How To Animate A Character In Scratch

Sprite In Scratch: Easy Guide To Scratch Animation

By Jury Gregorio
Home » Code for Kids Corner » Sprite In Scratch: Easy Guide To Scratch Animation

Scratch is one of the most well-known systems for teaching young people how to code.

The platform created by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has a straightforward UI and is incredibly simple to use.

Because it uses block-based coding, the user only needs to stack the blocks rather than write the code. Each block contains lines of code.

One of Scratch’s key capabilities is the ability to create animations.

Scratch Coding

Yes, you read it right! You can animate characters in Scratch; in addition, you can also build apps and games on the Scratch platform. 

In this blog, we will learn how to make a simple animation in Scratch as well as the fundamentals of animating a sprite in Scratch

Even if you only understand the basics of this project, you will have come a long way in your Scratch journey.

How to Animate a Sprite or Character in Scratch 

Make sure to log in before visiting the Scratch platform in order to save your progress.

After logging in, select the Create link located on the Menubar next to the Scratch logo.

How To Animate A Character In Scratch

When you enter the create page, you’ll see the working area we’ll use later. 

Our default character/sprite is a cat; to remove it, hover your mouse over the trashcan icon and click.

How To Animate A Character In Scratch

After that, the first thing we need to do is select a suitable background for our character. 

You can do this by clicking on the backdrop icon in the stripe area and selecting your desired background image.

How To Animate A Character In Scratch

After clicking the backdrop and selecting your background image, you can pick whatever character you want to use for your animation by clicking on the sprite icon.

How To Animate A Character In Scratch

Here we chose Avery Walking from the Library as our character. And Boardwalk for our backdrop/background image is shown below.

How To Animate A Character In Scratch

The character/sprite has four costumes to make the character walk at our Boardwalk.

How To Animate A Character In Scratch

To change the character’s costume, we use a switch costume block from the Looks palette. 

Once you attach the block, you can modify the costume by selecting a new costume from the drop-down menu in the block.

How To Animate A Character In Scratch

The command will be executed and highlighted once you click on the block. 

To animate the character at a certain speed, we will add a block code that says “wait for 0.5 seconds“, “next costume“, and “move 10 steps

Your code should look like what is shown in the image below.

How To Animate A Character In Scratch

The character will change costume once you click the script, wait 0.5 seconds, then next costume, and move 10 steps. This means this action will only happen once. We’ll add a forever block from the control palette to repeat the operation.

How To Animate A Character In Scratch

We will add the code blocks “if on edge bounce” and “set rotation style left-right,” which will cause our character to bounce when he reaches the edge of the screen and restrict his movement to the left and right.

How To Animate A Character In Scratch

To run the script, whenever an action is performed, we will add the “when flag is clicked” block from the event palette. 

The complete code is shown in the image below.

How To Animate A Character In Scratch

That’s it! Your animation is now ready and you can share it with the world. That is how simple it is to create an animation in Scratch.

Conclusion

Children and adults who wish to learn how to code can express their creativity on the Scratch platform.

Both the platform and the programming language are incredibly easy to learn and use.

Users using Scratch can produce a wide range of games and animations. You may produce any kind of animation with Scratch.

Once your concept has been developed, you can choose the kinds of characters, settings, and sounds you want for your animations as well as the overall environment.
And with this, now you know a lot about Sprite in Scratch. Check coding for kids.

Learn Scratch at BrightChamps with its specially designed curriculum that makes learning programming easy for students in Grade 1-12.

BrightChamps also teaches a variety of other programs that help kids build a foundation in computer programming through activities, interactive lessons, and other means.

BrightChamps provides financial education for kids, equipping them with essential money management knowledge for a successful future.

Jury Gregorio

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I'm currently a coding educator and content educator at BrightChamps, and I love what I do because I get the most joy from teaching children. At BrightChamps, I want to equip kids with technical skills that will help them become the best solution providers. Learn from Me

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