Loop Challenge

🎮 Activity Time!

Time needed: 30-45 minutes

What you'll do: Get ready to become an animation wizard! You'll create 5 amazing Scratch animations using the power of loops. From jumping characters to dancing sprites, you'll make your projects come alive with movement!

Before You Start:

✅ Open Scratch in your browser
✅ Have your creativity ready - you'll be choosing sprites and backgrounds!
✅ Remember what you learned about loops in the lesson
✅ Create a folder on your computer called "Loop Animations" to save your work

Introduction

In this super fun activity, we'll be learning how to apply loops to make simple animations. There are five exciting challenges for you to try, and each one teaches you a different animation trick!

💡 Pro tip: For each challenge, create a new Scratch file and give it a cool name like "Challenge1_JumpingCat" or "Challenge2_DancingRobot"!

Challenge One: Jumping Sprite 🦘

Instructions

Step One: Pick your favorite sprite (maybe a cat, dinosaur, or astronaut!) and a cool background.

Step 2: Program your sprite to jump when you press the space key.

Step 3: Use these special blocks to make the magic happen:

Required Blocks:

scratch

repeat (10)
change y by (-10)
change y by (10)
next costume

tip Hint: The "repeat" block is your loop! It makes your sprite do the same action multiple times. Try changing the number inside to make bigger or smaller jumps!

🏆 Extra Challenge! (Optional)

1. Make your sprite change its costume for every jump (like it's doing jumping jacks!)
2. Add a fun "boing" sound effect when it jumps

Challenge 2: Dancing Sprite 💃

Instructions

Step One: Choose a sprite that has multiple costumes (like a dancer or an animal with different poses).

Step 2: Pick a fun background - maybe a dance floor or a stage!

Step 3: Program your sprite to start dancing when you click on it.

Step 4: Use these blocks to create your dance routine:

Required Blocks:

forever
wait (0.5) seconds
next costume

💡 Dance tip: The "forever" loop makes your sprite dance non-stop! The "wait" block controls how fast your sprite changes costumes - try different numbers to speed up or slow down the dance!

🏆 Extra Challenge! (Optional)

1. Add your favorite song to play in the background
2. Use loops to make the music repeat forever (endless dance party! 🎉)

Challenge 3: Moving Vehicle 🚗

Instructions

Step One: Pick a cool vehicle sprite (car, airplane, spaceship, or boat!).

Step 2: Choose a matching background (road, sky, space, or ocean).

Step 3: Program your vehicle to move back and forth across the screen when you click the green flag.

Step 4: Use these motion blocks:

Required Blocks:

scratch

forever
go to x: () y: ()
glide () secs to x: () y: ()

tip Movement tip: The "glide" block makes smooth movement! Try different seconds to make your vehicle go faster or slower. The x-coordinates control left (-240) and right (240) movement!

🏆 Extra Challenge! (Optional)

1. Add engine sounds or background music that matches your vehicle (vroom vroom! 🏎️)

Challenge 4: Mouse Follower 🐭

Instructions

Step One: Pick a small, cute sprite (like a star, heart, or butterfly).

Step 2: Choose any background you like.

Step 3: Program your sprite to follow your mouse pointer and leave a cool trail behind when you click the green flag.

Step 4: Use these special blocks:

Required Blocks:

forever
repeat (10)
when I start as a clone

💡 Trail trick: This challenge uses clones! Your sprite creates copies of itself that fade away, making a magical trail effect. It's like leaving sparkles wherever your mouse goes! ✨

🏆 Extra Challenge! (Optional)

1. Add mystical background music
2. Add more sprites with different trail effects (imagine a rainbow of followers!)

Challenge 5: Name Animation ✨

Instructions

Step One: Find letter sprites that spell your name (for example: if your name is "SAM", you need S, A, and M sprites).

Step 2: Choose a cool background that will change colors.

Step 3: Program your background to continuously change colors when you click the green flag (rainbow background!).

Step 4: Hide all your letter sprites at the start.

Step 5: When you press the space key, make your letters appear one by one in order.

Step 6: Use these communication blocks:

Required Blocks:

scratch

forever
when I receive
broadcast
show
hide

tip Animation secret: Use "broadcast" messages like "show letter 2" to make letters appear in order. Each letter sprite should listen for its special message!

🏆 Extra Challenge! (Optional)

1. Add a "tada!" sound when all letters appear
2. Use text-to-speech to say each letter out loud (your name will introduce itself!)

🎉 You Did It!

Wow! You've just created 5 amazing animations using loops! You've learned how to:

• Make sprites jump with repeat loops
• Create endless dances with forever loops
• Move objects smoothly across the screen
• Create magical trail effects with clones
• Coordinate multiple sprites with broadcast messages

📤 Submission Time!

Ready to show off your awesome work?

Submit your Scratch links here

💡 Tip

Before submitting: Make sure you've saved all 5 projects and named them clearly (like "Challenge1_JumpingCat", "Challenge2_DancingRobot", etc.)

Remember: The best animations come from experimenting! Try changing numbers in your loops, mixing different sprites, and adding your own creative touches. You're a loop master now! 🌟