Catch the Star! - A Scratch Project

Over the past several weeks, I have been working with my child's classroom, focusing exclusively on Scratch! The kids LOVE it! :) We have been focusing mainly on game design, and of course, I try to make connections with the classroom syllabus at the same time. The class has been learning about the coordinate system and algebra over the last 2 months, hence the projects that I developed focus mainly on these two concepts.

I provided this sample program to get things started: Catch the Star! We went over the sample code and then the kids developed their own games using the concepts learned.

Aim:

Create a game where a sprite constantly glides from one end of the screen to the other (much like the chimneys in the popular Flappy Bird game on code.org). If another sprite hits it, you get/lose a point. 

A Musical Instrument with a Photoresistor - Scratch for Arduino (S4A) project

A project to make a musical instrument using the Arduino and Scratch for Arduino (S4A). The inspiration came from the theremin-like musical instrument project on s4a.cat

The version below uses a photoresistor. It is much simpler than the s4a.cat one and I have not used any LEDs either. I might add them in, as part 2 of the project.

A photoresistor (or light-dependent resistor, LDR, or photocell) is a light-controlled variable resistor. The resistance of a photoresistor decreases with increasing incident light intensity; in other words, it exhibits photoconductivity. A photoresistor can be applied in light-sensitive detector circuits, and light- and dark-activated switching circuits. (Wikipedia)

Scratch for Arduino (S4A) Project - A Food Detector

Here is a project to design a Food Detector - an interactive game that tries to identify the type of food among a few given food items.  It uses the Arduino's analog inputs to measure the resistance offered by different food items. I designed this lesson for our Grade 5 students, and taught it last week at school. The inspiration for this lesson came from the Pixelate game, that I found on the Arduino site. The class went really well, and the kids had fun playing detective with different fruits & vegetables.

Below is the formal lesson plan:

Aim

Different food items have different resistance/ conductance to electricity. Learn to use the analog sensors in the Arduino to identify different food items, with S4A (Scratch for Arduino) as the software development environment.