Learning Goals 3 min
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
- Explain what a Scratch studio is — a curated collection of projects with one shared page — and how it's different from your full project list.
- Create a personal portfolio studio on your account and give it a clear title, thumbnail, and description.
- Add projects to a studio (your own and other people's) and remove ones that don't belong.
Warm-Up — the fifty-project scroll 7 min
Your friend in another class has been on Scratch for a year. She's made 47 projects. You want to see her best work. So you click her profile.
You land on a page showing thumbnails of all 47 projects, sorted by date. The newest one is at the top — it's called "untitled-23" and looks like a test sketch. The next one is "asdf". The next is a serious-looking animation. The next three are versions of the same broken pong game. The next one is amazing — but it's project number twelve in the list and you almost missed it.
You give up after scrolling six rows. How many of her actual best projects did you see?
Reveal the answer
Probably one or two. Maybe zero. The newest-first sort doesn't know which projects are good — it just shows you whatever she made most recently, including throwaway experiments and abandoned half-builds. Strangers don't have the patience to dig. They scroll for 30 seconds, see noise, and leave.
This is what every Scratch profile looks like by default. Talented kids' best work is buried under their practice work, and nobody finds the good stuff.
Today's lesson is the fix — a studio. A small, curated page on Scratch with just the projects you actually want strangers to see, in the order you choose, with a thumbnail and a description. Five minutes of setup, and your best four projects are one click away from your profile.
New Concept — what a studio is 15 min
A studio on Scratch is its own kind of page — separate from a project page, separate from your profile. Each studio has:
- A title (e.g. "Aisyah's L4 Portfolio").
- A thumbnail image (any picture you upload — usually a screenshot of your best project, or a banner you drew).
- A description (a paragraph saying what the studio is for and who made it).
- A list of projects — added one by one by you (or anyone you've made a curator). The list can contain projects you made and projects other people made; the studio doesn't have to be only-your-stuff.
- A comments section for visitors to discuss the studio as a whole (separate from comments on individual projects inside).
Crucially, studios are public the moment you create them. There's no "share studio" step — they're shared by default. Anyone with the URL can open them.
Why studios matter
Think of your Scratch profile as a giant unsorted pile of every project you've ever made. A studio is a shelf — you pick what goes on it, in what order. When a stranger lands on your profile, they see:
- Up to three featured studios at the top (you choose which ones).
- Your shared projects in newest-first order below.
- A list of studios you curate further down.
If you have a portfolio studio at the top of your profile, the stranger clicks it once and lands on a page showing just your best four projects. They don't have to scroll past "untitled-23". They see what you actually want them to see.
Studios also appear on every project page that's been added to one. Open any one of your projects and look on the right-hand side — it shows "This project is in 1 studio: Aisyah's L4 Portfolio". So visitors who arrive via that one project see the rest of your good work in one click. Studios cross-link your projects to each other.
Personal studios vs class studios vs theme studios
People use studios for three main reasons:
- Personal portfolio. Just your own best work. Probably the first studio you'll make. Examples: "Aisyah's L4 Portfolio", "My Best Animations", "Things I Made in 2026".
- Class or course studios. A teacher or older student creates one studio for everyone in a class to add their projects to. Examples: "SK Bukit Damansara Year 6 Scratch Club", "Advaslearning Hub L4 Final Projects". Many students contribute; one studio gathers them.
- Theme studios. A studio about a topic, with projects from many different creators. Examples: "Malaysian Food Games", "Best Scrolling Platformers", "Projects That Use the Pen Extension Well". Anyone can add projects (if the studio allows it), and the studio becomes a curated discovery list for that theme.
For this lesson we focus on type 1 — your personal portfolio studio. Once you can build that one, the other two are the same skill on different scales.
What goes in a portfolio studio
The studio is curated — that means you pick what's in and what's out. Three good rules:
- Quality over quantity. Four polished projects look better than twenty rough ones. If you only have three projects you're proud of, the studio has three.
- Variety. If all four projects are catch-the-falling-thing games, a stranger thinks that's all you can do. Mix it up — one game, one animation, one art piece, one story. Show range.
- Recency. Update the studio every term. Old projects you've outgrown should come out; new projects you're prouder of should go in. A portfolio is a living thing, not a graveyard.
Worked Example — building "Aisyah's L4 Portfolio" 12 min
Aisyah has finished Level 4. She has eleven shared projects total. Four of them are projects she's proud of — a multi-level platformer, a pen-extension spirograph, a sound-reactive animation, and a Deepavali kolam pattern generator. The other seven are practice sketches and abandoned half-builds. She wants the four good ones in a portfolio. Here's the full eight-step path.
Step 1 — Open the studios area
From the Scratch homepage, hover over My Stuff in the top-right. Click it. On the left sidebar of the My Stuff page, there are sections: All Projects, Shared Projects, Unshared Projects, My Studios, Trash. Click My Studios.
Step 2 — Click "New Studio"
Top of the My Studios page, there's a green + New Studio button. Click it. A brand new studio is created instantly with a placeholder title like "Untitled Studio 1". It opens automatically — you're now looking at your empty new studio.
Step 3 — Set the title
Click the placeholder title at the top. Replace it with something specific: "Aisyah's L4 Portfolio". Press Enter to save. Be specific — "My Studio" tells visitors nothing.
Step 4 — Set the thumbnail
To the left of the title there's a placeholder image (usually a default Scratch cat). Click it. A file picker opens. Pick a screenshot of your favourite project, or a banner you drew in the Scratch paint editor, or anything that visually represents the studio. The image becomes the thumbnail that shows up wherever the studio is listed.
Step 5 — Write the description
Below the title there's a description box. Click Edit. Write one paragraph. Aisyah writes:
"My favourite projects from Level 4 of the Advaslearning Hub Scratch course. A mix of games, pen art, sound-reactive animation, and a Deepavali pattern generator. Made by @aisyah_codes. Updated as I make new things I'm proud of."
Click Save.
Step 6 — Add projects, one at a time
Scroll to the Projects tab of the studio. Click + Add projects. A panel slides in showing all your shared projects. Click the four you want to include — the platformer, the spirograph, the sound-reactive animation, the kolam generator. Each click adds the project to the studio. Click outside the panel when done.
Look at what you've made — a studio page with four projects, each showing its own thumbnail, title, and creator. A stranger clicking any thumbnail goes straight into that project.
Step 7 — Pin the studio to your profile
Click your username in the top-right to go to your profile page. Look for the Featured Studio slot at the top (some Scratch profile layouts have one, some have three). Pick your new portfolio studio from the dropdown. Save. Now anyone who opens your profile sees the portfolio studio as the very first thing on the page.
Step 8 — Verify with an incognito test
Copy the URL of your new studio. Open an incognito browser window. Paste the URL. You're now seeing your studio as a stranger sees it — same one we did in last lesson for projects. Click around. Make sure the four projects load. Make sure the description reads well. Make sure the thumbnail looks intentional.
What you just did: turned a noisy profile of eleven projects into a clean portfolio of four. A stranger who visits Aisyah's profile now has a direct path to her best work in one click — no scrolling, no guessing, no wading through "untitled-23".
when flag clicked
go to [front v] layer
say [Welcome to my portfolio!] for (2) seconds
Try It Yourself — three studio drills 15 min
Goal: Create your first studio. Title it after yourself ("Your Name's Portfolio" — first name only). Add a thumbnail (anything — even just a default colour block from the paint editor will do for now). Write a one-sentence description: "Some of my favourite Scratch projects." Add two of your own shared projects. That's it. The studio exists.
Think: The studio doesn't need to be perfect on day one. The point is to have one so you can start adding to it as you make better work. Empty studios with one project beat no studio at all.
Goal: Make a themed studio — not a portfolio, but a curated collection of other people's projects you admire. Pick a theme: "Best Malaysian-Themed Projects", "Pen Art I Love", "Tutorials That Helped Me Learn". Search Scratch for projects that fit. Add 5–8 of them to your studio. Write a description explaining what the theme is and why you picked these projects.
If any of the projects you add use a control like the one below, you might mention it in your description as the kind of thing the studio celebrates:
when flag clicked
pen down
forever
move (5) steps
turn cw (1) degrees
end
Think: Curating other people's work is a real Scratch skill. Studios with great curation get followed and visited too. You can be useful to the community even before you make great projects yourself.
Goal: Invite a curator to your portfolio studio. From the studio page, click Curators. Type a friend's Scratch username and invite them. Once they accept, they can also add projects to your studio. Use this carefully — only invite people whose taste you trust. After the invite, talk with them about what kinds of projects belong in the studio so they don't add random things.
Think: Curators turn a personal studio into a small team. Class studios usually have the teacher as the manager and every student as a curator. Theme studios sometimes have many curators all hunting for great projects. Once you understand curators, you understand how the larger Scratch community organises itself.
Mini-Challenge — "Hadi's everything-studio" 5 min
Spot the curation problem
Hadi has been on Scratch for two years. He has 38 shared projects. He makes a studio called "Hadi's Studio" and adds all 38 of his projects to it. The studio's description is blank. The thumbnail is the default Scratch cat.
A stranger lands on Hadi's profile, sees the studio, clicks it. What do they see, and how is it different from just looking at Hadi's profile in the first place?
Reveal one valid solution
The stranger sees exactly the same noise they would have seen on Hadi's profile — 38 projects in a long list — except now with a default thumbnail and no description to even tell them what the studio is for. Hadi has built a studio that adds no value. It's just a copy of his profile inside another page.
The fix is to cut. Three steps:
- Remove 32 of the 38 projects. Keep the six Hadi is most proud of. From the studio's project list, hover over each project and click the small × to remove. (This doesn't delete the project — it just removes it from this studio.)
- Rename and describe. Rename to something specific like "Hadi's Best Six" or "Hadi's Animations". Write a one-paragraph description explaining what the studio is and who made it.
- Pick a real thumbnail. Screenshot of his favourite project, or a banner he drew. Anything but the default cat.
Now the stranger arrives at a curated page with six clearly chosen projects and a thumbnail that says "this person cares about how they present their work." Same Hadi, same projects, totally different impression. The studio is the curating, not the collection. An uncurated studio is just a slower profile.
Recap 3 min
A studio on Scratch is a curated page that holds a list of projects, a title, a thumbnail, a description, and a comments section. Studios are public the moment you create them. Use a personal portfolio studio to show your best 3–6 projects in one place so strangers don't have to scroll through your full project list. Studios appear on your profile and on every project page that's been added to one, cross-linking your work. The skill is curation — leave projects out, update as you grow, write a real description, pick a real thumbnail. Studios also come in class and themed flavours where many people contribute to one shared page.
- Studio
- A public Scratch page that holds a curated list of projects, with its own title, thumbnail, description, comments, and curators. Created from My Stuff > My Studios > + New Studio.
- Portfolio studio
- A studio you make to showcase your own best work. Usually 3–6 projects, picked for quality and variety, updated as you grow. Pin it to your profile so it's the first thing strangers see.
- Curator
- A Scratcher you've invited (or who has joined) a studio and can add projects to it. The studio's creator is the manager; everyone else they invite is a curator. Studios can have many curators — class studios often invite a whole class.
- Featured studio
- The studio slot at the top of your Scratch profile. Visitors see this first. Most Scratchers pin their portfolio studio here so their best work is one click away from anyone landing on their profile.
- Thumbnail
- The small image that represents a studio (or a project) wherever it's listed. The default is a placeholder. Replace it with a screenshot or banner — a real thumbnail signals "this is curated", a default one signals "this is empty".
- Curation
- The act of choosing what goes in and what stays out. The actual skill behind studios. An uncurated studio with everything in it is the same as no studio at all. Leaving projects out is the work.
Homework 2 min
The Portfolio Build. Create your personal portfolio studio and pin it to your profile. Step by step:
- From My Stuff > My Studios > + New Studio, create a new studio.
- Title it specifically — your name plus what's in it (e.g. "Aisyah's L4 Portfolio", not "My Studio").
- Upload a real thumbnail — a screenshot of your favourite project, or a banner you draw in Scratch's paint editor. Not the default cat.
- Write a one-paragraph description that names you (username only, no full name), lists what kinds of projects are inside, and says when it was last updated.
- Add between 3 and 6 of your own best shared projects. No more. Try for variety — at least two different kinds of project.
- Go to your profile and set this studio as your featured studio (if your profile layout has that slot).
- Open the studio's URL in an incognito browser window and check that everything looks the way a stranger would see it.
If you only have 1 or 2 shared projects right now, do the homework anyway with just those projects. The studio will grow with you.
Bring back next class:
- The URL of your new portfolio studio.
- Your answer to: "Which of your shared projects did you decide NOT to include in the portfolio, and why?" (Leaving stuff out is the hardest part — explain your thinking.)
Heads up for next class: SCR-L04-46 goes deeper on Remix Etiquette — the small habits that make you a welcome remixer in someone else's project chain, including how to comment on the original, how to credit chains of remixes, and how to ask permission to use parts of someone's art outside of Scratch.