The best Scratch projects for beginners follow a real order, not a random grab-bag: start with a simple bounce or catching game to learn basic motion and collision, then move through timing-based games like Geometry Dash, and finish with multi-part games like a shooter, each one adding exactly one new skill on top of the last. Below are the 10 real projects YCA's Scratch Programming course teaches Grade 1 to 4 students in that exact order, not remixed from someone else's tutorial, but built live in class.
Every project here is buildable for free on Scratch, MIT's own coding platform, no software to install and no account required just to try one out. If your child is brand new to Scratch, our guide on what Scratch coding actually is, is worth reading first. Here are the some of the scratch projects the students build at YCA:
The 10 Projects at a Glance
# | Project | What Happens | Core Skill Added |
1 | Bounce Game | A ball bounces off walls and a paddle, speeding up over time | Motion and basic collision |
2 | Catching Game | A character catches falling objects, score up, lives down | Tracking two variables at once |
3 | Geometry Dash | A character auto-runs and jumps to the beat of music | Timing actions to a rhythm |
4 | Boat Game | A boat is steered across water, dodging obstacles | Two-direction steering |
5 | Flappy Bird Game | Tap to fly through gaps between moving pipes | Repeating, self-generating obstacles |
6 | Zombie Game | Tap, shoot, or dodge zombies to survive | Health tracking, game-over conditions |
7 | Balloon Pop Game | Pop rising balloons before they escape | Randomized speed and position |
8 | Fish Eating Game | A fish grows by eating smaller fish, avoids bigger ones | Comparing values, changing size |
9 | Alien Invasion Shooter | A spaceship shoots down waves of aliens | Combining movement, shooting, and scoring |
10 | Fruit Slicing Game | Fruits are sliced mid-air with mouse swipes | Mouse-based sensing |
1. Bounce Game
What happens: A ball bounces off walls and a paddle, speeding up the longer it survives
Why it's first: Only needs Motion blocks and a simple "if on edge, bounce" check, the project that proves to a child, for the first time, that they can build something that actually plays like a game
What it teaches: Motion blocks, basic collision, and a variable (speed) that changes while the game runs
2. Catching Game
What happens: A character moves left and right to catch objects falling from the top of the screen, score up with every catch, lives down with every miss
Why it's next: A small step up from Bounce Game, since two things now need tracking at once
What it teaches: Using two variables at once, and reacting differently depending on what's touched
3. Geometry Dash
What happens: A character auto-runs across the screen and jumps over obstacles in time with music
What's different: The player doesn't control movement directly, only the jump, which changes how a child has to think about timing
What it teaches: Control blocks for jumping, and syncing actions to a beat rather than just a key press
4. Boat Game
What happens: A boat is steered across water, dodging obstacles and collecting points
What's different: Steering in two directions at once, up and down as well as forward, a genuinely different skill from the side-to-side movement in the first three projects
What it teaches: Sensing blocks for obstacles, combined with a running point total
5. Flappy Bird Game
What happens: A character taps to fly through gaps between moving pipes
Why it's tricky: Needs precise timing, and the pipes have to keep generating themselves as the game continues
What it teaches: Cloning or repeating obstacles, and fine-tuned control using a single tap or key
6. Zombie Game
What happens: Zombies approach from the edges of the screen, the player taps, shoots, or dodges to survive
Why it's a step up: This is where it starts to feel like a real game with stakes, a clear win-or-lose condition tied to running out of health
What it teaches: Multiple enemy sprites at once, health tracking, and a proper game-over condition
7. Balloon Pop Game
What happens: Balloons rise up the screen, the player pops them before they float off the top
Why it's good practice: Balloons move at different rates, so it's a solid drill for timing and reaction speed
What it teaches: Random speed and position values, so no two playthroughs feel exactly the same
8. Fish Eating Game
What happens: A fish grows bigger every time it eats a smaller fish, but has to avoid anything bigger than itself
Why it's satisfying: The character visibly changes size as the game goes on
What it teaches: Comparing values, and changing a sprite's size based on game progress
9. Alien Invasion Shooter
What happens: A spaceship shoots down waves of aliens before they reach the bottom of the screen
Why it's a milestone: Pulls together almost everything learned so far, movement, shooting, collision, and scoring, into one game with real complexity
What it teaches: Managing several moving parts, projectiles, multiple enemies, and a constantly updating scoring system
10. Fruit Slicing Game
What happens: Fruits are thrown into the air and sliced using mouse swipes, tracking points per slice
What's different: Uses the mouse instead of the keyboard, a different kind of control most kids haven't tried by this point
What it teaches: Mouse-based sensing, and detecting a swipe rather than just a click
How These Projects Build on Each Other
None of these are meant to be built in isolation. Each one reuses a concept from the project before it and adds exactly one new idea on top, a deliberate order, not a random list.
Project | New Idea Added on Top of the Last One |
1. Bounce Game | Motion and collision, the starting point |
2. Catching Game | A second variable to track at once |
3. Geometry Dash | Timing actions to a beat |
4. Boat Game | Two-direction steering |
5. Flappy Bird Game | Repeating, self-generating obstacles |
6. Zombie Game | Health tracking and a game-over condition |
7. Balloon Pop Game | Randomized values |
8. Fish Eating Game | Comparing values and resizing a sprite |
9. Alien Invasion Shooter | Combining five or six earlier ideas at once |
10. Fruit Slicing Game | Mouse-based control |
Jumping straight to an advanced project and skipping the earlier ones tends to frustrate kids rather than challenge them in a useful way. A child who tries to build a shooter game before ever making something bounce off a wall usually gets stuck on ten problems at once instead of one. The order matters as much as the projects themselves, which is the main reason a live instructor helps here far more than a stack of unrelated YouTube tutorials, someone who can tell when a child is ready for the next concept instead of just the next video in a playlist.
Why This Order Actually Matters
Building through these 10 projects in sequence is not just a way to keep a child entertained from one game to the next. Each one is quietly building sequencing, computational thinking, and the habit of treating a bug as a clue instead of a failure, the same habits covered in our piece on the real benefits of Scratch coding for kids. A child who makes it from Bounce Game to Alien Invasion Shooter is not just collecting finished games, they are building the exact thinking patterns that post breaks down one by one.
What Age Is This Right For?
Grade | Age | What to Expect |
Grade 1 to 2 | 6 to 7 | Needs more instructor support through the first two or three projects |
Grade 3 to 4 | 8 to 10 | Moves through earlier projects quickly, spends more time customizing later ones |
This project list is built for Grade 1 to 4, roughly age 6 to 10, exactly who YCA's Scratch course is designed for. For where Scratch fits into the bigger picture, from Grade 1 all the way through to more advanced courses by Grade 10, see YCA's parent's guide to coding by grade.
What Comes After These 10 Projects?
After the Fruit Slicing Game, YCA students build two more projects, a Quiz Game using variables and operators, and a final independent project of their own design, before the course wraps up. From there, most students move on to Python, where the same logic learned across these 10 games carries over directly, just typed instead of dragged.
