Ninja Instructions | Mentor Notes

What can you create using only 12 Scratch blocks? While Scratch can do a lot of things, some languages are fairly small. Yet even small language will let you do a lot of cool things. In this activity you will learn how to think creatively when you only have a small language. By the time you will create a program that uses only 12 Scratch blocks - although you can use each as many times as you like. See how creative you can be with only that limited set of actions.

15-30 minutes

1. Make sure you know where to find each of the 12 blocks shown below (hint, the color of block tells you what menu contains it).
   
2. If you are unfamiliar with one of these 12 block you should explore how it works.
3. Create a project that uses each of these 12 blocks at least once.
   • You can use a block MORE than once.
   • You can modify any of the parameters (the numbers, words or selections in a drop down menu)
4. Mix and match the blocks in various ways until you get a project that you like.

• What was difficult about being able to use only those 12 blocks?
• What was easy about being able to use only those 12 blocks?
• How did it make you think of things differently?

If you need to review, read this page for instructions on how to share your project in a studio. The studio for this activity is located at:

• http://scratch.mit.edu/studios/888046/

This project is based on materials from the the Creative Computing curriculum by Brennan, Balch, and Chung.