With ScratchJr, kids (ages 5-7) learn new skills by programming their own interactive stories and games.
By connecting the graphical programming blocks, children can make their characters move, jump, dance and sing. In this way, they learn to solve problems and design projects, but also to express their creativity with a computer. By encouraging young people to use mathematics and language in a specific and stimulating context, ScratchJr promotes the development of general skills, especially calculations. With ScratchJr, kids aren’t just learning to code, they’re learning to code.
ScratchJr is inspired by the famous programming language Scratch (http://scratch.mit.edu), used by millions of young people aged 8 and over around the world. We adapted ScratchJr’s interface and programming language to promote children’s cognitive, personal, social and emotional development.
ScratchJr is a collaboration between the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab, the Development Technology group at Tufts University, and the company Playful Invention. The ScratchJr project has received generous financial support from the National Science Foundation (NSF DRL-1118664), the Scratch Foundation, the LEGO Foundation and British Telecommunications.
If you enjoy using this free application, consider making a donation to the Scratch Foundation (www.scratchfoundation.org), a non-profit organization that supports the ScratchJr project on an ongoing basis. We appreciate any kind of donation, big or small.