To make your first game in Scratch, you pick a simple idea, add a player sprite you can control, add something that moves on its own, connect them with a score, and test it until it feels fun. That is the whole shape of it. Below is one complete build, a catch-the-falling-stars game, the same kind of project kids build in Young Crafts Academy's live Scratch classes, and it takes most first-timers under an hour from a blank screen to something they will want to show you.
Scratch is free and runs in the browser at scratch.mit.edu, no download needed. If your child picks this up quickly and starts asking for more, that curiosity is exactly what YCA's Scratch programming classes for Grade 1 to 4 are built around, live instruction instead of a video they watch alone.
Meet the Scratch Editor: A Two-Minute Tour
If your child has never heard the word Scratch before today, this plain-English explainer of what Scratch actually is? is worth two minutes before you dive in. If they already know, skip straight to building. Before touching a single block, it helps to know where things are.
Stage. The white area, top right. Your game plays here.
Sprite panel. Below the stage. Shows every character and object in your project.
Backdrop section. Also below the stage. Sets your game's background.
Block palette. Left side. Every block, sorted into color-coded categories: Motion, Looks, Sound, Events, Control, Sensing, Variables.
Coding area. The middle. You drag blocks here and snap them together into scripts.
Green flag. Top of the stage. Click it to run your game from the start.
That is really the entire interface. Everything else is variations on these six pieces.
The Game You're Building: Catch the Falling Stars
Two sprites, one simple rule: a basket at the bottom that your child moves with the arrow keys, and a star that falls from the top. Catch it, score a point. Miss it, it just falls again, no punishment, which matters for a first project since nothing kills momentum like an early game over screen. Thirty seconds on the clock, then the game ends and shows the final score.
Step-by-Step: Build the Game
Step 1: Set the backdrop. Click the backdrop icon in the bottom-right corner, below the stage. Pick anything from the built-in library, a night sky works well for a star-catching game. This takes ten seconds and instantly makes the project feel like a real game rather than a blank test.
Step 2: Add and code the Basket sprite. Click the new sprite icon and search "basket" in the library, or use any sprite your child likes better, this part is genuinely theirs to decide. Delete the default cat sprite if you don't need it. With Basket selected, build this script:
Drag a when green flag clicked block (Events) into the coding area.
Snap a set Score to 0 block underneath it. (You'll create the Score variable in Step 4, come back to this after.)
Snap a go to x: 0 y: -150 block (Motion) below that, so the basket always starts at the bottom center.
Add a forever block (Control) underneath.
Inside the forever block, add two if key pressed then blocks (Control + Sensing): one checking "right arrow" with a change x by 10 inside it, one checking "left arrow" with a change x by -10 inside it.
Click the green flag. The basket should now slide left and right with the arrow keys.
Step 3: Add and code the Star sprite. Add a new sprite and search "star." Build this script on the Star sprite:
when green flag clicked (Events)
go to x: (pick random -220 to 220) y: 180 (Motion, with the "pick random" block from Operators dropped into the x slot), this drops the star at a random spot near the top.
A forever block (Control) containing:
change y by -5 (Motion), so the star falls.
An if <touching Basket?> then block (Control + Sensing): inside it, put change Score by 1 and go to x: (pick random -220 to 220) y: 180 to reset the star after a catch.
An if <y position < -170> then block: inside it, put the same reset block, so a missed star also returns to the top instead of vanishing off the bottom.
Step 4: Create and use the Score variable. If you haven't already, go to the Variables section and click "Make a Variable," name it Score, and keep "For all sprites" selected. This makes it available to both sprites. Now go back to Step 2 on the Basket sprite and drop set Score to 0 into the empty slot you left there.
Step 5: Add a timer and an ending. Scratch has a built-in stopwatch in the Sensing category, no new variable needed. On the Basket sprite, add a second forever block (or a second script entirely) with:
reset timer (Sensing) right after the green flag block.
An if <timer > 30> then block containing say (join "Game Over! Score: " Score) for 3 seconds (Looks + Operators) followed by stop all (Control).
Step 6: Add sound for feedback. Click the Sound tab while the Star sprite is selected, then Choose a Sound, and pick something short like "Pop" or "Collect." Drag a play sound Pop until done block (Sound) into the "touching Basket" branch from Step 3, right after Change Score by 1. That small addition makes every catch feel satisfying instead of silent.
Step 7: Test, debug, and make it your own. Click the green flag and play it through. If the basket won't move, check that the arrow-key blocks are inside the forever loop, not sitting outside it. If the score never changes, check that the Star's "touching Basket?" block is actually referencing the sprite named Basket, not the default cat. Once it works, let your child change the falling speed, swap the star for a different sprite, or add a second falling object. That tinkering is where real understanding builds, more than the tutorial itself, and it's the same philosophy MIT's own Scratch team designs around: kids learn best through active building, not passive instructions. Still stuck on something this guide didn't cover? YCA's roundup of common Scratch mistakes and how to fix them is the next place to look.
What Grade Is This Project Right For?
This build suits Grade 1 to 4, roughly age 6 to 9, which is exactly where YCA's Scratch course sits. Kids this age don't need to understand what a variable is in the abstract, they need to watch a number go up when something good happens, and that is enough to make the idea click. If your child is closer to either edge of that range, YCA's guide to the right age to start Scratch goes deeper on when to start and when to wait.
What to Build Next
Once catching stars feels easy, the natural next step is another Scratch project before anything else. YCA's list of beginner-friendly Scratch project ideas is a good place to pick the next one. Only once a few of those feel easy are most kids ready to see what comes after block-based coding altogether, which is where typed languages like Python come in. YCA's Scratch vs Python comparison walks through when that jump usually makes sense.
Learning Scratch in Nepal: Online and In Person With YCA
YCA teaches Scratch programming as a live, instructor-led course for Grade 1 to 4, never a pre-recorded video. Classes run online for families anywhere in Nepal, and in person at YCA's learning centre in Sankhamul, Kathmandu. Kids finish with real, finished projects, not just worksheets, and get weekly updates so parents can see exactly what their child built and why.
If a single project like this one hooks your child, a full course goes further with proper game logic, animation, and storytelling than one afternoon build ever can.
