How do they move? Running two scripts at the same time

Characters in ScratchJr can execute more than one script at the same time. For example, a character can move and make sounds while moving.
A particularly interesting effect can be reached when applying two different scripts of movement to a single character. Consider the rolling football – it’s not only rotating, but also moving from left to right.

Please check the movie below. Each character is running two ScratchJr scripts at the same time:

I’ve prepared a worksheet that should serve as an inspiration for your pupils and teach them how to combine different movement scripts. On the worksheet, there are four different characters (a football, a rabbit, a snake, and a bat), as well as four pairs of scripts.
Your students’ goal is to establish how each character should move, and then match characters with appropriate script pairs.

This exercise is a great opportunity for your pupils to experiment. If they don’t get the solution outright, they can arrive at it by trial and error, simply by adding a character, assigning scripts to it and checking if the execution yields a natural-looking movement.

The solution is:

• the football should roll (spin and move forward at the same time)
• the rabbit should hop (jump up and move forward at the same time)
• the snake should slither (you can replicate this effect by combining forward movement with alternating changes in the size of the character, thus having it slightly grow or shrink with each movement)
• the bat should ‘wobble’ and fly forward

How did your pupils enjoy this exercise? Did it inspire them to come up with new movement combinations? Be sure to let me know in the comments!

Download the movement worksheet for free by filling out the form below: