Saving Your First Project — Scratch L1

This is the scene you save today — the cat greeting the kuih friend, both on stage, scripts intact.

Learning Goals 3 min

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

Give your Scratch project a clear, memorable name.
Use File → Save to your computer to download an .sb3 file.
Open a saved .sb3 file in Scratch and see your sprites and scripts come back exactly as you left them.

Warm-Up 7 min

Over the last five lessons you built a complete scene — the cat moved, spoke, and shared the stage with a friend sprite. Today you seal the deal by saving that scene as a .sb3 file and getting it ready to show the class.

Quick-fire puzzle

Aaina spent an hour building this script. Then she accidentally closed her browser tab. She reopens Scratch and starts a new project. Is her old script still there?


when flag clicked
move (50) steps
wait (1) seconds
move (50) steps

Aaina's hard-won script. Four blocks of glory.

Reveal the answer

Gone forever. Scratch in a browser keeps the project in memory only. Close the tab without saving and the project disappears. Today's lesson is the cure: save early, save often.

(If Aaina had a scratch.mit.edu account and was signed in, Scratch would auto-save to her account. Without an account, the only safety net is the Save to your computer button.)

New Concept — three places to save 15 min

Imagine you spent ten minutes drawing a picture on the whiteboard. Then someone wipes the board clean. Heartbreaking. A Scratch project that isn't saved is exactly that — a beautiful whiteboard waiting to be wiped. Saving is taking a photo of the whiteboard so you can recreate it tomorrow.

The three places Scratch can save

Where	How	Best for
Your computer	File menu → Save to your computer (downloads an `.sb3` file)	Anyone — works without an account. Best for school classrooms.
scratch.mit.edu account	Sign in → projects auto-save to your account	Students with a parent's email. Lets you access from any computer.
Scratch Desktop (offline)	File → Save (writes an `.sb3` to a folder you pick)	Classrooms with no internet — same .sb3 format as web saves.

What is an .sb3 file?

An .sb3 file is one tiny package that holds everything in your project — every sprite, every costume, every sound, every block. Drop the file into the Scratch editor and your project comes back exactly as it was. Email it to a friend, and they can open your project on their computer.

The File menu

At the very top of the Scratch editor, just to the right of the Scratch logo, you'll see File. Click it. A small menu drops down with these options:

New — starts a fresh, empty project. (Watch out — closes your current work.)
Load from your computer — opens an .sb3 file you saved before.
Save to your computer — downloads your current project as an .sb3.

The project name

At the very top of the editor, between the Scratch logo and the File menu, there's a text box with the project name. New projects start as Untitled-1, Untitled-2, and so on. Boring. Click the box and type something memorable: Aisyah's First Cat, Three Friend Race, Cat in KL. The name you choose becomes the .sb3 filename when you save.

Why it matters

You will spend hours building Scratch projects across the next forty-something lessons. If you don't save, every project vanishes when you close the tab. Worse — homework can't be brought back to class. Saving is not a chore; it is the habit that makes everything else possible.

Worked Example — save, close, reopen 15 min

Open Scratch in a new tab. We'll build a tiny project, name it, save it, close it, and reopen it — the full save-and-restore cycle in eight steps.

Stage plan. Two sprites: the cat (left, says "Hello, KL!") and the kuih friend sprite (right). This is the finished scene you name and save today.

Step 1 — Build a quick script

With the cat selected, drag this small stack. We want something in the project so we can tell if saving worked.


when flag clicked
say [Hello, KL!] for (2) seconds
move (50) steps

Three blocks — a hat, a Looks block, a Motion block. Click the flag to test it.

Step 2 — Click the green flag

The cat says "Hello, KL!" for two seconds, then hops 50 steps right. Good — the project works.

Step 3 — Name your project

Look up at the top of the editor. The project name box says Untitled-1 (or similar). Click it. Erase. Type Aisyah's First Cat. Press Enter (or click outside the box). The name is saved in the project, but the project itself isn't saved yet.

Step 4 — Open the File menu

Click File at the top of the editor. A small drop-down menu appears.

Step 5 — Save to your computer

Click Save to your computer. Your browser downloads a file called Aisyah's First Cat.sb3. Look in your Downloads folder — there it is.

Step 6 — Close the tab

Close the Scratch tab in your browser. Yes, really. Your project is no longer in the editor — but the .sb3 file is safe on your computer.

Step 7 — Open Scratch again

Go to scratch.mit.edu. Click "Create". You're now in a fresh, empty project — the cat is back at its default position with no script.

Step 8 — Load your saved project

Click File → Load from your computer. A file-picker pops up. Navigate to your Downloads folder. Click Aisyah's First Cat.sb3. Click Open.

The editor reloads. The project name at the top reads Aisyah's First Cat. The cat is on the Stage. The three-block script is in the Script Area. Click the green flag — the cat says "Hello, KL!" and moves 50 steps. Everything is exactly as you left it.

What changed: compared to every lesson before this, your work is now safe. You can close the tab, shut down the computer, come back next week, and the project will still be there. This is the most important habit in Scratch.

The full assembled stack (your reference)


when flag clicked
say [Hello, KL!] for (2) seconds
move (50) steps

The cat's script after reload. The same three blocks. Saved as Aisyah's First Cat.sb3.

Try It Yourself — three save drills 12 min

🟢 Easy

Goal: Build a new tiny project. Name it something Malaysian — Roti Canai Cat, Penang Hop, or Teh Tarik Time. Save it. Check your Downloads folder for the .sb3 file.


when flag clicked
say [Selamat pagi!] for (2) seconds

Think: The project name and the file name should match. If you saved without renaming, the file is called Untitled-1.sb3 — confusing later. Always rename first.

🟡 Medium

Goal: Save the same project twice with different names — once as Cat-v1 and once as Cat-v2. Between saves, change the move number. You'll end up with two .sb3 files in your Downloads, each with a different cat behaviour.


when flag clicked
move (50) steps

when flag clicked
move (100) steps

Think: The two stacks above are how the project looks at each save. Same blocks, different number. By naming versions clearly, you can undo big changes by reloading an old .sb3.

🔴 Stretch

Goal: Load the family-race project from your last homework (SCR-L01-05). If you saved it, great — load it now. If not, rebuild it and save it under a clear name like Three-Friend-Race.sb3. Hit the flag — the three sprites should all hop just like before.


when flag clicked
move (20) steps
wait (1) seconds

Think: A reloaded project is identical to the one you saved — same sprites, same positions, same scripts, same name. Saving is taking a snapshot; loading is bringing the snapshot back.

Mini-Challenge — the swap-and-load test 5 min

"Daniel and Priya swap projects"

Daniel and Priya each build a small project — anything that uses sprites from the library and a few blocks from lessons 1–5. They save their projects as .sb3 files with clear names. Then they swap files (email, USB stick, classroom shared folder) and open each other's project.

It works if:

Each student saves their project with a clear, sensible name (not Untitled).
The receiving student successfully loads the other's .sb3 with File → Load from your computer.
After loading, the received project runs exactly as the author built it — same sprites, same scripts, same green-flag behaviour.

Reveal one valid solution

Daniel's project (he saves as Daniel-Kuih-Hop.sb3):


when flag clicked
move (40) steps
wait (1) seconds
move (40) steps

Priya loads Daniel-Kuih-Hop.sb3 with File → Load from your computer. She clicks the green flag. Daniel's kuih sprite hops twice across her Stage. Same project, different computer, no changes.

This is how a Scratch lesson, a homework, a screenshot, a portfolio piece all travel between computers. One file, fully portable.

🚀 Mission — Save & Show

You have built the full scene across this arc. Now ship it in three steps.

Name your project. Click the project-name box at the top of the editor (it may say Untitled). Type something memorable — Aisyah's First Scene, Kuih and Cat KL, or any name you like.
Save to your computer. Go to File → Save to your computer. A .sb3 file downloads to your Downloads folder. That file is your finished scene.
Share (optional). If you have a scratch.mit.edu account, click Share at the top of the editor and copy the link to bring to class. Under-13s need a parent's email address to create an account — the .sb3 file is a perfectly good alternative. Bring the file on a USB drive or email it to your teacher instead.

✅ Done when: your scene is saved as a .sb3 file (or a share link) and ready to show the class. Going further: write a one-line project note — click the "Instructions" field on the Scratch project page and type one sentence describing your scene.

Recap 2 min

Today you learned the most important habit in Scratch — saving your work. The File menu's Save to your computer button downloads everything as a single .sb3 file. The Load from your computer button brings it back. A good project name turns a forgettable Untitled-7 into a memory you'll recognise next month.

.sb3 file: One file that holds an entire Scratch project — every sprite, costume, sound, and script. The standard Scratch save format.
Project name: The text box at the top of the editor, between the logo and the File menu. Becomes the .sb3 filename on save.
Save to your computer: The File-menu option that downloads your project as an .sb3 to your Downloads folder.
Load from your computer: The File-menu option that opens an .sb3 file you (or someone else) saved earlier.

Homework 1 min

The Save-Habit Drill. Build three small projects, save them, close Scratch, then reopen each one.

Open Scratch. Build a 3-block project: when ⚑ clicked · say [Selamat datang!] for (2) seconds · move (30) steps.
Name the project Hello-KL. Save it. Check Downloads.
File → New. Build a different 3-block project (use any sprite). Name it Race-Start. Save it.
File → New again. Build a third tiny project. Name it Practice-3. Save it.
Close the browser tab. Reopen Scratch. Use File → Load from your computer to open each of the three .sb3 files in turn. They should each open cleanly.

Bring back next class:

A screenshot of your Downloads folder showing all three .sb3 files with their names.
Your answer to this question: "What's one good reason to save two versions of the same project under different names?" (Hint: think about the Medium task.)

Heads up for next class: SCR-L01-07 takes a closer look at the move (10) steps block — what "10 steps" really means in pixels, how to use bigger and negative numbers, and how to chain moves together more cleverly.