Today I went to the TTL to learn about different animation programs that kids can use. I started with the program Scratch. I learned how to use it on my own with the help on an online tutorial. I learned how to animate my little critter, how to add voice bubbles, how to change "costumes" of the character and how to add sound. The program was a little more complicated than i had originally thought. To get the creature to cross the screen took me a while to figure out. The button i used to get the creature to move was labeled, "walk 10 steps" you were able to change the number, however, this did not move him 10 paces across the screen. He merely moved once. So i then figured out that i had to continuously repeat the command with a "wait 1 second" command in between each walk command. So you can imagine that there are a lot of walk and wait commands.
I also had a difficult time adding sound. I found the piece i wanted use, but it was not long enough, nor did i know how to extend it.
I plan to return to the TTL to play with the program some more. I can see that this might take a while to teach to kids, but i think it will be worth while in the end. it will give them the ability to express what they have learned in a fun way.
This program is also a good way to teach about programing and math. for some parts, I haven't figured out how to use, there are math equations used to tell how long to do a command.
As i said before, I am eager to go back and learn more.