About scratch: free coding platform for children

Introduction: Why scratch matters

scratch is a free programming language and online community that enables young people to imagine, program and share interactive stories, games and animations. Its importance lies in lowering the barriers to learning computational thinking and creative expression: by combining visual blocks with media, scratch makes programming tangible and accessible. For educators, parents and young learners, scratch provides a practical entry point into coding within a collaborative online environment.

Main body: What scratch offers

What scratch is

At its core, scratch is a block-based programming language and a website where users create interactive projects. The platform’s tagline—”Imagine, Program, Share”—captures its threefold purpose: enabling imagination, providing programming tools, and supporting sharing with a global community. Projects can mix graphics, sound and other media to produce animations, games, music and simulations.

Scratch 3.0 and technical approach

In Scratch 3.0, the platform’s blocks are implemented using Blockly, a JavaScript library developed by Google for creating block-based visual programming languages. This implementation helps keep the interface intuitive while allowing projects to be uploaded directly from the development environment to the Scratch website. Members of the community can view, download and study the full source code of projects, promoting learning by example.

Remixing, credit and community

Scratch encourages remixing—users are invited to build on others’ projects to explore new ideas. The website supports this practice by automatically giving credit to the original creator on the project page, helping to preserve attribution while fostering collaborative creativity. According to the Scratch Foundation, the platform is the world’s largest creative coding platform for kids, with over 150 million users across every country who have turned their ideas into interactive projects.

Conclusion: Significance and outlook

scratch’s combination of an easy-to-use programming interface, an emphasis on remixing and automatic attribution, and a large global community makes it a significant tool for digital literacy. For readers, educators and families, scratch offers a practical, free way to introduce children to coding and collaborative creation. As more learners share and adapt projects, the platform’s value as a space for experimentation and peer learning is likely to continue growing.