A sprite's costumes can be activated from within the programming. In addition to having multiple sprites at once, Scratch allows you to change the background from within a program. This capability can ...

Scratch, for those without school-aged children, is a block-based programming language that lets you make little games and “cartoons” with sprites and animated figures.

So, you have your new project in Scratch — now it's time to add a Sprite!

A new book from No Starch Press, Super Scratch Programming Adventure!: Learn to Program By Making Cool Games makes it even easier to teach your kids basic programming skills.

In addition to programming, Scratch also lets kids upload and share their projects through an online community at the Scratch website.

Windows/Mac/Linux: Programming an Arduino isn't especially difficult, but if you're looking for a more visual method, Scratch for Arduino (S4A) uses ...