Dancing Letters

The Goal
Step 1: Set the stage
Step 2: Delete the cat
Step 3. Create the first letter of your name
Step 4. Make the first letter dance
Step 5. Make the dance more interesting
Step 6. Make the letter sing
Step 7. Make the other letters

The goal

The movie below shows the project that you’ll create. As the person in the movie clicks each letter, it sings and dances!

Step 1. Set the stage

Make a new project. Then change the color of the stage to black. Can you figure out how to do that?

Step 2. Delete the cat

Delete the cat sprite. Hint! Use the scissors tool. Can you figure out how to do that?

Step 3. Create the first letter of your name

The movie below shows one way to create a letter. Try creating the first letter of your name using the same idea!

Tip!

  • It’s a good idea to name your sprite (letter) after you create it. For example, I named my sprite “t.” To name a sprite, click in the naming box at the top center of the sprite’s screen, type the name, and then press return.

 

Step 4. Make the first letter dance

Start by adding these commands to the first letter’s script:

 

Then look at the commands below. These commands make the letter dance when you click it. Can you figure out the order in which the commands should go and add them to your script?

 

Tips!

  • My sprite is named “t,” so the first piece says “when t clicked.” Your commands may look a little different.
  • You’ll need to change the order of the commands.

Step 5. Make the dance more interesting

If you run your script right now, you’ll find that when you click your letter, its dance isn’t very interesting or colorful. For example, my letter t is drawing a thin, red line over and over:

To improve things, we want the pen to choose different colors and to go to a different location each time it moves. You’ll use the pick random command to achieve these effects:

 

Tips!

  • You’ll need to change the order of the commands and decide how they fit together.
  • Then experiment with different pairs of numbers in each pick random.
  • Run your script after each change to see what the numbers change and to find numbers you like.

Step 6. Make the letter sing

When you click the letter, it should sing a note. Watch the movie below to see what to do.

Step 7. Make the other letters

You’re almost done! You just need to do 4 things to make each additional letter.

  1. Duplicate the first letter of your name. (To duplicate, on Macintosh press the ctrl or control key and click the sprite; or on Windows, right-click the sprite. When you see the drop-down menu, click duplicate.
  2. Then go to the new sprite. Change its name.
  3. Edit its costume to make the second letter of your name.
  4. Change numbers throughout the script so that the new sprite starts in a different location, moves in different ways, and sings different notes.

Have fun!


Return to Drawing Page | Return to Home Page