Scratch lets a complete beginner assemble interactive stories, games, and animations by snapping together coloured blocks, with no typed code required. It is free, and Scratch’s official description of the tool covers interactive media rather than installable phone apps, so “app maker” is best read as “maker of interactive projects.” Here is what you can realistically build, how to start, and where the limits are.
What Scratch actually lets you make
Scratch’s About page, reviewed by Scratch in October 2026, describes the tool as a way to “program your own interactive stories, games, and animations” and share them with others in the online community. Those three categories are the project types the platform names. A project is built from sprites (the characters or objects on screen), backgrounds, sounds, and scripts made of blocks that tell each sprite what to do.
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Interactive stories
A story project might have a character who speaks lines in a speech bubble, changes costume when a key is pressed, and moves to a new background when the reader clicks. Scratch’s own educator material for story creation treats this as a natural first use of the editor.
Games
Games are the most common target for beginners because a single rule, such as “when the arrow key is pressed, move the sprite ten steps,” is enough to create something playable. Scratch’s starter projects include a Pong-style game and a maze, which show how collisions and scores can be built from the same basic blocks.
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Animations
Animations use repeated actions, timed movement, and changes of costume to make sprites move on screen. They are often the quickest way to see a result, since a few blocks can make a character walk across the stage and loop.
What “app maker” does not establish
Scratch’s official pages do not describe the platform as a way to publish native mobile apps for iOS or Android, and they do not describe an export path to app stores. A Scratch project is a program that runs in the Scratch environment. If you want a project to look and behave like a finished app on a phone, expect to do additional work with other tools, and treat Scratch as the place to learn the logic and design first.
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Do you need to know how to code?
No conventional coding knowledge is needed. Scratch uses block-based programming, where each block is a command such as move 10 steps or wait 1 seconds, and you connect blocks in a stack to form a script. The skills you pick up are the ones underneath all programming, including sequencing, loops, conditions, and variables, but you practise them by dragging blocks instead of typing syntax.
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How to start: the Getting Started sequence
Scratch’s Getting Started tutorial walks through a first project in a fixed order. Working through it once gives you the editor vocabulary (stage, sprite list, block palette, and script area) that every later project uses.
- Movement. Drag a motion block into the scripts area for the default cat sprite and click it to see it move.
- Sound. Add a sound block from the Sound category so the sprite plays a noise when the script runs.
- Animation. Use a costume-change block so the sprite appears to move as its pictures switch.
- Repeating actions. Place blocks inside a repeat block so a movement happens several times without you copying the blocks.
- Character speech. Use a “say” block to show text in a speech bubble.
- The green flag. Attach a script to the “when green flag clicked” block so the project starts with one click on the flag above the stage.
- Changing colour. Use a colour effect block to change how a sprite looks.
- Responding to a key. Use a “when key pressed” block so a keypress triggers an action.
- A background. Choose a stage backdrop from the library or upload your own.
- A second sprite. Add a new sprite and give it its own script, so two characters can interact.
- Sharing. Save and share the project, which you can do through the online community or keep to yourself.
The tutorial is written for the online editor. Menu labels and block categories can change between Scratch releases, so if a label on your screen differs from the one above, follow the same step by matching the block’s function.
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Online community or offline editor: choosing how to begin
Scratch offers two ways to start that are worth comparing before you commit to one.
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| Way to begin | What it gives you | What to check first |
|---|---|---|
| Online editor with community sharing | Make projects, then share them and receive feedback from other members of the Scratch online community | Sharing is optional; a project can stay private if you prefer. Parent guidance on the official For Parents page covers community settings and privacy. |
| Offline editor | Create projects without joining or accessing the online community, according to Scratch’s For Parents page | Device compatibility and current availability were not confirmed in the official pages reviewed, so check the download page before setup. |
| Guided tutorial | A step-by-step first project that introduces movement, sound, animation, key presses, and sharing | Best for learning the editor from scratch, but slower to produce a finished game. |
| Remixing a starter project | Open a finished example from the starter collection, change it, and see how its scripts work | Easiest to customise quickly, but you must understand the existing scripts to modify them safely. |
| Free digital resources | The editor, tutorials, and starter projects are all free to use | These cover the core learning path on their own. |
| Optional physical coding cards | Physical cards that an educator guide on Scratch’s site lists as a resource for story creation | No particular branded set, current listing, or price was verified. They are optional, not required. |
Starter projects for inspiration
If you do not have an idea yet, Scratch’s starter projects collection is organised into categories that show what the platform can do:
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- Animation: short sprite-based films and motion demonstrations
- Games: including a Pong starter and a maze
- Interactive art: projects where the viewer’s input changes what appears
- Music and dance: including a dance party project
- Stories: including a hide-and-seek project
- Video sensing: projects that respond to camera input
- Interactive projects: including a virtual tour
Opening a starter and tracing which blocks trigger which action is a practical way to learn the same skills as the tutorial, from a finished example rather than a blank stage.
Limits and open questions
- Reach figures are undated. The About page says Scratch is used in more than 150 countries and available in more than 40 languages. The page does not say when those figures were measured, so treat them as Scratch’s own stated figures rather than a current census.
- Device-specific setup was not verified. The official pages reviewed do not give current compatibility details for every browser, operating system, or the offline editor, so confirm those on Scratch’s download and help pages before you plan a classroom or home setup.
- Physical cards are an extra, not a prerequisite. The coding cards mentioned in the educator guide are optional. Scratch’s own editor and tutorials are a complete starting point without them.
- Publishing is limited to Scratch. Sharing means sharing a Scratch project within the platform. Turning a project into a standalone app is a separate, unverified step that would need other tools.
Scratch is a sound first step for anyone who wants to understand how interactive programs are built. Set expectations accordingly: you can make a playable game or an animated story in an afternoon, but a polished, installable app is a later project that goes beyond what Scratch’s official materials describe.
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