A Halloween project any elementary kid can build this weekend — no experience needed.
Halloween’s around the corner, so here’s a genuinely fun one: your kid builds a “ghost catcher” game they can actually play. It’s free, takes about twenty minutes, and you don’t need to know any coding — you just sit next to them and ask questions.
Open Scratch (or Experience CS) on any laptop or tablet. Both are free, no account needed to start.
1. Add a ghost. Pick a spooky character (the Ghost sprite is right there). Drop it on the stage.
2. Make it float around. Snap on: “forever → glide to random position.” Now it drifts like a real ghost.
3. Catch it with a click. Add: “when this sprite clicked → change score by 1 → play a ‘boo’ sound.” Now clicking the ghost scores a point.
4. Make it tricky. Ask your kid: “how do we make it harder?” Maybe the ghost gets faster, or hides. Let them invent the rules — that’s the magic part.
In twenty minutes they just used variables (the score), loops (forever), and events (when clicked) — the real building blocks of coding. They’ll call it “my Halloween game.” Both of you are right.