App review by David Thomas, Common Sense Education | Updated September 2014
ScratchJr
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ScratchJr

Drag-and-drop programming is an effective intro for budding coders

Get it now
  • Download on Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download on Amazon
Learning rating
See full review
Community rating
Based on 9 reviews
Privacy rating
Not yet rated Expert evaluation by Common Sense
Grades
K–2
Subjects & Skills
Creativity, Character & SEL, Critical Thinking
Great for
Media Literacy, Coding, Creating Media
Price:  Free
Platforms:  Android, iPad, Kindle Fire, Chrome
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Take a look inside

8 images
Build a multimedia scene with the editor.
Play back scenes full-screen on the iPad.
Choose from a number of different characters.
Select scenes to include as a background.
Kids use block coding to bring scenes to life.
Select from several example scenes to play with and reprogram.
Characters can be customized.
Tutorials help kids get started.

Pros: Well-designed professional interface and powerful tools provide a fun and effective intro to programming.

Cons: The app can be hard for new users to learn without some teacher guidance.

Bottom Line: With a little adult help, this is a rich platform for getting kids into programming and digital creation.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

ScratchJr will work best when kids have lots of guided practice through structured exercises and hands-on support. Although the interface is designed to appeal to younger kids, the program still features a lot of things to click and drag around. So confusion is likely, and getting stuck is easy. But with carefully prepared lessons that walk students step by step through the activities, in an hour or two, they should be able to modify stock programs and even start building their own interactive scenes.

If you're interested in bringing coding to your classroom, you might be interested in our Teaching Strategies module, Get Started with Coding in the Classroom.

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Put this tool into practice:
Standards:

By dragging and dropping graphic sprites across the ScratchJr screen, little programmers can bring simple -- and lightly interactive -- scenes to life. The Lego-like, snap-together commands make the basic programs easy to create. For example, drag a cartoon cat onto a beach scene, and drag a small icon into the programming window to add a movement command. Then just add a "start when touched" command and snap a repeat element onto the move icon, and a tap on the cat sends the cartoon skittering across the screen.

Taking advantage of your device's tactile interface, everything in the program is a tap or swipe away. The entire interface is well-designed to look like toys and art supplies carefully arranged on a desk, so it's easy to engage the title's 5- to 7-year-old target age range. And, although kids left alone can easily get lost in the various options, with a little guidance, they can design, build, and enjoy their very own presentations.

Computer programming can be hard to learn. For younger kids, the idea of writing code is far too much to imagine when they're just beginning to learn to read and write. So ScratchJr's icon-driven interface is a good fit when the goal is introducing kids to programming concepts without all the complex programming. The multiple trays, editors, and input screens take some getting used to, so it's not as simple as handing the program to a classroom of kids. But include a little teacher guidance, and ScratchJr offers a rich and challenging environment for very young programmers. At its best, ScratchJr may be most important for teaching a love of digital creation. 

Overall Rating
Engagement

Hand a device to a younger learner, and you have their interest. Show them how simply dragging and dropping colorful icons can create on-screen action, and you have their attention. 

Pedagogy

Based on the popular Scratch visual programming platform, ScratchJr borrows the snap-together programming block and real-time building model that made the original a great learning tool.

Support

This program offers few -- but quite promising -- activities, lessons, and assessments to support teachers in the classroom. 

Common Sense reviewer
David Thomas Director of academic technology
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Key Standards Supported

Counting And Cardinality

  • K.CC.4

    Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to cardinality.

  • K.CC.4.a

    When counting objects, say the number names in the standard order, pairing each object with one and only one number name and each number name with one and only one object.

  • K.CC.4.b

    Understand that the last number name said tells the number of objects counted. The number of objects is the same regardless of their arrangement or the order in which they were counted.

  • K.CC.4.c

    Understand that each successive number name refers to a quantity that is one larger.

  • K.CC.5

    Count to answer “how many?” questions about as many as 20 things arranged in a line, a rectangular array, or a circle, or as many as 10 things in a scattered configuration; given a number from 1–20, count out that many objects.

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Key Standards Supported

Engineering Design

  • K-2-ETS1-1

    Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.

  • K-2-ETS1-2

    Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.

  • K-2-ETS1-3

    Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.

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Community Rating

(See all 9 reviews) (9 reviews) Write a review
Featured review by
Janine K. , Classroom teacher
Classroom teacher
NYC DOE
New York, United States
Great digital storytelling app!
Great tool to differentiate and boost student engagement in storytelling. Scratchjr empowers even the youngest of students to develop their 21st century skills using coding and computational thinking (decomposition, pattern recognition, and algorithmic design) to collaborate and communicate while telling a story. This application gives students the power to choose how their story is told and to use code to design and create an original story, or to retell a story they know. Storytelling through code ...
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