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Scratch Guide for CS Explorations
Scratch Guide for CS Explorations
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Written by Support Team
Updated over 9 months ago

This article will share some basic tips for getting set up with your Scratch account and helping your students do the same. For more advanced Scratch tips, your best resource is the Scratch forum, where teachers and students collaborate on making fascinating projects with block-based coding!

Note: CS Explorations 2 does not use the standard Scratch interface. For information on the customized Scratch interface used in CS Explorations 2, please review this document.

Scratch Account Setup

Please note that you do not have to create a Scratch account at all! You might choose to forego account creation for yourself and/or your students to meet district account policies, for simplicity, or even as a temporary option while you wait for a teacher account to be approved (see below).

To use Scratch without an account, simply go to Scratch and click "Create" at the top of the screen. After doing so, your students can save their work as a Scratch file and submit via email, a shared cloud drive, or a Learning Management system like Google Classroom or Canvas. You can read more about these options here.

Teacher Accounts

We highly recommend making use of Scratch’s “Teacher Account” function, as it allows you to create shared class studios, moderate projects and comments, and perform other helpful instructional tasks. You can set up a teacher account by following these steps:

  1. Go to the Scratch educator registration page.

  2. Fill in the forms to apply for your Scratch teacher account.

  3. Wait to receive your account approval (please note: this typically takes one business day, but during particularly busy seasons may take longer).

If you run into issues or do not receive your verification email, reach out to Scratch support at help@scratch.mit.edu.

Once you’ve created your account, you can add student accounts to your “class” in Scratch! To do so, follow the instructions on pages two through five of this document to set up a “class” and then add student accounts. Note that existing student accounts cannot be added - you must create and add new accounts for your students.

Standard Account

While teacher accounts are very useful, they are not a requirement! You can also use a standard Scratch account to lead this course. This will allow you to create and remix projects, share projects, write comments, and create studios.

To create a non-teacher account, simply go to the signup page and follow the instructions.

Scratch Studio Setup

A studio is a shared space where multiple users can post their Scratch projects for others to access. As such, studios are ideal locations for you to collect students' work. You can create a Studio collection for a full unit, a specific lesson, or for the block projects.

If students share their project at the beginning of a lesson or project, this can even be a helpful way for you to view in process work or for students to give and receive feedback during their design process!

Below, you can find directions for creating Scratch Studios with both Teacher and Standard Scratch Accounts.

Teacher Account Studio

With a teacher account, you can create a Class Studio where students can share and submit their work. Follow the steps below, or reference pages 5 and 6 of this document.

  1. Log in to your Scratch teacher account and navigate to "My Classes."

  2. Next to the class you would like to create a studio for, you will see links to options like "settings," "students," and "studios." Click on "studios."

  3. Click the button that says "+ New Class Studio."

  4. In the pop-up window, give your new studio a name and description. Be specific!

  5. Once the studio is created, open the studio, then find and turn on the setting to allow anyone to add projects. (Tip: Once students are done sharing a particular assignment or project, you can turn this off so that they don't accidentally submit to the wrong studio in the future.)

  6. Optionally, you can add a custom thumbnail for each studio to make them easier to find and recognize. Studio thumbnails should be 200 pixels wide and 130 pixels high. To update the thumbnail, navigate to the studio and hover over the placeholder image. Then, click change and upload your thumbnail image.

To learn more about Scratch Class Studios, you can also visit the Scratch wiki article.

Standard Account Studio

To create your first studio with a standard (non-teacher) account, please follow the instructions below.

  1. Log in to your Scratch account, click on your username in the top right corner, and navigate to your profile.

  2. When you create a new Scratch account, you are considered a "New Scratcher." To create Studios, you will need to wait until you are promoted to "Scratcher," which will be indicated by a clickable "Become a Scratcher" link on your profile page. This will take you to a set of Community Guidelines that must be accepted to achieve this new status.

(Note: according to the Scratch FAQs, "When you create an account, you’ll be labeled as a “New Scratcher.” To make the transition to "Scratcher", you should make and share projects, comment helpfully on other Scratchers’ projects, and be patient! After you’ve met the requirements, a link will appear on your profile page inviting you to become a Scratcher, and you’ll have some additional capabilities on the Scratch website. (Note that we don't promote New Scratchers to Scratcher on request.)”)

  1. After you are a Scratcher, log-in to Scratch, click on your username in the top right corner, and navigate to "My Stuff."

  2. Next, click "+ New Studio" button in the upper right corner of the My Stuff area. This will create a new studio with default settings: name is "Untitled Studio"; 0 projects, comments, followers, and a default thumbnail; a blank description; and the creator as the host and the only manager. As desired, these settings can be changed.

  3. Give your new studio a name and description. Be specific!

  4. Turn on the setting to allow anyone to add projects. (Tip: Once students are done sharing a particular assignment or project, you can turn this off so that they don't accidentally submit to the wrong studio in the future.)

As an optional step, you can add a custom thumbnail for each studio to make them easier to find and recognize. Studio thumbnails should be 200 pixels wide and 130 pixels high. To update the thumbnail, navigate to the studio and hover over the placeholder image. Then, click change and upload your thumbnail image.

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