Meeting the Blocks Panel — Scratch L1

WHAT IT SHOULD LOOK LIKE

Where this arc is heading: by Lesson 6 your cat and its friend move into position and greet each other on one green-flag click.

both in position

step 1 of 3

the sprites move as they would on the real Stage

Learning Goals 3 min

By the end of this lesson you will be able to:

Name the nine block categories in Scratch and match each one to its colour.
Click any colour dot in the Blocks Panel and jump straight to that category.
Find a named block such as say [Hello!] for (2) seconds by picking its colour first, then scrolling.

🔊 SOUNDS IN THIS LESSON

Tap one to hear it. These are the same sounds you will find in Scratch's Sounds tab.

Warm-Up 7 min

Your cat can move, and last lesson you put it on its mark with a name of its own. But it still has nothing to say — and you have not seen where the talking blocks live. Today you map the Blocks Panel, the colourful strip down the far left.

WHAT IT SHOULD LOOK LIKE

Where we are now. Named cat, fixed starting spot, one working move. The blocks that make it speak are waiting in a colour you have not opened yet.

at the start

step 1 of 2

the sprite moves as it would on the real Stage

Quick-fire puzzle

Faiz dragged this two-block script. He says: “I picked one yellow block and one blue block.” Which category did each block come from?


when flag clicked
move (25) steps

One yellow block on top. One blue block underneath.

Reveal the answer

The yellow when flag clicked comes from Events. The blue move (25) steps comes from Motion. Colour tells you category — that is the whole secret of the Blocks Panel.

New Concept — colour is category 15 min

Imagine walking into a sweet shop. The chocolates sit on the brown shelf, the mints on the green shelf, the gummies on the pink shelf. You do not read every label — you look for the colour first. The Blocks Panel works exactly the same way.

The nine categories

Down the far-left strip of the editor there are nine round dots. Each dot is one category. Click a dot and the panel jumps to that group of blocks.

A block from that category	Category	What its blocks do
`move (10) steps`	Motion	Move, turn, glide, point — anything that changes where the sprite is.
`say [Hello!] for (2) seconds`	Looks	Say, think, switch costume, grow, shrink, show, hide.
`start sound [Meow v]`	Sound	Play sounds, change volume, stop all sounds.
`when flag clicked`	Events	Hat blocks that start scripts — the green flag, a key press, a sprite click.
`wait (1) seconds`	Control	Wait, repeat, forever, if-then, stop.
`ask [What is your name?] and wait`	Sensing	Touching, key pressed, mouse position, asking a question.
`pick random (1) to (10)`	Operators	Add, subtract, compare, join words, pick random numbers.
`set [score v] to (0)`	Variables	Make a variable, set it, change it, show it on the Stage.
`my block :: custom`	My Blocks	Blocks you build yourself. Empty until you make one.

Look at that first column again. You did not need the labels — every block arrived wearing its category colour. That is the rule you are learning today.

The real panel: nine dots stacked down the left, the matching block list beside them. Click a dot, then scroll — never hunt from the top.

The pattern: colour first, then scroll

When you need a block, ask yourself what should it do? Pick the colour. Then scroll that category until you spot the block. Two steps, no hunting.

Need the cat to move? → blue → Motion → scroll.
Need the cat to talk? → purple → Looks → scroll.
Need a meow? → bright pink → Sound → scroll.
Need a green-flag start? → yellow → Events → it is the very first block.

Some categories start out empty

Click the dark orange Variables dot on a brand-new project. Almost nothing is there — just a “Make a Variable” button. My Blocks is the same. These two categories fill up only after you build something yourself. Every other category arrives full.

Why it matters

Scratch has hundreds of blocks. Reading the panel top to bottom every time would eat your whole lesson. Colour is the shortcut, and it never changes — the blue block in your project is the blue block in everyone else’s.

Worked Example — a colour tour, then a three-colour build 15 min

Open your project from last lesson. First we click every dot in order and look. Then we use what we found to build a stack that mixes three colours.

Step 1 — Start at the blue dot, Motion

The panel opens on Motion. Scroll down. Spot the familiar ones: move (10) steps, turn cw (15) degrees, go to x: (0) y: (0). All blue, all about where the cat is.

Step 2 — Purple dot, Looks

Click the second dot. Near the top sits say [Hello!] for (2) seconds. Everything here changes what the cat looks like or says. This is the block your scene has been missing.

Step 3 — Pink dot, Sound

Click the third dot. start sound [Meow v] and friends live here. Just look for now — we use Sound properly later in the level.

Step 4 — Yellow dot, Events

Click the yellow dot. The first block is the one you already know: when flag clicked. Every script you ever write starts with a block from this category.

Step 5 — Orange dot, Control

Click the soft orange dot. wait (1) seconds sits near the top, and below it are chunky C-shaped blocks with a mouth in the middle. Those come later in the level.

Step 6 — Cyan, green, dark orange, pink-red

Keep going: Sensing (cyan), Operators (green), Variables (dark orange), My Blocks (pink-red). Notice that the last two look nearly empty. You have now seen all nine categories with your own eyes.

Step 7 — Build a three-colour stack

Now put the tour to work. Check the cat is on its mark from last lesson (x = -200, Direction = 90), then take one block from each of three different dots and snap them together.

WHAT IT SHOULD LOOK LIKE

Stage plan. The cat is still the only sprite you script. Yellow starts it, blue moves and turns it, purple makes it speak.

at the start

step 1 of 2

the sprite moves as it would on the real Stage


when flag clicked
move (60) steps
turn cw (15) degrees
say [Three colours, one stack!] for (2) seconds

Your finished Worked Example: yellow, blue, blue, purple. Click the flag — the cat slides, tilts, then speaks.

What changed: yesterday you could only find blocks by luck. Now you pick the colour, click the dot, and scroll. When a teacher says “drag the purple say block”, you know which dot to press before they finish the sentence.

Try It Yourself — three colour hunts 12 min

🟢 Easy

Goal: Find both turn blocks — the clockwise one and the anti-clockwise one. Which dot did you click? Build the stack below and click the flag a few times.

Two turn blocks, opposite arrows. Do they live in the same category?


when flag clicked
turn cw (15) degrees
turn ccw (15) degrees

Think: both turn blocks share a category and a colour. Only the arrow differs. And because the stack turns one way then straight back, the cat ends up facing exactly where it started.

🟡 Medium

Goal: Take the Worked Example stack and swap the order — make the cat speak first, then move. Same three colours, different result.

WHAT IT SHOULD LOOK LIKE

Speech bubble first, movement second — the cat talks from its starting spot.

at the start

step 1 of 2

the sprite moves as it would on the real Stage


when flag clicked
say [Here I go!] for (2) seconds
move (60) steps

Think: the blocks are identical, only the order changed. Now the bubble appears while the cat is still on its mark. Order decides the story your scene tells.

🔴 Stretch

Mini-mission: Colour Detective. Priya wants a scene opener she can explain block by block. Build a stack that starts on the flag, sends the cat in from the left edge, gives it a small tilt, and ends with it greeting the audience — then prove you know where every block came from.

WHAT IT SHOULD LOOK LIKE

Enter from the left, tilt on the way, greet the audience at the end. One flag click runs the lot.

at the start

step 1 of 2

the sprite moves as it would on the real Stage

It works if: the cat starts hard against the left edge, moves well past the centre, tilts, and shows a greeting you wrote yourself — and you can name the colour dot of every block in your stack without opening the panel. Use no more than 8 blocks.


when flag clicked
move () steps
turn cw () degrees
say [] for (2) seconds

Starter stack — the numbers and the message are yours to fill in. Set the starting x in Sprite Properties first.

Think: three categories, four blocks. Which dot did each one come from — and could you have found any of them faster?

Mini-Challenge — name-that-colour quiz 5 min

“Priya’s blindfold round”

Priya has covered every label in the panel. Only the colours show. Can you still say what each block does? Answer on paper or out loud — no editor for this one.

Nine colours, no labels. That is all the information you should need.

It works if you can answer all six without peeking:

You see a blue block. What does its category control?
You see a yellow block. What is it most likely to be?
You see a cyan block (lighter, sky-blue). What does it sense?
You see a green block. Motion or Operators?
You see a bright pink block. Sound or Looks?
Your cat must start at x = -200 every single run. Which colour dot gives you that? (Careful — think back to last lesson.)

Reveal the answers (teacher)

Blue = Motion. Anything that changes where the sprite is.
Yellow = Events. A hat block that starts a script.
Cyan = Sensing. Touching, key pressed, mouse, asking.
Green = Operators. Maths and comparisons. Motion is a darker blue.
Bright pink-magenta = Sound. Looks is purple — a different shade.
Trick question — none of them. A fixed starting spot comes from the Sprite Properties bar (Lesson 2), not from a block. A colour dot cannot solve every problem.

🚀 Mission — Block Scavenger Hunt

Open Scratch. Track down all five blocks below. For each one, write in your notebook which colour dot you clicked and how far you had to scroll before you spotted it. Nobody is telling you the colours this time.

glide (1) secs to x: (0) y: (0)
switch costume to [costume2 v]
set volume to (100) %
wait (1) seconds
show variable [score v]

The last one hides a catch. Work out what it is before you ask.

✅ Done when: you have found four of the five in the panel, and you can explain what stopped you finding the fifth. Going further: tell a classmate why each block belongs in the category it lives in.

Teacher notes — the answer key

glide (1) secs to x: (0) y: (0) — blue, Motion.
switch costume to [costume2 v] — purple, Looks.
set volume to (100) % — bright pink, Sound.
wait (1) seconds — soft orange, Control.
show variable [score v] — dark orange, Variables. The catch: it is not there on a new project. Variables is empty until the pupil makes a variable, which is Lesson 40. Pupils who spot this have understood the “some categories start empty” point.

Recap 2 min

Today you met the Blocks Panel and its biggest secret: colour is category. Nine dots, nine colours, nine jobs. Pick the colour first, then scroll — and two of the nine stay empty until you build something yourself.

Blocks Panel: The strip on the far left of the editor. Holds every block you can drag.
Category: A group of blocks that share a job and a colour. Scratch has nine.
Category dot: The small round button beside the panel. Click one to jump to that category.
Extension: An extra category such as Pen or Music, added on later. Not one of the basic nine.

Homework 1 min

The Nine-Colour Card. Make a card you can keep beside your computer, listing all nine categories with their colours and one real block from each.

Three columns, nine rows. Copy this layout into your notebook, then fill it in from the real editor.

Draw a nine-row table with the columns above: Colour, Category name, One block I saw.
Open Scratch. Click each dot in turn. Write down the very first block you see in that category.
No dragging needed — this one is a reading exercise.

Bring back next class:

Your nine-row card, filled in.
Your answer to this question: “Two categories look almost empty on a brand-new project. Which two, and why does that make sense?”

Heads up for next class: SCR-L01-04 teaches the green flag and the red stop sign — the two buttons above the Stage that start and stop every script you will ever write.

WHAT IT SHOULD LOOK LIKE

Where this arc is heading: by Lesson 6 your cat and its friend move into position and greet each other on one green-flag click.

both in position

step 1 of 3

the sprites move as they would on the real Stage

Learning Goals 3 min

By the end of this lesson you will be able to:

Name the nine block categories in Scratch and match each one to its colour.
Click any colour dot in the Blocks Panel and jump straight to that category.
Find a named block such as say [Hello!] for (2) seconds by picking its colour first, then scrolling.

🔊 SOUNDS IN THIS LESSON

Tap one to hear it. These are the same sounds you will find in Scratch's Sounds tab.

Warm-Up 7 min

WHAT IT SHOULD LOOK LIKE

Where we are now. Named cat, fixed starting spot, one working move. The blocks that make it speak are waiting in a colour you have not opened yet.

at the start

step 1 of 2

the sprite moves as it would on the real Stage

Quick-fire puzzle

Faiz dragged this two-block script. He says: “I picked one yellow block and one blue block.” Which category did each block come from?


when flag clicked
move (25) steps

One yellow block on top. One blue block underneath.

Reveal the answer

The yellow when flag clicked comes from Events. The blue move (25) steps comes from Motion. Colour tells you category — that is the whole secret of the Blocks Panel.

New Concept — colour is category 15 min

The nine categories

Down the far-left strip of the editor there are nine round dots. Each dot is one category. Click a dot and the panel jumps to that group of blocks.

A block from that category	Category	What its blocks do
`move (10) steps`	Motion	Move, turn, glide, point — anything that changes where the sprite is.
`say [Hello!] for (2) seconds`	Looks	Say, think, switch costume, grow, shrink, show, hide.
`start sound [Meow v]`	Sound	Play sounds, change volume, stop all sounds.
`when flag clicked`	Events	Hat blocks that start scripts — the green flag, a key press, a sprite click.
`wait (1) seconds`	Control	Wait, repeat, forever, if-then, stop.
`ask [What is your name?] and wait`	Sensing	Touching, key pressed, mouse position, asking a question.
`pick random (1) to (10)`	Operators	Add, subtract, compare, join words, pick random numbers.
`set [score v] to (0)`	Variables	Make a variable, set it, change it, show it on the Stage.
`my block :: custom`	My Blocks	Blocks you build yourself. Empty until you make one.

Look at that first column again. You did not need the labels — every block arrived wearing its category colour. That is the rule you are learning today.

The real panel: nine dots stacked down the left, the matching block list beside them. Click a dot, then scroll — never hunt from the top.

The pattern: colour first, then scroll

When you need a block, ask yourself what should it do? Pick the colour. Then scroll that category until you spot the block. Two steps, no hunting.

Need the cat to move? → blue → Motion → scroll.
Need the cat to talk? → purple → Looks → scroll.
Need a meow? → bright pink → Sound → scroll.
Need a green-flag start? → yellow → Events → it is the very first block.

Some categories start out empty

Why it matters

Worked Example — a colour tour, then a three-colour build 15 min

Open your project from last lesson. First we click every dot in order and look. Then we use what we found to build a stack that mixes three colours.

Step 1 — Start at the blue dot, Motion

The panel opens on Motion. Scroll down. Spot the familiar ones: move (10) steps, turn cw (15) degrees, go to x: (0) y: (0). All blue, all about where the cat is.

Step 2 — Purple dot, Looks

Click the second dot. Near the top sits say [Hello!] for (2) seconds. Everything here changes what the cat looks like or says. This is the block your scene has been missing.

Step 3 — Pink dot, Sound

Click the third dot. start sound [Meow v] and friends live here. Just look for now — we use Sound properly later in the level.

Step 4 — Yellow dot, Events

Click the yellow dot. The first block is the one you already know: when flag clicked. Every script you ever write starts with a block from this category.

Step 5 — Orange dot, Control

Click the soft orange dot. wait (1) seconds sits near the top, and below it are chunky C-shaped blocks with a mouth in the middle. Those come later in the level.

Step 6 — Cyan, green, dark orange, pink-red

Step 7 — Build a three-colour stack

Now put the tour to work. Check the cat is on its mark from last lesson (x = -200, Direction = 90), then take one block from each of three different dots and snap them together.

WHAT IT SHOULD LOOK LIKE

Stage plan. The cat is still the only sprite you script. Yellow starts it, blue moves and turns it, purple makes it speak.

at the start

step 1 of 2

the sprite moves as it would on the real Stage


when flag clicked
move (60) steps
turn cw (15) degrees
say [Three colours, one stack!] for (2) seconds

Your finished Worked Example: yellow, blue, blue, purple. Click the flag — the cat slides, tilts, then speaks.

Try It Yourself — three colour hunts 12 min

🟢 Easy

Goal: Find both turn blocks — the clockwise one and the anti-clockwise one. Which dot did you click? Build the stack below and click the flag a few times.

Two turn blocks, opposite arrows. Do they live in the same category?


when flag clicked
turn cw (15) degrees
turn ccw (15) degrees

Think: both turn blocks share a category and a colour. Only the arrow differs. And because the stack turns one way then straight back, the cat ends up facing exactly where it started.

🟡 Medium

Goal: Take the Worked Example stack and swap the order — make the cat speak first, then move. Same three colours, different result.

WHAT IT SHOULD LOOK LIKE

Speech bubble first, movement second — the cat talks from its starting spot.

at the start

step 1 of 2

the sprite moves as it would on the real Stage


when flag clicked
say [Here I go!] for (2) seconds
move (60) steps

Think: the blocks are identical, only the order changed. Now the bubble appears while the cat is still on its mark. Order decides the story your scene tells.

🔴 Stretch

WHAT IT SHOULD LOOK LIKE

Enter from the left, tilt on the way, greet the audience at the end. One flag click runs the lot.

at the start

step 1 of 2

the sprite moves as it would on the real Stage


when flag clicked
move () steps
turn cw () degrees
say [] for (2) seconds

Starter stack — the numbers and the message are yours to fill in. Set the starting x in Sprite Properties first.

Think: three categories, four blocks. Which dot did each one come from — and could you have found any of them faster?

Mini-Challenge — name-that-colour quiz 5 min

“Priya’s blindfold round”

Priya has covered every label in the panel. Only the colours show. Can you still say what each block does? Answer on paper or out loud — no editor for this one.

Nine colours, no labels. That is all the information you should need.

It works if you can answer all six without peeking:

You see a blue block. What does its category control?
You see a yellow block. What is it most likely to be?
You see a cyan block (lighter, sky-blue). What does it sense?
You see a green block. Motion or Operators?
You see a bright pink block. Sound or Looks?
Your cat must start at x = -200 every single run. Which colour dot gives you that? (Careful — think back to last lesson.)

Reveal the answers (teacher)

Blue = Motion. Anything that changes where the sprite is.
Yellow = Events. A hat block that starts a script.
Cyan = Sensing. Touching, key pressed, mouse, asking.
Green = Operators. Maths and comparisons. Motion is a darker blue.
Bright pink-magenta = Sound. Looks is purple — a different shade.
Trick question — none of them. A fixed starting spot comes from the Sprite Properties bar (Lesson 2), not from a block. A colour dot cannot solve every problem.

🚀 Mission — Block Scavenger Hunt

glide (1) secs to x: (0) y: (0)
switch costume to [costume2 v]
set volume to (100) %
wait (1) seconds
show variable [score v]

The last one hides a catch. Work out what it is before you ask.

Teacher notes — the answer key

glide (1) secs to x: (0) y: (0) — blue, Motion.
switch costume to [costume2 v] — purple, Looks.
set volume to (100) % — bright pink, Sound.
wait (1) seconds — soft orange, Control.
show variable [score v] — dark orange, Variables. The catch: it is not there on a new project. Variables is empty until the pupil makes a variable, which is Lesson 40. Pupils who spot this have understood the “some categories start empty” point.

Recap 2 min

Blocks Panel: The strip on the far left of the editor. Holds every block you can drag.
Category: A group of blocks that share a job and a colour. Scratch has nine.
Category dot: The small round button beside the panel. Click one to jump to that category.
Extension: An extra category such as Pen or Music, added on later. Not one of the basic nine.

Homework 1 min

The Nine-Colour Card. Make a card you can keep beside your computer, listing all nine categories with their colours and one real block from each.

Three columns, nine rows. Copy this layout into your notebook, then fill it in from the real editor.

Draw a nine-row table with the columns above: Colour, Category name, One block I saw.
Open Scratch. Click each dot in turn. Write down the very first block you see in that category.
No dragging needed — this one is a reading exercise.

Bring back next class:

Your nine-row card, filled in.
Your answer to this question: “Two categories look almost empty on a brand-new project. Which two, and why does that make sense?”

Heads up for next class: SCR-L01-04 teaches the green flag and the red stop sign — the two buttons above the Stage that start and stop every script you will ever write.