The sprite and your first motion blocks

Connect a start event to a motion block, then observe the sprite.

Find the three spaces

In Scratch, the palette holds the available blocks, the script area holds the blocks you connect, and the stage shows what happens. The character on the stage is called a sprite. Find a blue motion block in the palette. It describes an action, such as moving ten steps. A block in the script area is one instruction; several connected blocks make a program. Read them from top to bottom before running them. This gives you a chance to predict the result before you click anything.

The stage is more than decoration. It shows what the program actually did. If the sprite does not move, first check whether the motion block is in the script and connected to a starting block. An isolated block can be useful for a quick experiment, but it will not necessarily run when you click the green flag. Change one thing at a time during your experiments. That way, you can tell which change made the difference.

Give the script a start

The green flag runs a script that begins with the event block “when green flag clicked”. Put that block at the top and attach “move 10 steps” below it. Their order matters: the first block waits for the click, and the second tells the sprite what to do. In the workbench for this lesson, the starting block is already in place. Your task is to add the movement. These two blocks are enough to make a complete first program.

Before testing, say what you expect: “when I click the flag, the sprite moves ten steps”. Run the script and compare your prediction with the stage. If nothing moves, check that the blocks touch and snap the motion block under the start block if needed. If the sprite moves too far, inspect the number in the motion block and look for an extra movement instruction. There is no need to rebuild the whole script to correct one value.

Observe, correct, repeat

A program is a set of ideas that you can test. Change the number of steps, run again, and describe what changed. Compare five steps with ten steps: the second movement should be longer. Then return to ten steps to complete the mission. You can also remove the motion block and run again. The flag still starts the script, but no instruction moves the sprite. This experiment shows the job of each block separately.

Once the mission succeeds, explain why it works. A useful explanation names the start, the action and the observation: “the flag starts the script, the blue block moves ten steps, and the stage shows the movement”. This is more helpful than saying “it works”, because the same explanation can help you debug later programs. Keep this routine for the next lessons: predict, run, compare and correct.

The palette provides blocks; the script area connects them; the stage shows the result. The green flag event gives the script a predictable start. Compare your prediction with the observed result after each run.