Learning Goals 3 min
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
- Create a free Scratch account on scratch.mit.edu using a parent/guardian's email and log in safely.
- Upload one of your
.sb3projects to your account, fill in the Instructions and Notes & Credits, then click Share to get a public project URL. - Open another creator's shared project, click See inside, and produce a small remix — your own version of their project with at least one change.
Warm-Up — where does your project actually live? 7 min
You've been saving projects as .sb3 files since Level 1. A .sb3 file lives on your laptop. It's yours. But here's the problem:
Three things you can't do with a .sb3 on your laptop
- Send it to your teacher without emailing the file or putting it on a thumb drive.
- Play it on a different computer without copying the file across.
- Show it to a cousin in Penang without messaging them a file they have to download and open in Scratch.
A .sb3 is private storage. Useful, but not shareable.
Think about Aisyah's catch-the-kuih game. She built it, saved it, played it on her own laptop. Her cousin in JB heard about it and wanted to play. What can Aisyah do today?
Reveal the options
- Email the
.sb3file (cousin must install Scratch Desktop or open scratch.mit.edu and upload it themselves — fiddly). - Upload it to scratch.mit.edu and send the cousin a URL (cousin clicks the URL, presses the green flag, plays — done).
Option 2 is what 50 million Scratch users worldwide have done. Today you join them.
scratch.mit.edu is the official Scratch website run by the Scratch Foundation at MIT. Free, ad-free, designed for kids. Every project you upload there gets its own URL and its own "See inside" button so anyone can study or remix it.
New Concept — the Scratch account, the Share button, the project URL 15 min
Three things go from "private .sb3 on your laptop" to "public Scratch project anyone in the world can play":
- You need an account.
- You upload your project and fill in its description (Instructions + Notes & Credits).
- You click the Share button at the top of the editor. A public URL appears.
1. The Scratch account (with a parent's help)
Go to scratch.mit.edu and click Join Scratch in the top-right. You'll need:
- A username. Pick one you're happy to be called publicly. Don't use your real full name. Good:
aisyah-cat-kl,danielcodes12. Avoid:aisyah-binti-rahman-kl-2014. - A password you can remember. Write it down somewhere safe.
- Your country (Malaysia) and birth month + year.
- A parent or guardian's email address. Scratch will send a confirmation link there. Until a parent clicks the link, your account works but can't share projects.
Once the parent clicks the confirm link, your account is fully active. You can log in, you can save projects to your account ("My Stuff"), and the Share button comes alive.
2. Get your project onto the website
Two ways to put a project on your account:
- Build it online. Log in, click Create at the top, build the project in the browser. Scratch auto-saves to your account every few seconds. Done.
- Upload an existing
.sb3. Log in, click Create, then go toFile → Load from your computerand pick your.sb3. Wait for the editor to open with your blocks. ClickFile → Save now— it's on your account.
Either way, the project now appears under My Stuff (top-right menu). Click the project tile to open it.
3. The project page — Instructions and Notes & Credits
When you open a project from My Stuff, you're on its project page. To the right of the Stage you'll see two text boxes:
- Instructions — How does someone play your project? "Press space to start. Use arrow keys to move. Catch the kuih, avoid the durian."
- Notes & Credits — Who made it? What were you trying to do? Did you remix from someone? "Made by Aisyah for Advaslearning Hub Scratch L2. Kuih sprite drawn by me. Background from the Scratch library."
The Share button is disabled until both boxes have content. This is intentional — Scratch doesn't want a public library full of unlabelled projects. Write three sentences each and the button comes alive.
when flag clicked
say [Press SPACE to begin!] for (3) seconds
broadcast [start-game v]
4. The Share button and the project URL
Top of the editor, next to the project title, the orange Share button. Click it. Your project is now public. The URL in your browser bar is the link you send to anyone.
It looks like: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/123456789/
That number is unique to your project. Send the URL to your teacher, paste it in a class chat, message it to your cousin in JB. Anyone who clicks it lands on the project page, presses the green flag, and plays — no download, no install.
5. "See inside" — every shared project is open-source
On any shared Scratch project — yours or anyone else's — there's a See inside button. Click it and the editor opens with all the blocks visible. You can read every script, every sprite, every costume.
This is by design. Scratch is built on the idea that you learn by reading other people's projects. If you see a cool game, click See inside, study how they did the score, copy the trick into your own project. (Crediting them in your Notes & Credits is the polite move.)
6. Remixing — your version of someone else's project
Inside any shared project, there's also a Remix button (it appears top-right once you click See inside). Click Remix and Scratch makes a copy of the project on your account. The original creator's name is preserved — your remix automatically credits them.
You can now change anything: swap sprites, tweak the score logic, add a Hari Raya backdrop. Save and Share — your remix gets its own URL, with a tiny "remix of" link back to the original.
Community guidelines, in a nutshell
- No personal info. Don't put your full name, your school's name, your phone number, your address, or your face in a shared project or comment. Username only.
- Be kind in comments. If you don't like a project, scroll past. Don't write rude comments. The Scratch Team removes mean comments and can suspend accounts.
- Credit your sources. If you remixed a project, mention the original creator in Notes & Credits. If you used art from the Scratch library or somewhere online, say so.
- Ask a parent before sharing photos or recordings of yourself as costumes or sounds — and almost always, the answer should be "use a Scratch library asset instead".
Worked Example — sharing Aisyah's catch-the-kuih 12 min
Aisyah has HW-L2-43-Catch-Kuih.sb3 on her laptop. The teacher has asked the class to send a URL by Friday. Here's the full eight-step walkthrough.
Step 1 — Open scratch.mit.edu in the browser
Sign in (or click Join Scratch if Aisyah hasn't made an account yet — her mum already approved the email last week).
Step 2 — Click Create
Top of the page. The editor opens with a blank cat project.
Step 3 — Load the .sb3 from disk
File → Load from your computer. Pick HW-L2-43-Catch-Kuih.sb3. The editor refreshes with all of Aisyah's sprites and scripts. The browser tab title becomes "Untitled".
Step 4 — Name the project
Click the title at the top of the editor. Change it from "Untitled" to Catch the Kuih. Scratch auto-saves the name.
Step 5 — Click "See project page"
Top-right, next to Share. The project page opens with the Stage on the left and two big text boxes on the right.
Step 6 — Fill in Instructions
Click in the Instructions box. Type three sentences:
<code>Move the cat left and right with the arrow keys. Catch the falling kuih to score points. Avoid the durian! Game ends when you reach 20 points or lose all 3 lives.</code>
Step 7 — Fill in Notes & Credits
Click in the Notes & Credits box. Type:
<code>Made by aisyah-cat-kl for Advaslearning Hub Scratch L2 (Lesson 43). Kuih and durian sprites drawn by me in the Scratch paint editor. Cat is the Scratch default sprite. Sound effects from the Scratch library.</code>
Step 8 — Click Share, copy the URL
The orange Share button is now active. Click it. A confirmation slides down. The URL in the address bar is now the URL — Aisyah copies it and pastes it into the class chat:
<code>https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/892471234/</code>
Done. The teacher clicks the URL, plays the game, sees Aisyah's Instructions and Notes appear next to the Stage. No download, no install, no version-mismatch headache.
What Aisyah just did: took a private .sb3 file and turned it into a public URL with documentation attached. This is the difference between "I made a thing" and "I made a thing you can play". Every Scratch project on every Scratch user's profile went through these same eight steps.
Try It Yourself — three sharing tasks 15 min
Goal: Open one of your existing My Stuff projects (or one your teacher provides). Don't change any blocks. Just fill in the Instructions and Notes & Credits for it. Aim for at least three sentences in each. Save. (You don't have to click Share for this task — just produce a good description.)
Think: If a classmate clicked your URL with no context, would they know which key starts the game, which sprite to catch, and what counts as winning? The Instructions box is the difference between "what's this?" and "oh, fun!".
Goal: Upload one of your .sb3 files to your Scratch account, fill in both description boxes properly, and click Share. Copy the project URL into your homework notebook. Make sure the project is one you're proud of — the URL is permanent (well, until you unshare).
when flag clicked
say [Welcome! Press SPACE to start.] for (3) seconds
wait until <key [space v] pressed?>
broadcast [start-game v]
Think: Once the URL exists, send it to one person — a sibling, parent, or classmate — and ask them to play. Watch them play. Did they understand the controls without you explaining? Their confusion is feedback for your Instructions text.
Goal: Find a shared project by another creator (browse the Explore page on scratch.mit.edu, or use one your teacher recommends). Click See inside. Study one of their scripts. Click Remix. Add at least one meaningful change — swap a sprite, add a sound, change the win condition. Save, fill in Notes & Credits (mention the original creator!), Share. Send the remix URL alongside the original URL so your teacher can see both.
when flag clicked
broadcast [start-game v]
when I receive [start-game v]
say [Aljay's remix — same game, new ending!] for (2) seconds
Think: Remixing isn't copying. Adding one real change — a new sprite, a different sound, a Malaysian backdrop, a difficulty tweak — is the entire point. Your remix should be recognisably the original and recognisably yours.
Mini-Challenge — Priya's "Share doesn't work" 5 min
"Priya's grey Share button"
Priya signed up for Scratch yesterday. She built a tiny "say hi to the cat" project. She wants to send the URL to her grandfather in Ipoh. She clicks the Share button — but it's grey and unclickable. She comes to you for help.
Here's everything Priya did, in order:
- Filled in the Join Scratch form with her own email address (not a parent's).
- Saw a "check your email" message and ignored it because the editor still worked.
- Built the project, named it "Hi Atok".
- Clicked See project page, looked at the Instructions box, typed
click flag. - Left Notes & Credits empty.
- Clicked Share — grey button, nothing happens.
What do you tell Priya? List as many problems as you can spot.
Reveal the diagnosis
Priya hit at least three Share-blockers:
- Email never confirmed. Scratch sent a confirmation link to her email, but until someone clicks it, the account can't share. Worse — she used her own email instead of a parent's; for kids her age (under 13 in most places), Scratch requires a parent's address. She'll likely need to redo the signup with her mum's email.
- Instructions box is too thin. "click flag" is two words. Scratch may flag this; teachers and viewers definitely will. Aim for at least one full sentence with the goal and the controls.
- Notes & Credits empty. The Share button stays disabled until both description boxes have meaningful content.
Fix order: (a) parent confirms the email — or redo signup with parent's address. (b) Expand Instructions to three sentences ("Click the green flag. Press space to make the cat say hi to Atok. Click the cat to hear a meow."). (c) Add a Notes & Credits line ("Made by priya-codes for my grandfather. Cat is the Scratch default."). The Share button turns orange. Click it. Send Atok the URL.
The takeaway: a grey Share button is almost never broken — it's almost always Scratch politely saying "your account or your description isn't ready yet." Read the small print under the button; Scratch will tell you exactly which gate is closed.
Recap 3 min
You moved a project from a private .sb3 on your laptop to a public URL on scratch.mit.edu. The path: create an account with a parent's email, upload (or build) the project, fill in the Instructions and Notes & Credits boxes, click Share, copy the URL. Anyone clicking that URL plays your project in their browser with no install. They can also click See inside to read your blocks, or Remix to make their own version with you auto-credited. The community guidelines — no personal info, be kind in comments, credit your sources — apply to every account from day one.
- Scratch account
- A free login on scratch.mit.edu. Requires a parent/guardian's email for users under 13. Lets you save projects to "My Stuff" and share them publicly.
- My Stuff
- The top-right menu on your Scratch profile showing every project you've saved. Projects can be either shared (public URL) or unshared (only you can see them).
- Share button
- The orange button at the top of the editor that turns a private project into a public one. Disabled until Instructions and Notes & Credits are filled in and the account email is confirmed.
- Project URL
- The unique link to your shared project, e.g.
scratch.mit.edu/projects/123456789/. Send it to anyone — no Scratch account needed to play. - See inside
- The button on any shared project that opens the editor with all blocks visible. Lets you study how other creators built things. Available on every shared project, including yours.
- Remix
- A copy of someone else's shared project, saved to your account, with the original creator auto-credited. The remix culture is core to how Scratch teaches.
Homework 2 min
Get one project of yours onto the Scratch website with a real URL. If you don't have an account yet, do that first — with a parent or guardian sitting next to you.
- Sign in to scratch.mit.edu (or sign up with a parent's email and have them confirm the link).
- Upload (or build) one of your projects from Level 2 — your favourite, ideally.
- Name the project something a stranger would understand (not "Untitled" or "Sprite1 test").
- Fill in Instructions with three sentences: the goal, the controls, the win condition.
- Fill in Notes & Credits with your username, what the project is for (Advaslearning Hub L2-47 homework), and any sprites or sounds that came from elsewhere.
- Click Share. Copy the URL.
Bring back next class:
- Your project URL, written or pasted into your homework notebook.
- A short paragraph (3–4 sentences) on what surprised you about the sharing process. Was the Share button instantly clickable, or did it stay grey? What did you have to do to make it orange?
- One other Scratch URL — a shared project by someone else that you found interesting. (Browse the Explore page or ask a classmate for theirs.) Note one thing you'd like to try in your own next project.
Heads up for next class: SCR-L02-48 is the closing lesson of Level 2 — a recap of all eight clusters, a big vocabulary checklist, and a cert-style mini-challenge that mixes ideas from across the level. Bring your homework notebook, your Credentials Card from L01-48, and the URL you just made.