Introduction to Turtle Art -...

Introduction to Turtle Art

The Turtle Art interface has three basic menu options:

New: Creates a new Turtle Art project

Open: Allows you to open a Turtle Art project which has been saved onto the computer or network drive

Save/Save As: Choose the Save to save the current project, click the arrow in the lower right to choose

Save As and navigate to the location where you want to save your project.

There are also several tools on the toolbar:

The Selection arrow is the most commonly used tool. Use

this to drag blocks to the workspace, or move blocks

around.

If you select the “Magic Wand” tool, you can click on your

block to have the Turtle draw your picture.

The Scissors tool can be used to cut blocks you want to get

rid of. Select the tool, then click on the blocks you wish to

cut.

If you select the Help Tool (the question

mark), you may then click on any block or

most menu items with it and it will bring up

some information about that object.

Click to hide your blocks. If they are already hidden, click this icon

to make them show again.

Click the eraser tool to clear the workspace and return the Turtle

to his starting position.

To create projects in Turtle Art, drag the block you want into the workspace area.

Click the block with the magic wand tool (or hold down the shift when you click with the arrow tool) to

make the turtle move.

There are five categories of blocks:

Turtle blocks are used to move the turtle. This is also the area where you will find blocks holding the x‐

coordinate (xcor) and y‐coordinate (ycor) and heading of your turtle’s current position. The value of

heading moves in a circle like the hands of a clock, starting at 0 (straight up), through 90 (to the right), 180

(straight down), 270 (to the left) and back to 360 (straight up again).

Pen blocks control the size, color, and other aspects of the pen

Numbers blocks allow you to change the numbers (like how far forward, what angle to turn), do arithmetic,

and other mathy stuff.

Flow blocks let you control how your blocks are repeating, how many times, and under what

conditions (if something happens then draw this).

My Blocks let you name a blocks, then use that name as part of a different stack.

By combining different types of blocks, you can come up with all kinds of interesting drawings.

Let’s try some activities!

111

BIGGER OR SMALLERchange this number

these numbers have changed

TRIANGLE

these numbers have changed

SQUARE

Get

ting

Sta

rted

Get

ting

Sta

rted

forward

right

100

60

repeat 6

90 x 4 = 360

right 60

forward 100

Getting Started

Getting Started

360 is all the

way around360 is all the

way aroundGETTINGSTARTED

forward

right

100

60

repeat 6

number of sides

draw a line

turn

forward

right

38

60

repeat 6

forward

right

100

90

repeat 4

forward

right

100

120

repeat 3

forward

right

100

38

repeat 4

11

forward

right

1

1

repeat 360

setcolor 7

222

Drawing Circles

Dra

win

g Ci

rcle

sD

raw

ing

Circ

les

22

change this numberBIGGER SMALLER

change these numbers

360 x 1 = 360

choose a color

But it still turns 360

It takes a lot of little steps

Drawing Circles

180 x 2 = 360 360 is all the

way around360 is all the

way around

forward

right

1

1

repeat 360

forward

right

1

2

repeat 180

forward

right

2

1

repeat 360

DRAWINGCIRCLES forward

right

1

2

repeat 180

setcolor 7

step

turn

jean.langston

Typewritten Text

jean.langston

Typewritten Text

jean.langston

Typewritten Text

0

333

Spin

ning

Cir

cle

the heading changes

SPINNINGCIRCLES

33

Spin

ning

Cir

cle

Spinning Circle

Spinning Circle

REPEAT IT 45 TIMES

If you repeat it 360,


the turtle does a full


circle circle



circle

setcolor 80 set

pensize 1 setpensize 10

CHANGE COLORS CHANGE PEN SIZE

forward

back

290

290

repeat 45

1right

45o45o

forward

back

290

290

repeat 360

1right

forward

back

290

290

1right

RAINBOW MATH

55

Rain

bow

Mat

hRa

inbo

w M

ath

Rainbow Math

Rainbow Math

Change this numberand see what happensTRY THIS

colors will range from 0 to 100

number ofdegrees in a circle

number or colorsavailable

the turtle goesoff the screen andback to the center

heading/360 x 100 goes from 0 to 100

}

heading range from 0 to 100

55

COLORS0 100

66

SPINNINGSHADES

66

Turt

le S

hade

sTu

rtle

Sha

des

Turtle Shades

Turtle Shades

TRY TO CREATE THIS IMAGE

SHADES0 100 200

number ofdegrees in a circle

number of shadesavailable

the turtle goesoff the screen andback to the center

shades range from 0 to 200

heading range from 0 to 100

777

Arc

ARC

77

Arc

ArcArc

radius = 100

angle = 270

forw

ard

100

forward 100

1

3

2arc 270 100

1

2

3

the turtle ends pointing upas it started

CAN YOU MAKE...

888

Arc

s in

a C

ircl

e

ARCS IN ACIRCLE

88

Arc

s in

a C

ircl

eArcs in a circl

e

Arcs in a Circle

choose a color

choose a shade

and fill the screen

do it once

10oturn

do it againand turn

do it 10 times

If you repeat it 36 times,


the turtle does a full circle




10 x 36 = 360

right 90

10rightright 100=

999

RAYS

99Ra

ysRa

ysRaysRays

forward

back

250

246

4left

4left

CHANGE SOME NUMBERS AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS

forward 4

it is a

circle inside

left 4

think about

the turtle goes forwardbut it doesn’t comeback all the way

101010

CANDYVORTEX

101010

Cand

y Vo

rtex

Cand

y Vo

rtex

Candy VortexCandy Vortex

pensize gets smaller as theturtle turns (359, 358, 357..)

the color and shadeare set by the turtle’sX and Y position

EXPERIMENT! SWITCH AROUND THESE BLOCKS:

1111

SPIRAL

1111Sp

iral

Spir

alSpiralSpiral

this is like doing

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

forward 0

90right

forward 10

90right

forward 20

90right

forward 100

90right

change this number

and this one too

box1 starts at 0

adds 10 each time

1212

BENTSPIRAL

1212

Bent

Spi

ral

Bent

Spi

ral

Bent Spiral

Bent Spiral

right 90 make a square spiralright 91 makes a bent square spiral

Try making a benttriangle spiral

1313

SPINRAINBOW

1313

Spin

Rai

nbow

Spin

Rai

nbow

Spin Rainbow

Spin Rainbow

It is good to use a name that indicates whatis stored in the box

each segment isslightly differentcolor

the blocks automatically change names

Click andtype to change its name

1414

FLAG

1414Fl

agFl

agFlagFlag

forw

ard

100

1

forw

ard

100

righ

t 12

0

2

forward 100right 120

3

forward 100

right 1

20

4

back

100

5

5

43

2

1

}

}the turtle endedwhere it started

Try other things where the turtle ends where it starts

1515

FLAGS

1515Fl

ags

Flag

sFlagsFlags

makes 9 flags

create a block

3. A new block with that name appears

4. Use it in other stacks

2. Click and type a name

1. Place this block on top

Create our own blocks anduse them in different stacks

1616

SPINSQUARE

1616

Spin

Squ

are

Spin

Squ

are

Spin Square

Spin Square

make asquare

turn

36o

and another...


the turtle does a full circleIf you repeat it 10 times,


10 x 36 = 360

once you name a stack, a block appears here

and another...

and another...

1717

FLOWER

1717Fl

ower

Flow

er

FlowerFlowerdraw a square of any size

length of a side

make some changesand see what happens

square 90

square 60

square 30

start at 0

make size bigger

1818

HEXRAINBOW

1818

Hex

rain

bow

Hex

rain

bow

Hexrainbow

Hexrainbow

color will range from 0 to 86

draw 6 hexagons of any size

size determineshow big it is

start at 0

changes its value adding 2 each time size = 0 + 2 = 2 size = 2 + 2 = 4 size = 4 + 2 = 6 ... size = 258 + 2 = 260

1919

RANDOMSTARS

1919

Rand

om S

tars

Rand

om S

tars

Random Stars

Random Stars

try using random with pensizes and shades...

pick a random color from 0 to 100

pick a random X position,from -300 to 300, and a randomY position, from -200 to 200

draw a starof a random colorat a random place

try this several times

what values did you get?

20

20

20

20

Creating a Student Account in Scratch

Go to the scratch website at http://scratch.mit.edu

Click the link to Join Scratch:

Students will need to choose a username.

They should NOT use their real names.

We recommend each student be assigned a

number and they create their account as

school initials followed by the number, but the

school can choose what works for them.

Students should not use any part of their

names, first or last.

For the password, we recommend students

use 123456.

Students should enter their correct birth

month and year (this ensures that if they are

under 13 their information will not be

stored)

For Parent or guardian email, students

should use the account specified on the

parent permission form. If the parent didn’t

specify or doesn’t have an email address, a

school or teacher email account may be

used.

Task 1: Movement, Looping (repeat/forever) and Bouncing on Edge

1) Drag and drop the block into the script area. Double‐click the block to move the

sprite.

Change the number 10 to 50, double click and see what happens. . Repeat several times.

What happens when the sprite reaches the edge of the stage?

2) Drag in the block in and attach it to to create:

Double click several times. What happens when the sprite reaches the edge? What should happen?

Find your Sprite in the Sprite list at the bottom, and click the i in the upper left corner.

This opens the sprite’s information. Move the blue line in the

circle next to direction to see what happens to the sprite.

Next to rotation style, there are three options. Select the middle

left‐right arrows, then move the blue line in the circle next to

direction to see what happens.

Double‐click your stack again to see what happens when you bounce off the edge.

3) Now, from the Events palette, attach to the top of your stack and then click on the

green flag several times.

From the Control palette, add a FOREVER block into your program (pull the blue

motion blocks away from the tan control one to separate them) and place your two

motion blocks inside the forever block, to create this:

Click the flag to run your program. To stop the program, use the stop sign.

Click the i on the sprite and change the direction from 90 degrees to 120 degrees. Run your program again.

Give your program a name and go to File > Save Now to save your program.

Extra Challenges for Task 1:

Make your sprite move slowly around the stage.

Make your sprite bounce all over the stage.

Task 2: Change effects (color, etc), Press key and Wait.

1) Start by creating the script show to the right

Click on the to run your script, and adjust the properties of your sprite so that

he isn’t turning upside down. Click on the to stop the program

Now that you have your sprite moving slowly, we are going to create a program where the cat is moving

and changing colors at the same time.

2) Add this program:

(The when key pressed block is from the Events palette and the change

color block is from the Looks palette)

Your script area should now look like this:

Click on the green flag, and then press the spacebar. Notice that the cat changes color each time you press

the spacebar on your keyboard.

Click on the stop sign to stop the program and to get back the cat’s original color

Change your “When space key pressed” block to this

What does the negative sign (‐100) do?

Try other effects such as fish eye, whirl, pixelate, mosaic, brightness, and

ghost effects. Try changing which key you use to make your sprite change.


1) Using all 4 arrows, have your sprite change to a different look with each arrow (you will need to create a

separate stack for each arrow).

2) Add an effect using .

Task 3: Importing New Sprites and Speaking/Thinking

1) Open a new Scratch document. Using the scissors, delete the cat sprite.

• Use the Choose Sprite from Library button to add two new sprites.

• Use the grow and shrink buttons to adjust the size of your sprites.

Note, click on the grow/shrink button, then click on your sprite.

2) Add in a backdrop for your two sprites.

Change the direction of your sprites if needed so they are facing each other (use i, then change the direction using the circle.

3) Now that you have two new sprites in the stage area, create a conversation between the two

new sprites using the thinking and/or speaking blocks (from the Looks palette) with time attached.

Each sprite will have his/her own stack of blocks.

• Use in between a character’s speaking blocks to time your script properly so

he/she will wait for the other character to finish speaking.

Play your final product in presentation mode

Task 4: Create Your Own Animation Using Costumes

Open a new Scratch program.

1) Choose a background for your stage (setting). Delete the Cat sprite.

• Use the Choose Sprite from Library button to add a new sprite, then click the

costume tab to make sure your sprite has at least 2 costumes.

• Click the Scripts tab. Bring the block into your script area.

Double click on this block to see how it changes your sprite.

Return to the Costumes tab. Right‐click on one of the costumes and choose

Duplicate to add an additional costume.

Use the paint tools to change the color of the new costume. Note, check the lower

right corner of your paint area and make sure you are in bitmap mode. If you are

not, click Convert to Bitmap. This will make it easier to edit.

Return to the Scripts tab and click the block a few times to see your new costume.

Now, add the script to the far right to your sprite

Try changing the number of steps and the wait time until you get a script

that makes your character look like it is moving naturally (if you want to

edit or delete your new costume so the movement works better, you can

do that).

Extra Challenge for Task 4:

1) Now try creating a second animation with another sprite (try and find a sprite with at least three

different costumes).

2) Create an original animated sprite using the ‘paint a new sprite’ button.

3) Choose several different backdrops for your stage. Use the to make the backdrop

change every few seconds.

Task 5: X&Y Coordinates and Pen Down Effect

1) Open a new project. We will be creating a script where your cat goes to all four corners of your stage.

• Drag your cat to the top left corner, and then bring in

Note: Your coordinates may be different, depending on the location of your cat

• Repeat by dragging your cat to top right corner, then bottom right corner and bottom left, corner,

dragging out the “glide to” block each time.

• Start the script with a green flag block.

• Your program should look something like this but with the correct x and

y values. Use the green flag to test your program.

2) Using “point in direction”

Add “point in direction ____” and change the value on each one to have

your cat facing in a different direction with each turn.

Your program should now look something like this

Click on the i to view the sprite information. Run the stack with each of the

three rotation styles. What do you notice?

3) Using “pen down” effect

•From the Pen palette, add in at the start of your stack (right after the

“when green flag clicked” block. Try adding a change pen color block right after the pen down block.

• Once your cat has drawn a square, drag the block and click to clear the screen (don’t attach the

clear to your stack).


1) Add another block at the end to return your cat to his original starting point.

2) Draw a triangle.

3) Change pen size

Task 6: Sensing Feature/Hide and Show

1) Reacting To the Mouse Pointer

• Open a new Scratch document and choose one sprite to bring onto your stage.

• Use the Forever and the If Then (from the Control palette) blocks and the Touching block (from the Sensing palette) to build this

What happens when you touch the mouse pointer to your sprite? What happens if you leave your mouse pointer on your sprite?

2) Reacting To another Sprite

• Choose a second sprite from the library so you have two on your stage (for this example we used Dinosaur2).

Use the Forever and If Then blocks with the touching block and change the drop‐down to the name of your new sprite.

Add a stack like the one on the left to make Sprite 1 move around the stage. Note how the first sprite reacts when it touches the second sprite.

3) Reacting To a Color

• Using the same two sprites, we’re going to change up the program for Sprite 1 to cause it to react to the color of Sprite 2.

• Replace the “Touching ___” block with a “Touching Color” block. To choose the color, click once on the color square and then click on Sprite 2 to choose its color (you can pick any color in sprite 2). We’ll have Sprite 1 hide for 1 second, then show itself again.

If your Sprite disappears and doesn’t reappear, click the stop sign and double‐click on the ‘show’ block and it should show again.


Create a program where your sprite disappears when your mouse is touching it, otherwise your sprite is showing. You will need to use an If Then Else block.

Task 7: Broadcasting and Receiving

1) Broadcast/Receive between Sprites

Broadcast and Receive blocks work together to allow sprites to tell each other what to do. One broadcasts

a message and the other receives the message and reacts. Let’s experiment.

• Choose two sprites to bring onto your stage. For this example, we used the cat and the bat. Note – don’t use the all black bat – he won’t change color!

• Select your cat from the Sprite list at the bottom. Choose the When this sprite clicked block. Then choose the Broadcast block.

Click the arrow next to message 1 and choose new message. Type “Change Bat Color.”

Now choose the bat in the Sprite list at the bottom. Drag out the “When I receive block”, click the down arrow and choose “change bat color” (if it isn’t already showing).

Then add a change color effect block to this stack.

• Every time you click on the cat, the bat should change a shade in color.

• Add a similar script to make the cat change color when the bat is clicked (make sure to select the bat in the sprite list first, and make the new message “change cat color.” The cat now needs a “when I receive” block).

2) Broadcast/Receive between Sprite and Background Scripts

• Using the same two sprites we will have each sprite make a different backdrop appear. For example, when the cat is clicked, the backdrop will change into a bedroom. When the bat is clicked, the stage will change into the forest.

First, import two backdrops from the library. Then add a broadcast block to both the cat’s stack and the bat’s stack.

Cat’s stack: Changes bat color, changes to bedroom background

Bat’s stack: Changes cat color, changes to forest background.

Next, you’ll need to click on the stage on the bottom left part of Scratch.

When the stage is selected, the middle tab changes from Costumes to Backdrops. Click the Scripts tab here and add two stacks of a When I receive and the Switch backdrop to, one for each background.

Task 8: Using Broadcast/Receive to tell a joke

Begin by selecting two sprites and a backdrop from the library that suits your joke (or import your own).

Decide which character will speak first and select that character in the script library. Have that character

say the first part of the joke, then broadcast a new message.

Select the second character from the script library. When that character receives the first message,

he/she/it should tell the second part of the joke, then broadcast a new message.

Select the first character again. Repeat the process several times until you finish the joke and any

responses.

You can try adding in a sound effect as well (like a laugh).

Create your own joke. Use whatever characters you feel work well for the joke. Be sure to save your joke and download to your computer or share it on Scratch.

Task 9: Variables and Keeping Score

We will create a simple game where when one sprite is clicked your score (variable) increases by 1, but when the other sprite is click your score decreases by 2.

Start a new Scratch project by importing two new sprites (you can delete the cat or use him as one of the two sprites).

Go to the Data Palette and choose

Name the variable score and click OK.

• Add to this stack to your script area to set score to 0 (it doesn’t matter which sprite is selected).

• Select the sprite you want to increase the score and add this stack to its script:

Select the sprite you want to decrease the score and add this stack to its script:

Extra Challenges for Task 9

1) Create a ball game. Each ball is a different size and is in motion. When each ball is clicked it will increase your score by a different number. Create scripts so that each ball is moving at a different pace. Since the baseball is the smallest, you should get more points when the baseball is clicked.

Here’s a hint to get started:

Task 10: Editing Sprites and Backgrounds

1) At the top of the Sprite list, click the paintbrush to paint a new

sprite.

Use the paint tools to design a character, stick figure, or other shape. Try giving your

new character his/her own motion blocks.

2) Import a Sprite.

Find a picture, either one of yours or save one off the Internet. Try to not use anything too big. White

backgrounds are easier to work with.

At the top of the Sprite list, click the folder to upload a new sprite.

Browse to where your picture is saved, select it and click Open to upload it.

Once your picture is imported onto the stage, click the Costumes tab to edit. Be sure to erase the

background and size your picture appropriately.


Try editing a background using the paint tools (select the Backdrops tab if the paint tools aren’t visible.

Try uploading your own image to use as a background.

Task 11: Keeping Score

Create your own simple video game!

• Import two new sprites onto your stage (or create your own)

Controlling your sprite

• Choose one sprite that you will control using the arrow keys. Here is a hint:

Note, when moving your sprite left, you can either point in direction ‐90 and move 10 steps or you can point in direction 90 and move ‐10 steps. It depends how you want your character to move.

Adding in variable and sensing feature

• When the green flag is clicked, set score to 0. • If one sprite touches another, increase your score by 1.

Hints for changing the score:

Put a ‘go to’ block first so that your score does not continue to increase while your sprites touch.

Winning the game

Create a new background which says, “You win!!” (you can import one and add the text or create one on your own).

When the score reaches 10, change to the winning background (hint: use broadcasting).

Test if the score is equal to 10 (use the = block from the Operators palette). If it is, use a broadcast to change your background to your “You win” screen.


• Hide your sprites when you go to the “You win” screen. • Move the sprite you’ve touched to a new location (you can even use the random number generator

from the Operators palette). Hint: have the sprite wait .1 seconds before moving to make sure the score changes first

• Lose points if your sprite touches certain sprites or parts of the background (colors?) • Make the sprites that add points move so you need to catch them (or the ones you need to avoid

move to make things harder)

Task 12: Creating your own game

Creating the Hero:

Log into Scratch 2.0. Click on Create to begin a new

Scratch project.

Give your project a descriptive name in the title box.

Go to File and choose Save Now. This will save your project. From here, if you need to stop working

choose Save Now to save, and to open it again, go to File > My Stuff and find your project.

Design and draw a hero Sprite. This can be anything you’d like, such as a knight, football player, a robot,

a fuzzy bunny.

Let’s add a script that will allow you to move your hero sprite around the computer screen. My hero is

called Knight.

Creating the villain:

Create a villain sprite.

Add one of the following scripts to make your villain sprite move around on the screen. My villain is a

dragon (works well with a knight).

This script will have the villain appear in a random spot

and move down the screen.

This script will have the villain appear in a random spot

and move across the screen.

Use whichever script fits the way you think your villain

should move.

Let’s make the hero fade a bit when the villain touches it (so if the hero

fades out completely, the player will have lost). Select the hero sprite and

add this script for it.

If you want to have a sound play when your villain

touches your hero, select your villain sprite and add this script.

The Reward

In order to win our game, the hero has to collect several rewards without being killed by the villain. This

is a fairly complicated script involving random numbers, movement, sound, and text. Great stuff! Let’s

get started.

Create a reward sprite. In my project the knight has to collect keys to the castle.

We want the reward sprite to appear on the screen in a random location and wiggle a little bit. Once

the hero touches it, it will move to another spot. We’ll repeat this 7 times

So far, so good. Now, when the hero touches the reward, a message will appear and a sound will play.

Add the following to the same stack for your reward:

Once the hero has collected 7 rewards, the game is over. The reward will reappear in the center and

we will end the game. Add the following blocks to the end of the reward stack we’ve been working on

(right after the end of the repeat 7 block). I created a new costume for my reward (I just changed the

color to make it different) and called it key2.

Background and Finishing Touches

This week we focused on polishing our games with sound effects, background music, special effects,

and game instructions.

Add a backdrop to your stage (mine is castle3).

Have your background play some music. Add this script to the stage.

Create a different background for when you win. You need to create your background as a backdrop,

then add a broadcast block to the reward script as part of the win:

Then add a receive block to the stage. You can even play a different sound when the player wins:

End of

repeat

You may create a sprite with text that explains how to play your game.

Display your instructions at the beginning of the game, then have it fade away (you may want to have

your villain wait a bit longer if you are going to display instructions).

Having your hero lose

If you would like your hero to lose, decide how many times he/she would need to be touched by the

villain to lose. Since 5 touches would cause my knight to disappear completely, if the dragon touches

him 5 times, I will say he died.

First we need a variable and it needs to be set to zero. You can create your variable in any of the

sprites, but I am going to put mine in the instructions sprite area.

Now I need to add one to score each time the dragon touches the knight. I’m going to use the stack in

the hero sprite (the knight) since I’m already testing whether or not the villain touched him.

Add 1 to the score when the villain touches him, then check to see if it’s the 5th touch, and if it is,

broadcast a loser message.

I created a new backdrop called Loser, and in the stage script area, I added this:

Add

Task 13: Remix

Scratch allows you to view the scripts which make up other people’s projects, then save a copy of their

scripts so you can play with the blocks to make it your own.

Begin by clicking the Explore link from the main Scratch page.

Look through the projects and find one that interests you. Click the link to open the project.

Click the See Inside link to see the project scripts.

Click the Remix button to save a copy of the project to your folder and you can edit the blocks to make it

your own.

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