Scratch website, visual programming, block coding, creative learning, games, animations, online community, classroom projects, and official coding apps

Scratch

Scratch is a visual programming website and online community where young people create interactive stories, games, animations, art, music, and simulations with block-based code.

Official site

scratch.mit.edu is the main public website for the Scratch editor and online community.

Audience

MIT Media Lab describes the Scratch Online Community as serving children primarily between ages 8 and 16.

Core idea

Scratch uses visual coding blocks so beginners can make projects without typing syntax-heavy code.

Scratch is a visual programming website and online community for creative coding projects, games, stories, and animations.View image on Wikimedia Commons

What Scratch is

Scratch is a website and online community for making interactive stories, games, animations, music, art, and simulations with block-based code. The official Scratch app is available on the App Store and Google Play, with the Google Play listing describing it for Chrome and Android tablets.

Block-based coding

Scratch replaces typed commands with puzzle-shaped blocks that snap together. Learners can control sprites, respond to clicks or key presses, play sounds, change costumes, use variables, send messages, and build loops or conditions. The goal is not to hide programming ideas, but to make them visible and playful.

Projects and remixing

A Scratch project can be shared publicly on the website, where other users can play it, inspect the code, leave comments, favorite it, or remix it into a new version. Remixing is part of the learning model: young creators learn by studying how other projects work and then adapting them.

Community and moderation

Because Scratch is used by children, the website includes community guidelines, reporting tools, and expectations for constructive comments. Public sharing is valuable, but it also makes moderation, privacy, attribution, and age-appropriate interaction central to the platform.

Schools and creative learning

Educators use Scratch for computer science introductions, storytelling, math simulations, art projects, game design, language learning, science models, and open-ended creative assignments. Its strongest classroom use often comes when students design something meaningful rather than only follow a recipe.

From MIT to the Scratch Foundation

Scratch began from the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab and is now associated with the Scratch Foundation. The project keeps a strong educational research identity: it treats coding as a way to express ideas, collaborate, solve problems, and develop creative confidence.

Why it matters

Scratch matters because it made programming approachable for many children before they were ready for text-based languages. It also changed how people talk about learning to code: not only as job training, but as a creative medium for stories, games, jokes, experiments, and personal expression.

Limits and tradeoffs

Scratch is not meant to replace every programming language or professional development tool. Large projects can become difficult to organize, collaboration is limited compared with full software workflows, and moving from blocks to text still requires learning syntax, debugging habits, and software design practices.

WHOIS domain data

Data pulled: June 1, 2026View current WHOIS record

Public site: scratch.mit.edu
Parent domain: mit.edu
IP address: 23.49.179.66
Registrant: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Domain record activated: May 23, 1985
Domain record last updated: May 18, 2026
Domain expires: July 31, 2026
Nameservers: eur5.akam.net; usw2.akam.net; asia1.akam.net; use5.akam.net; use2.akam.net; asia2.akam.net; ns1-37.akam.net; ns1-173.akam.net
Contact privacy: The Who.is record lists MIT administrative and technical contacts for the parent domain.

Key concepts

Spritean object in a Scratch project that can move, react, change appearance, and run scripts.
Blocka visual coding command that snaps together with other blocks.
Stagethe area where a Scratch project runs and where sprites appear.
Remixa new project made by copying and modifying someone else's shared Scratch project.

Common workflows

Create a project by choosing sprites, backdrops, sounds, and coding blocks.
Test a script with the green flag, clicks, keyboard events, or sprite interactions.
Share a project publicly so others can play, comment, study, favorite, or remix it.
Use Scratch in class for storytelling, games, simulations, tutorials, or creative coding challenges.

Common misconceptions

Scratch is not only a toy; it introduces real programming ideas such as events, loops, conditions, variables, and messages.
Block coding does not remove the need for debugging; it changes what beginners have to debug first.
Scratch is not mainly for building commercial software; it is designed for learning, expression, and community sharing.
A remixed project is not automatically plagiarism when attribution and community rules are followed.

Open questions

How can Scratch help learners move from block-based coding to text-based programming when they are ready?
What moderation tools best protect young users while preserving creativity and peer learning?
How should AI assistance fit into beginner coding environments without doing the thinking for learners?
Can creative coding communities stay welcoming as projects, audiences, and expectations grow more complex?