Make Your First Scratch Game

To make your child's first Scratch game, you can build a simple "catch the apple" game: a basket moves left and right, an apple falls from the top, and the player scores a point each time they catch it. It brings together everything from the earlier guides, sprites, events, loops, conditionals and a score, into one delightful, playable creation. This walkthrough takes it one gentle step at a time.

Before You Start

This game uses ideas covered in our other guides. If any feel new, that is fine; you can build alongside your child and learn together. The pieces we will use are sprites, the green flag event, key presses, a forever loop, an if-then conditional, and a score variable. Each appears below in plain steps.

Open Scratch, click Create, and you are ready.

Step 1: Set Up the Characters

First, the catcher. You can keep the cat or pick a basket-like sprite from the library using the "Choose a Sprite" button. Place it near the bottom of the stage by dragging it there.

Next, add a second sprite to fall from the top, such as an apple or a ball. Pick it from the library too. This will be the thing the player catches.

You now have two sprites in the panel below the stage: the catcher and the apple.

Step 2: Move the Catcher with the Keyboard

Click the catcher sprite so you are giving it instructions. Then build two small stacks using Events and Motion:

• "when right arrow pressed" with "change x by 10" (this slides it right).
• "when left arrow pressed" with "change x by -10" (this slides it left).

Click the green flag and try the arrow keys. The catcher should glide side to side. Let your child test it; steering the character is half the fun.

Step 3: Make the Apple Fall

Now click the apple sprite. We want it to start at the top and fall down again and again. Build this stack:

1. Start with "when green flag clicked."
2. Add a "forever" loop from Control.
3. Inside it, first move the apple to the top: a Motion block to set its position near the top of the stage, with a random left-right spot so it falls in different places. (Scratch has a "pick random" Operators block for this, which makes the game less predictable.)
4. Then a small "repeat" loop with "change y by -10" inside, to make it slide downward step by step.

Click the green flag. The apple should drop from the top, then reappear and drop again. Children love watching this loop tirelessly.

Step 4: Add a Score

Go to the Variables group and click "Make a Variable." Name it "score." A score box appears on the stage.

Under the apple's green-flag stack, add "set score to 0" right at the start, so every game begins at zero.

Step 5: Catch the Apple

This is the clever part, the conditional. Still on the apple sprite, inside its forever loop, add an if-then block:

• Condition: a Sensing block, "touching [catcher]?"
• Inside: "change score by 1," a happy "play sound," and a block to send the apple back to the top so it falls again.

Now, when the catcher touches the apple, the score jumps and a cheerful sound plays. Miss it, and it simply falls past. Your child has built a real, playable game.

Step 6: Play, Then Improve

Click the green flag and play together. Then ask your child, "How could we make it better?" Wonderful next ideas include:

• Speed the apple up as the score grows, to make it harder.
• Add a "lives" variable that drops when an apple is missed.
• Add a colourful backdrop from the backdrop library.
• Add a winning message when the score reaches a target, using an if-then.

Tips for Parents

• Build in small, testable chunks. After each step, click the green flag and check it works before moving on. This makes problems easy to spot.
• Let your child own the choices. Which sprite? Which key? What sound? These small decisions make the game theirs.
• Save often. If you have an account, "Save now" regularly so no work is lost.

Common Mistakes

• Score not resetting. If the score starts high, add "set score to 0" under the green flag.
• Apple not falling again. Make sure the "send back to top" step is inside the forever loop and runs after a catch.
• Coding the wrong sprite. Catcher blocks go on the catcher; apple blocks go on the apple. Check which sprite is selected.

What's Next?

If your child loved this, they may enjoy telling a story rather than scoring points. Read Make an Animation in Scratch next, and revisit Variables in Scratch to add lives and levels. All guides are on the kids' Scratch hub.

For friendly lessons where a teacher helps your child build games like this, explore our Scratch & Coding for Kids program in Jalgaon. Join the waitlist for the next batch.