Animating a Conversation: Kiran and Ripley in Space

In this interactive lesson, you'll animate a conversation between space characters, Kiran and Ripley. You'll create a new project, add characters, set a space background, plan a dialogue, animate their mouths, record your speech, control the timing, test the conversation, and refine it with a partner. Let's bring our characters to life!

Learning Goals Learning Outcomes

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1 Introduction
2 Create a new project
3 Add Kiran and Ripley
4 Set the Space Background
5 Plan the Conversation
6 Animate the Mouths
7 Record your Speech
8 Test the Conversation
9 Work Together
Challenge
Quiz

1 - Introduction

In this lesson, we’re going to bring our space characters, Kiran and Ripley, to life by animating a conversation between them. We’ll use sound recordings to make the characters speak, and we’ll animate their mouths by switching between costumes to make it look like they’re really talking. You’ll work together with a partner to record the conversation and create a dynamic animation!

2 - Create a new project

Let's start by creating a new Scratch project. First, go to the Scratch website by clicking here.

Once you're on the Scratch website, click on 'Create' to start a new project. You will see a cat sprite on the screen. We don't need the cat for this project, so let's remove it.

Scratch: How to create a new project

Go to the Scratch website using the link below and click on the 'Create' link in the blue bar at the top.

By default, each new project starts with the cat sprite already added. To delete the cat click on the x in the blue circle beside the cat in the sprite list.

https://scratch.mit.edu

3 - Add Kiran and Ripley

Start by adding the characters Kiran and Ripley from the sprite library.

These are our space explorers who will be having a conversation in this project.

Scratch: How to add a sprite from the library

To add a sprite from the sprite library follow these steps:

Put your mouse over the Choose a Sprite button
Click on the magnifying glass
Find the sprite you want in the library
Click on your chosen sprite

You can use search box or the filter links (Animals, People, Fantasy etc) to locate your sprite.

4 - Set the Space Background

Choose a space-themed background for your project, like a spaceship interior or a starry sky.

This will set the scene for Kiran and Ripley’s conversation.

5 - Plan the Conversation

With your partner, plan out a short conversation between Kiran and Ripley. Decide who will say what and in what order.

For example, Kiran might ask, “Did you see that shooting star?” and Ripley might respond, “Yes, it was amazing!”

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Scratch is developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab. It is available for free at https://scratch.mit.edu