Scratch
Intermediate
40 mins
Teacher/Student led
130 points
What you need:
Chromebook/Laptop/PC or iPad/Tablet

GIFtastic

In this lesson, students will learn how to create their own GIF animations using Scratch. They will start a new project, upload GIFs, add code to animate them, and explore adding effects and sound. 
Learning Goals Learning Outcomes Teacher Notes Lesson Files

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    1 - Introduction

    Have you ever seen a GIF? It's a type of picture that can move, like a mini movie without sound! Today, we're going to learn how to make one using Scratch.


    2 - Create a new project

    First, we need to start a new project. Go to the Scratch website by clicking here. Once you're there, start a new project and say goodbye to the little cat sprite by deleting it. 


    3 - Upload the Earth GIF

    Have you ever seen a spinning globe? It's like a mini movie of the Earth turning around! Today, we're going to make one using Scratch.

    First, you need to save the spinning Earth picture that comes with this step onto your computer (remember what folder you save it into!). Then, upload it into your Scratch project as a sprite. 

    After you've uploaded it, click on the 'Costumes' tab. You'll see it has 44 costumes. Each costume is a picture of the Earth turned a little bit from the last one.

    This is how moving pictures work. They're just a bunch of still pictures that, when you flip through them quickly, look like they're moving. This is how all videos work, even the super clear ones. They're just a bunch of still pictures (or frames) that are shown really fast. This is called FPS or 'Frames Per Second'. The only difference between these moving pictures and videos is that these pictures don't make any sound.


    4 - Make it 'Animate'

    Now let's add some code to quickly step through the costumes to make the GIF's animation play.

    Add the following code to the earth rotating sprite.

    when green flag clicked forever next costume end

    Once you've added the code click on the green flag and you will see the GIF animate as it steps through the still images.

    5 - Upload the Homer GIF

    Delete or hide the earth rotating sprite as we will be uploading and coding a new GIF sprite.

    Included with this step is a GIF of Homer Simpson moving backwards into a hedge. Save it to your computer and then upload into your Scratch project as a sprite.


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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
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