Scratch is a visual block based programming language developed by MIT, USA to teach fundamentals of coding (computer programming) to kids and school students in fun and engaging way. Scratch is absolutely free and is available in online and offline versions. Scratch is the most popular coding language for kids and school students. It is used widely by schools as well as many private institutes to teach basics of coding. While there are many private institutions out there conducting paid online as well as offline Scratch programming courses for kids, one can also learn Scratch for free using lots of freely available online courses, tutorials and videos. Here, we are presenting you a list of 10 free online courses on scratch coding for kids.

Programming with Scratch

This programme is offered by Hongkong University of Science and Technology on Coursera. One can complete this course in approx 38 hours spread across 6 weeks. Course is free to audit and learn, but you also can opt for paid option to avail certificate on successful completion of  course. This is a well designed course to help students develop thorough understanding of coding principles with the help of interesting projects like interactive story books, animation and games. 

Code yourself! An Introduction to Programming

This is another great free online scratch course for kids from Coursera.Course is offered by The University of Edinburgh. This crisp and concise course is a perfect start for absolute beginners.With 12 hours of involvement, students can learn basics and will be able to develop new simple games.  This course also teaches students to develop new games by remixing existing games available on Scratch online platform. 

CS First by Google

This free online course on Scratch programming language from Google is a great resource for students as well as teachers. It helps teachers to teach coding and students to learn coding, even without any prior Computer science experience.  

CS50’s Introduction to Programming with Scratch

This course is offered by Harvard University on edx.Basically, this course is used as introductory course in computer science to help students start their journey in the field of computer programming. This course focuses more on introducing basic concepts of programming which can be subsequently used by students while learning text bases programming language in subsequent computer science courses. This course is free with option to upgrade on chargeable basis. Student can complete this course in 3 weeks with involvement of 2-6 hours per week

Scratch: Programming for Kids (8+)

This course is offered by Delft University of Technology on edx. It is specifically designed for kids of age group 8+. It has dedicated section to teach how to write good and clear code.`

 The Beauty and Joy of Computing – AP® CS Principles Part 2

This course is offered by Berkly University of California on edx. This courses teaches basics of coding using Snap which is a visual block bases programming language based on Scratch. This course is very rich in content and requires 14 weeks to complete if student is able to 4-5 hours per week. 

Scratch Game Programming for Young Adults

Do explore this free Udemy course. It is offered by AI Sweigart who is author of many programming books for kids and beginners. In this course, you learn to develop 6 different video games and interactive projects with step by step tutorials.Online video content is available free of cost, but you need to opt for paid verision if you need certificate of completion as well as access to instructor Q&A.

 #ScratchAtHome from MIT

This is not a formal online course, but it has large collection of creative learning activities for families, educators as well as younger kids to develop their coding skills with Scratch. 

Scratch tutorials by Kevin Briggs

This Youtube playlist from Kevin Briggs has 8 tutorials. First tutorials guides students through basic introduction and subsequent 7 tutorials provide step by step instructions to develop popular games like Flappy bird and Fruit Ninja in Scratch 3.0 version.

Book of Scratch by Raspberry Pi Foundation

This is not an online course but a free pdf book on scratch tutorials. This is prepared by Code Club which is associated with Raspberry Pi Foundation. This book is a handy resource for any beginner to learn Scratch programming. If you have no permanent access to internet connection, this pdf book along with Scratch offline editor can help you learn Scratch programming even without internet connection.

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