Here is the whole plan. No experience needed — and the adult doesn’t need to know how to code either.
Start here: Mission 0
Fifteen minutes, just once, with a grown-up beside them.
- Make your accountGo to scratch.mit.edu and click “Join Scratch”. Use a grown-up’s email rather than the child’s, so notifications reach you.
- Look around the editorOpen a new project. The colored blocks live on the left, and your character stands in the white box on the right.
- Spy on a gameFind a game you like in the gallery and click “See Inside”. You will see the blocks that make it work. Every single game is built like that.
What coding actually is here: you don’t type anything. You drag colored blocks and snap them under each other, like Lego. The top one happens first, then the next, then the next. That idea is exactly what Python, Lua and C# do too — the look changes, the concept doesn’t.
The club rules
- 3 days a weekShort sessions of 30 to 40 minutes. A little and often always wins.
- If it breaks, it isn’t a mistakeIt’s a clue. Ask yourself: what did I want to happen, and what is happening?
- Remixing countsTaking someone else’s project and changing it is called a “remix”, and that’s how everyone learns.
Make it move!
Get a character to obey YOU.
This week’s magic blocks
- when green flag clicked
- forever
- if key pressed
- move 10 steps
- point in direction
A character that YOU control with the arrow keys. Up, down, left, right.
A grown-up plays your game and cannot win.
Your 3 sessions this week
- Do the whole “Animate a Character” tutorial.
- Do “Make a Chase Game” and watch one sprite follow another.
- Your project: move your character with the arrow keys.
Add the rules
Give your game points, lives and sound.
This week’s magic blocks
- if… then
- touching?
- variable: score
- wait 1 second
- start sound
A catch game: something falls from the top, you catch it and score points. Miss it and you lose a life.
Your first working scoreboard on the screen.
Your 3 sessions this week
- Make a variable called “score” and show it on the screen.
- Make an object fall from the top over and over again.
- Put it together: score, lives and a sound when you catch.
Design your world
The most creative week: characters, outfits and backdrops made by you.
This week’s magic blocks
- switch costume to
- switch backdrop to
- when this sprite clicked
- show / hide
A dress-up room: you click an outfit, a hairstyle or a backdrop and your character changes. Like Avatar World, but made by you.
One character with 5 completely different looks.
Your 3 sessions this week
- Draw or edit 5 costumes for your character.
- Make 3 different backdrops and learn how to switch them.
- Build the dress-up room: click an outfit = costume changes.
Tell your story
Put everything you learned into one real game.
This week’s magic blocks
- broadcast message
- when I receive
- switch backdrop to
- say “Hi!”
A start screen + one playable level + a “YOU WIN!” screen. All inside the same project.
Publishing your game and sending the link to your family.
Your 3 sessions this week
- Design your start screen with a PLAY button.
- Connect the button to your level using “broadcast”.
- Add the “YOU WIN!” screen and publish the game.
Track your progress
These boxes are saved in this browser, so you can come back to this page each week and pick up where you left off.
What comes after the 4 weeks?
By the end you’ll know something useful: whether your child leans toward logic or toward art. Three paths from there, all free.
- Roblox Studio — build worlds in 3D and publish them on a real platform. Needs a computer; it doesn’t run on tablets, and it’s considerably harder than Scratch.
- Blockbench — design Minecraft-style skins, blocks and objects. The natural route if design turned out to be their thing.
- Code.org — full free courses that move gradually from blocks to JavaScript, plus the short Minecraft tutorials that work well as a hook.
Five tips for the adult helping out
- Don’t fix their code. When they get stuck, ask: “what did you want to happen, and what is happening?” That question is the skill.
- Keep sessions short. Thirty focused minutes beat two dragged-out hours.
- Let them remix. Changing someone else’s project isn’t copying; it’s the normal way to learn in Scratch.
- Play what they made. Not generic praise — actually sit down and try to win.
- No calendar pressure. If four weeks takes eight, nothing is lost. The goal is that they want to come back.
Online safety: what to actually watch
- Accounts tied to a grown-up’s email. On both Scratch and Roblox, so notifications reach you.
- Roblox needs active parental controls. Set the parent PIN, restrict chat and enable age verification. It’s a social platform as much as a game catalog.
- Talk about comments in advance. When your child publishes their first game, strangers will comment on it. Have that conversation before it happens, not after.
If family digital safety interests you, we also published a guide on how to share your location permanently on Google Maps.
Why this plan works
If your child spends hours building worlds in Minecraft, exploring games in Roblox or dressing up characters in Avatar World, they are already halfway there. All three point at the same instinct: the urge to build worlds. That’s the raw material of game design. The difference between a kid who consumes and a kid who creates is usually just that somebody showed them the second option exists.
The order of the four weeks is deliberate — movement, then rules, then design, then story. That is the same order in which real video games get built, and it means the child always has something playable at the end of each week instead of a half-finished thing they lose patience with.
Coding and design are two different jobs
Making video games involves two crafts working side by side. Coding is the logic: what happens when I press a key, how points are counted, when the game ends. Design and art is how it looks and feels: characters, outfits, backdrops, sound, story.
If your child loves Avatar World, their talent may well sit on the design side. That’s not lesser than coding — the industry employs as many artists as programmers. Week 3 exists precisely so you can see which way they lean.
What age should a child start?
From around 7 or 8, as long as they read fluently. Reading is the only real prerequisite: block-based coding needs no advanced math, but the child does have to read the instruction and understand what it does.
| Age | Tool | What they achieve |
|---|---|---|
| 5 to 7 | ScratchJr, Code.org Express | Simple sequences, cause and effect, minimal reading |
| 8 to 11 | Scratch + Minecraft on Code.org | Complete games with score, lives, levels and sound |
| 10 to 13 | Roblox Studio | 3D worlds, modeling, publishing on a real platform |
| 13 and up | Unity, Godot, Python | Professional engines and written code |
Don’t skip Scratch because a child seems “too old for that”. It teaches the concepts — variables, conditionals, loops, events — that reappear unchanged in Lua, Python and C#. A child who understands Scratch picks up Roblox in weeks. One who starts straight in Roblox tends to copy scripts from YouTube without understanding them.
Frequently asked questions
Is Scratch really free?
Yes. Scratch, Code.org, Roblox Studio and Blockbench are all completely free, with no paid tier and no project limits. All you need is a computer or tablet with internet and a grown-up’s email to create the accounts.
Can a child do this on a tablet?
With Scratch, yes — the editor works on modern tablets, though dragging blocks is more comfortable with a mouse. Roblox Studio, however, strictly requires a Windows or Mac computer.
Does the adult need to know how to code?
No. The plan is written so the child follows it and the adult supervises. Every tool here is designed for beginners, and the tutorials are built into Scratch itself.
Which is better to start with, Scratch or Roblox?
Scratch, clearly, for children under 10. It teaches the same logic concepts later used in Roblox, without the complexity of a 3D engine. A child with a Scratch foundation progresses in Roblox far faster than one who starts there directly.
How much should they practice per week?
Between 90 and 120 minutes split across three sessions. Consistency matters more than duration: three 30-minute sessions go much further than a single two-hour one.
What if my child gets stuck?
Getting stuck is the normal state of programming, not a sign of failure. The habit to build is asking “what did I want to happen, and what is happening?” Scratch also lets you open any published project with “See Inside” to see how someone else solved the same problem.
What if my child is more interested in design than coding?
That’s good news, not a problem. Game studios employ concept artists, 3D modelers, animators, level designers and writers. Week 3 of the plan exists to spot that inclination early.
Is this useful long-term, or just a hobby?
The skills being trained — breaking a problem down, testing, correcting, iterating — transfer to almost any career. And in software specifically, it’s one of the strongest areas for remote work.