Catch the cats

Pedagogical goals

To learn about logical variables and operators.

Necessary materials

Computer with webcam

Preparation

Program and test the game on machines that children will use.

Conducting the activity

1- Access the Scratch tool, import the camera extension, choose which pet they want to rescue and which means of transport they will use.
2- Program the little animal to create clones and appear in random places with an interval of 1 second
3- Program the camera to capture the hand movements of those who are playing, and thus make the little animal also move according to these hand movements
4- Program for the pet to disappear when touching the transportation
5- Explain variables, create a variable to add up the number of rescued animals, and program this to happen every time the animal touches the transportation
6- Explain logical operators and program so when the variable reaches 10 or is greater than 10, the transportation must move and go towards another edge of the screen
7- Program the transition from the scenario to the rescue scenario for the little animals as the final screen of the game.

Discussion and reflection with students

The activity can talk about animals that are threatened with extinction. At the end of the activity, the children present their game. This was not arranged before the activity, precisely to take them by surprise and thus instigate creativity. They had to create their stories on the spot and some talked about endangered animals, others created science fiction, space stories, some mixed their stories with others that had already been told, making the class fun and increasing the engagement.

What went right

The presentation with each child creating their story. I hadn't thought about letting the kids create the stories on the spot, and that was key to the ultimate fun of the activity.

What can be improved

Nothing, everything went well.