Tranforming the real with the digital
Create a world and give life to characters using everyday materials and Scratch.


In this activity, you can design a world and inhabit it with characters constructed from simple materials and images made with a mobile phone, a tablet or a computer camera.
These characters can interact and enter into a playful dimension thanks to the possibilities of Scratch. The children’s research will offer ideas and elements that enrich the activities, exploring and playing on the border between the real and the virtual.
This activity was developed starting from the Scratch online platform designed by LifeLong Kindergarten at MIT Media Lab (Boston) , which scintillae has been in dialogue with since it opened.
For those unfamiliar with Scratch:
https://scratch.mit.edu/about


The continuous interaction and exchange created between the real and the virtual worlds emphasize an idea of the digital that is not alienating, but one which favors and supports the relationship between the child and the surrounding world. The interconnection between different fields of knowledge and school subjects becomes fundamental and generative in the creation of new knowledge and in promoting and supporting the research processes of children.
→ age
children aged 6 / 14
→ tools
computer connected to the Internet, webcam, tablet or mobile phone (optional)
→ competences
creative/artistic expression, problem solving
from designing to sharing
This section is a guide for adults to orient and support children’s and young people’s projects. The children’s hypotheses, starting from some initial questions, will be verified and deepened during the activity.Questions to start with:
What features does your sprite have, and what other materials could you use to represent it?
Can you use even just a detail of an object you have around you?
Are there materials around you that suggest new ideas?
What difficulties did you encounter? What strategies did you use to solve them?
Why did you choose that particular material?
How can you make your project more usable and useful to your friends?
What are the best ways to make your project more usable and useful to your friends?
Tip:
You can decide whether offer students an environment designed by the scintillae team. This is intended to be a starting point for generating student questions and ideas that will be the basis for their learning and research experience.
Use this link to see a sample project using Scratch: “Create your sprite”, to share with your students. The sprite was created with some materials available, photographed and then imported into Scratch.
Invite your students to explore the sprite using <costumes>.
To start creating their own worlds from the scintillae team project, ask your students to use the < remix > function, which will automatically create a copy in their Scratch account. They can then edit or add to it, to continue their research.
designing
experiencing
sharing
how to continue the project


