Scratch Functions and Custom Blocks Challenges

🎮 Activity Time!

Time needed: 30-45 minutes

What you'll do: Become a Scratch wizard by creating your own custom blocks! You'll make sprites spin, eat watermelons, explore space, draw amazing triangles, and even sing Old MacDonald's song - all using the power of functions! 🪄

Before You Start:

✅ Make sure you're logged into your Scratch account
✅ Have your creativity hat on
✅ Ready to make some awesome custom blocks
✅ Remember: Functions are like magic spells - you create them once and use them many times!

Introduction

Welcome, young coders! Today we're going to learn something super cool - custom blocks (also called functions). Think of them as your own special commands that you create!

• There are five fun challenges waiting for you
• Each challenge will teach you a different superpower with functions
• Create a new Scratch file for each challenge and give it a cool name
• Access all exercises here: Scratch Studio

💡 💡 What are functions? Functions are like recipes! You write the steps once, give it a name, and then you can use that recipe whenever you want!

Challenge One: Spinning Sprite 🌟

Watch this awesome tutorial to see what you'll create!

Your Mission:

Make a sprite do amazing spins using your very own custom block!

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Choose your star! Pick any sprite you like (maybe a dancer or a star?) and a cool background

2. Create your magic spell! Make a custom block called "spin around"

   • Click on "My Blocks" in the blocks menu
   • Click "Make a Block"
   • Name it "spin around"
   • Click OK!

3. Program the green flag to call your "spin around" function multiple times

   • This is like telling your sprite to do the spin dance over and over!

4. Define what "spin around" does:

   • Make your sprite turn 360 degrees (that's a full circle!)
   • Add some color effects to make it extra cool
   • Add a small wait so we can see the awesome spin

5. Test it out! Click the green flag and watch your sprite spin!

Blocks You'll Need:

scratch

Make a Block (spin around)
define spin around
turn (360) degrees
change [color v] effect by (25)
wait (0.5) seconds
```tip

🎯 Pro tip: Try different numbers for the turn degrees and color effects to create unique spinning patterns!

Challenge 2: Watermelon Eater 🍉

Time to make a hungry sprite eat some delicious watermelon!

Your Mission:

Create a fun eating animation using custom blocks with special inputs!

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Set up your feast!

   • Pick a hungry character sprite (maybe a bear or a person?)
   • Add watermelon sprites (you can duplicate them!)
   • Choose a picnic or outdoor background

2. Create a smart custom block!

   • Click "Make a Block"
   • Name it "eat watermelon"
   • Click "Add an input" and name it "size"
   • Add another input called "speed"
   • Now your function can take different values!

3. Program the green flag to:

   • Place your sprites in starting positions
   • Call "eat watermelon" with different size and speed numbers

4. Make the eating happen! In your "eat watermelon" function:

   • Make your character glide to the watermelon
   • Play a yummy eating sound (chomp chomp!)
   • Make the watermelon get smaller or disappear
   • Maybe add a score counter!

5. Test your hungry sprite! Try different sizes and speeds

Blocks You'll Need:

Make a Block (eat watermelon) with inputs
define eat watermelon (size) (speed)
glide (speed) secs to x: (watermelon x) y: (watermelon y)
play sound (Chomp) until done
change size by (-size)
hide

💡 🎮 Fun idea: Make multiple watermelons and have your sprite eat them all using a loop!

Challenge 3: Space City Exploration 🚀

Blast off into space and explore an amazing city among the stars!

Your Mission:

Build a space exploration game using multiple custom blocks that work together!

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Build your space world!
   • Add a cool spaceship sprite
   • Create space buildings (towers, domes, stations)
   • Add space objects (planets, asteroids, aliens)
   • Pick an awesome space background
2. Create THREE powerful custom blocks:
   • "explore building" with input: "building type"
   • "fly to location" with inputs: "x position" and "y position"
   • "scan object" with input: "object name"
3. Program the green flag to:
   • Set up your spaceship's starting position
   • Start the exploration adventure!
4. Make each function special:
   • explore building: Make your ship say what it found
   • fly to location: Smoothly move your spaceship
   • scan object: Check what you're touching and report findings
5. Connect everything! Use broadcasts to make sprites talk to each other

Blocks You'll Need:

scratch

Make a Block with inputs
define explore building (building type)
define fly to location (x position) (y position)
define scan object (object name)
broadcast (found something!)
when I receive (found something!)
if <touching [Space Tower v]?> then
say (Wow! A space tower!) for (2) seconds
__CODE_BLOCK_3__`

🌟 Space tip: Use the "touching" block to detect when your spaceship reaches different locations!

🏆 Extra Challenges!

Want to make it even cooler? Try these:

1. Add a score for each discovery
2. Create secret paths between buildings
3. Make aliens that move around!

Challenge 4: Triangle Fun 📐

Become an artist and draw amazing triangle patterns with custom blocks!

Your Mission:

Create beautiful triangle art using the power of functions and the pen!

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Set up your art studio!

   • Choose any sprite to be your "pen" (a small dot works great!)
   • Use a blank or simple background for drawing
   • Don't forget to add the Pen extension!

2. Create THREE artistic custom blocks:

   • "draw triangle" with inputs: "size" and "color"
   • "triangle pattern" with input: "number of triangles"
   • "triangle animation" with inputs: "speed" and "direction"

3. Program the green flag to:

   • Clear the screen
   • Show off all your triangle functions!

4. Make your triangle functions draw:

   • draw triangle: Draw a perfect triangle with chosen size and color
   • triangle pattern: Create multiple triangles in a circle
   • triangle animation: Make triangles that spin or grow!

5. Create art! Combine your functions to make amazing patterns

Blocks You'll Need:

Make a Block with inputs
define draw triangle (size) (color)
pen down
set pen color to (color)
repeat (3)
  move (size) steps
  turn (120) degrees
pen up

💡 🎨 Art tip: Remember, a triangle has 3 sides, and turning 120 degrees three times makes a perfect triangle (3 x 120 = 360)!

🏆 Extra Art Challenges!

Ready to be a geometry master?

1. Create a "draw square" function
2. Make a "draw star" function
3. Let users pick colors with ask blocks!

Challenge 5: Old MacDonald Song 🎵🐮

Create your own musical farm show with functions!

Your Mission:

Build a singing farm where functions help Old MacDonald perform his famous song!

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Build your farm cast!
   • Add Old MacDonald sprite
   • Add farm animal sprites (cow, pig, duck, horse, sheep)
   • Choose a nice farm background with a barn
2. Create THREE musical custom blocks:
   • "sing verse" with inputs: "animal name" and "animal sound"
   • "play chorus" (no inputs needed)
   • "animal appears" with input: "animal type"
3. Program the green flag to:
   • Welcome everyone to the farm
   • Start the musical show!
4. Make your functions perform:
   • sing verse: Make MacDonald sing about each animal
   • play chorus: Sing "E-I-E-I-O!"
   • animal appears: Show the right animal and make it move/sound
5. Put on a show! Call your functions to perform the whole song

Blocks You'll Need:

scratch

Make a Block with inputs
define sing verse (animal) (sound)
say (join (Old MacDonald had a ) (animal)) for (2) seconds
say (join (And on his farm he had a ) (animal)) for (2) seconds
play sound (sound) until done
broadcast (show animal)

define play chorus
say (E-I-E-I-O!) for (1) seconds
```tip

🎭 Performance tip: Use the "join" block to combine words with your input values. This makes your song work with ANY animal!

🏆 Make It Extra Special!

Want to create a blockbuster farm show?

1. Add dance moves for each animal
2. Let viewers choose which animal comes next
3. Add background music that plays throughout
4. Make animals do tricks when they appear!

🎉 You Did It!

Wow! You've learned how to create custom blocks (functions) in Scratch! You made sprites spin, eat, explore space, draw art, and even sing! Functions are super powerful - they help you organize your code and do amazing things with less work.

Ready to Submit?

Show off your amazing creations!

Submit your Scratch links here

Remember: The best coders are creative coders. Keep experimenting with functions and see what incredible things you can create! 🌟