foundation partnered with several organizations from our Scratch Education Collaborative program to support their Scratch Day celebrations. Serving a diverse range of communities across the United States, these organizations hosted Scratch Days that were the perfect fit for their participants. Hear from some of our pilot participants to see how different approaches to Scratch Day events can yield amazing results!

💡 Scratch Team Tip: Scratch Days can be impactful and engaging no matter how much you spend. But if your plans are outpacing your budget, try reaching out to local businesses who provide community support; like banks, grocery stores, or restaurants; to sponsor your event.

Maine Indian Education — Indian Island, Maine

Maine Indian Education serves Native communities in Maine. Their two events, hosted at Sipayik Elementary School and Indian Island School, engaged students in grades PreK-8 and community members of the Passamaquoddy Tribe in Sipayik and the Penobscot Tribe in Indian Island. Sipayik School’s main goal was to showcase and celebrate student work to inspire the next generation of Scratchers, while Indian Island’s main goal was to build momentum for more technology-based learning.

“[Scratch Day was] an incredible ‘blending’ opportunity that highlighted the creativeness and adaptability of Passamaquoddy language and culture.” — Technology/After School Program Coordinator

In Sipayik, students were challenged to incorporate the Passamaquoddy language and culture into their Scratch projects, and modeled this by using the language in Scratch Day booths. Students projected their work on large screens and led Scratch tutorials for the community throughout the day.

In Indian Island, the team created a variety of Scratch-Cat-themed stations to bring the event together: participants explored Scratch’s Makey Makey and micro:bit extensions, tried a “Scratch Cat Build Battle,” crafted in a “Create Anything from Scratch Booth,” explored an obstacle course, and beyond!

Both schools benefited from the help of students: young leaders were present in every stage of the event, from leading coding demonstrations to event planning. They even made a promotional animation for their event using Scratch (above)! MIE’s best advice: “Don’t be afraid to utilize your students! They were so excited to plan, help set up, decorate, AND they were so proud to help organize and run their very own booths!”

Center for Cyber Education | MissST — Mississippi

The Center for Cyber Education works to incorporate Computer Science curricula into Mississippi classrooms. Their event aimed to expose kids and families to computer science and its possibilities for their futures through hands-on activities. They prioritized parents learning alongside their kids to amazing results, using family-friendly venues like the Children’s Museum to attract more parents and kids.

“Please have this event again-we LOVED it and I’d love to bring little sisters next time! Thank y’all!” — Local student

On their Family Night, they put a unique twist on Scratch’s Animate a Name tutorial: students taught their parents the basics of block coding to create a “family banner.” This role reversal is a great way to empower young leaders while encouraging parents to lean into learning. They also engaged families with a Makey-Makey playground, Scratch race, robot playground, light-up animals, and even more interactive activities.

The Center for Cyber Education used Scratch Day to increase connections with local schools, enabling them to further their mission to embed more Computer Science curricula into classrooms. Their best advice? Plan for accommodations for diverse learners, understand your electronic needs, make room for last-minute schedule changes ahead of time — and most importantly, “it always takes more volunteers than you think it does!”

Imagine, Create, Share!

With the Scratch Team’s tools, inspiration from others, and your imagination, you can create a Scratch Day event that is perfect for your community this year. Be sure to submit your event to the Scratch Day map and share your celebration with us on social media!

@scratch on X | @scratchteam on Instagram | @scratchteam on Facebook | @Scratch Foundation on LinkedIn

How to Host Your Own Scratch Day: New for 2025! was originally published in The Scratch Team Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

This is the third and final blog post in a series of three blog posts about the Scratch Foundation’s children’s well-being research. You can read the first one here, and the second one here.

How Scratch is Fueling Children’s Creativity, Relationships, and Well-being

In today’s digital landscape, where play and learning increasingly intersect, Scratch is a hub of creativity, collaboration, and growth for tens of millions of children worldwide. The Scratch Foundation’s recent research study, supported by The LEGO Foundation through the Responsible Innovation in Technology for Children (RITEC) initiative, delves into the impact of engagement in digital spaces on children’s well-being.

The RITEC Study: Unpacking Children’s Digital Well-being

Launched in January 2024, the study explores two key questions: How can we identify, measure, and design to support children’s engagement with Scratch? And how do key well-being indicators — relationships, competence, autonomy, and creativity — vary across different demographics such as country, gender, and age?

Utilizing a mixed-methods approach that includes statistical analyses, thematic coding, and interviews with members of Scratch’s Youth Advisory Board, the study shows how Scratch is more than just a coding platform — it is a thriving ecosystem where young people develop critical life skills and foster meaningful connections.

Scratchers as Creators and Collaborators

One of the standout findings of the study is the identification of three primary user profiles that illustrate the diverse ways children engage with Scratch:

• Social Creators: These Scratchers thrive on interaction, and engaging in studio collaborations. They are most likely to comment and love projects, and form connections within the community. Younger Scratchers (ages 10–14), males and non-binary users, are more prevalent in this group, especially boys in Japan. Other countries where social creation is more prevalent are Australia, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.
• Code Creators: Driven by skill development and technical experimentation, these users focus on producing original content and exploring advanced coding techniques. Older Scratchers are more likely to be a part of this group. Their presence transcends gender, showcasing a universal interest across genders in creative problem-solving.
• Remix Creators: These Scratchers remix, create and share projects frequently, as well as post their projects in studios. Younger Scratchers are more prevalent in this group and as they get older, their presence decreases. These users are more inclined to use others’ projects as templates and build off of the community’s ideas and code. There are more users who belong to this profile in the United States, the United Kingdom and Bulgaria, and this group is relevant to all genders.

What Are Kids Creating?

Children are leveraging Scratch to produce a wide range of creative projects. The study identified four major themes:

• Games: engaging, interactive experiences that often involve collaboration and feedback from peers
• Art and Animation: a visual playground where children express their artistic talents
• Educational Projects: tutorials and school projects crafted by kids, for kids
• Identity and Personalization: projects that reflect personal interests, values, and self-expression

Notably, the study found that girls and non-binary users tend to favor projects centered on identity and self-expression, while boys are more inclined toward game development and remixing.

Fostering Emotional and Social Growth

Scratch serves as more than a digital canvas; it’s a social hub that nurtures emotional and social well-being. The study found that:

86% of Scratchers enjoy connecting with others on the platform.

81% feel empowered to share their ideas freely.

87% experience joy while using Scratch.

Through in-depth interviews, researchers learned that many Scratchers find motivation and a sense of belonging in the online community. A prime example is the Girls Who Don’t Fit In studio, one of Scratch’s largest and most active studios, which offers a safe and inspiring space for users to express their unique identities and support one another.

Why This Matters for the Future of Digital Play

The RITEC study underscores the importance of designing digital environments that prioritize children’s well-being. Scratch’s ability to foster creativity, and autonomy, build transcultural relationships among kids, and teach them STEM competencies provides valuable insights into how digital platforms can serve as empowering spaces for young learners. These findings highlight Scratch as a model for future digital tools aimed at fostering holistic child development.

Next Steps: Evolving Scratch for Greater Impact

Based on the research findings, the Scratch Foundation is exploring several opportunities to further enhance the platform, including:

• expanding community features to strengthen collaboration and mentorship;
• developing content tailored to underrepresented user groups to foster greater inclusivity;
• and introducing real-time feedback tools to better understand and support the evolving needs of Scratchers.

As Scratch continues to evolve, its mission remains clear: to help kids everywhere create what they imagine, and to provide a vibrant, supportive community where they can share their creations.

The insights from the RITEC study reaffirm that platforms like Scratch play a crucial role in shaping the future of digital play — a future where creativity, connection, and well-being are at the forefront.

Exploring Engagement and Well-being in the Scratch Community: Part 3 was originally published in The Scratch Team Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.