Scratch Digital Art

Beginner

40 mins

Teacher/Student led

125 points

What you need:
Chromebook/Laptop/PC or iPad/Tablet

Rainbow Paintbrush

In this lesson, students will learn how to create a rainbow paintbrush using Scratch's pen blocks, colour changing, and mouse movement features. They will create a drawing tool that changes colours as it moves, following their mouse pointer.

Learning Goals Learning Outcomes Teacher Notes Lesson Files

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1 Introduction
2 Create a new project
3 Add the Ball sprite
4 Follow our mouse pointer
5 Add the Pen Extension
6 Pen Down and Draw
7 Clear the Drawing
8 Rainbow Drawing
9 Wrap Up
Challenge
Quiz

1 - Introduction

Welcome to our exciting lesson, Rainbow Paintbrush! In this lesson, we are going to create a fun drawing tool that changes colours as you draw.

We will use Scratch's pen blocks, colour changing, and mouse movement features. By the end of this lesson, you will have your own rainbow paintbrush that follows your mouse pointer and changes colour as it moves. Let's get started!

2 - Create a new project

Open the Scratch website in a new tab and create a new project. Delete the cat sprite from the project.

scratch.mit.edu

10 points

3 - Add the Ball sprite

We need to add a sprite that we will use for out pen.

Add the Ball sprite from the sprite library and give it this code to shrink it smaller.


  when green flag clicked 
 set size to (30) %

Click on the green flag to run your code and shrink the ball.

Scratch: How to add a sprite from the library

To add a sprite from the sprite library follow these steps:

Put your mouse over the Choose a Sprite button
Click on the magnifying glass
Find the sprite you want in the library
Click on your chosen sprite

You can use search box or the filter links (Animals, People, Fantasy etc) to locate your sprite.

10 points

4 - Follow our mouse pointer

Now, we want our pen (the ball sprite) to follow our mouse pointer. This will allow us to control where we draw on the screen.

To do this, add the following code to your ball sprite:

when green flag clicked 
set size to (30) %
  forever 
  
go to [mouse-pointer v] 
end

Click on the green flag to run your code. You should see the ball sprite following your mouse pointer around the screen. This means you're ready to start drawing!

10 points

5 - Add the Pen Extension

Before we start drawing, we need to add a special group of blocks to our project. These blocks are part of the Pen extension.

To add this extension, click on the 'Extensions' button at the bottom left of the Scratch interface. A window will pop up with different extensions. Find and click on the 'Pen' extension. You will see that new blocks have been added to your blocks palette under the category 'Pen'.

Scratch: How to add extension blocks

Understanding and Adding Extensions in Scratch

What are Scratch Extensions?

Scratch Extensions are additional sets of blocks that expand the capabilities of your Scratch projects. They allow you to:

Mention extensions like Pen here
Connect with external hardware (e.g., microbits)
Access web-based services (e.g., Google Translate, Amazon Text to Speech)
Use more advanced programming features

How Extensions Work

When you add an extension to your project:

New blocks appear in the blocks palette
These blocks are grouped under a category named after the extension
You can use these blocks just like any other Scratch blocks

Adding an Extension to Your Project

Look for the "Add Extension" button in the bottom-left corner of the Scratch editor
Click the "Add Extension" button
A window will open showing all available extensions
Browse through the options or use the search bar to find a specific extension
Click on the extension you want to add
The extension is now added to your project, and its blocks appear in the blocks palette

20 points

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Copyright Notice
This lesson is copyright of Coding Ireland. Unauthorised use, copying or distribution is not allowed.

Scratch is developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab. It is available for free at https://scratch.mit.edu

Rainbow Paintbrush

Live Class Feed

1 - Introduction

2 - Create a new project

3 - Add the Ball sprite

4 - Follow our mouse pointer

5 - Add the Pen Extension

Understanding and Adding Extensions in Scratch

What are Scratch Extensions?

How Extensions Work

Adding an Extension to Your Project

Unlock the Full Learning Experience

Learning Points