Uploaded April 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

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In this Code Along Jr. episode, our host Kalani teaches you to create your own animated story in Scratch!💡🖋️ 🖼️ You’ll create a story for your sprites (or characters) that includes a problem, solution, and lesson learned. Your sprites will talk, move, and even ask and respond to questions!

Skip to the good stuff:
00:00 Introduction
01:22 Change sprite and add characters from your story
02:34 Hide characters
02:48 Choose backdrop
03:22 Select Mia and add the “when this sprite clicked” events block and the “say hello for 2 seconds” looks block to make Mia talk
04:03 Add two more “say hello for 2 seconds” looks blocks and a “think hmm for 2 seconds” looks block, and add to conversation
04:50 Add “broadcast message and wait” events block to make sprite A (storyline) wait until sprite B (Mia) and sprite C (Dawn) have completed their scripts before continuing with its own script
5:17 Add new message in the broadcast block
5:28 Select Dawn and add the “when I receive” events block and 5 “say hello for 2 seconds” looks blocks to make Dawn respond to Mia
06:29 Add the “hide” looks block to hide Dawn after conversation
06:40 Add the “say hello for 2 seconds” looks block to end conversation, the “glide 1 secs to x/y” motions block to make Mia walk across the screen, and the “switch backdrop” looks block to change backgrounds. Then, add the “go to x/y” motion block to change the background when Mia walks across the screen. Finally, add the “broadcast” events block to begin a new conversation with Grace
08:40 Select Grace from the sprites section and add the “when I receive” events block, the “wait 2 seconds” control block, the “show” looks block, and the “say hello for 2 seconds” looks block to make Grace speak to Mia. Then, add the “broadcast” control block to make Grace respond to Mia
09:29 Follow steps above ⬆️ to create conversations with the remaining characters in the story
09:42 Select Mia and add the “ask and wait” sensing block to ask a question. To respond to questions, add the “if/then else” control block to respond “yes”, and add 3 “say hello for 2 seconds” looks blocks and the “broadcast” control block to create a final response and hide the other characters. Finally, add the “switch backdrop” looks block to change backgrounds
11:15 Add the “= 50” operators block and the “answer” sensing block, and add it to the “if/then else” control block
11:36 Add 3 “say hello for 2 seconds” looks blocks and the “broadcast” control block to create a final response and hide the other characters to the looks blocks to the “if/then else” control block if Sarah responds “no”
12:14 Review your code
14:35 Save your project

About Code Along
Everyone’s invited to Code Along with Black Girls Code. It's a free, video-based coding academy by Black Girls Code in partnership with GoldieBlox. Here, Black girls, young women, and youth of all genders receive tangible, educational, and entertaining tutorials to spark interest in computer science and tech. With fun projects and simple step-by-step lessons, this series encourages you to code along while our expert coders make a game, a song, an animation, a story, and an AI chatbot using Scratch. In these 15-minute-or-less episodes, Code Along reaches millions of girls and provides them with the tech skills and confidence to build brighter futures. Speaking of future innovators — we also chatted with Googlers and toured a Google office space. Learn a new skill, discover a new role model, and Code Along with us.

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