Eli Whitney Museum

Saturdays, January 12,19,26 and February 2,9,16.
Class for 8-9 year olds: 1 – 2:30pm; Class for 10 and up: 3 – 5pm.
Fee: $180 (members $170)

A six week class in Design with Scratch. Designed at the MIT MediaLab, Scratch is a free programming language that allows you to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art - and share your creations on the web. Instructors will bring their special expertise to teach beginners and non-beginners alike.

For returning or more advanced students, the class will start off with a basic but more completed game engine and then focus on adding art and gameplay elements. Begin with a Title screen and one Play screen and Character and then add things like Traps, Pitfalls, Power-ups, and Wandering Monsters.

Depending on how fast the group progresses, in February, we will aim to add a Platform Game day and a Spaceship Game Day.

We will work with each student to develop skills and facility in this programming language. Work at your own speed and design at your own level. And then beyond.

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Sundays, January 13,20,27 and February 3,10,17.
Class for 10 and up only: 11am – 1pm.
Fee: $180 (members $170) Materials fee: $50

Using the web-based CAD program TinkerCAD* first learn to design a 'low-relief' project which can become a key chain fob, door magnet or applied to one if desired. Print this project out and glue or paint to add finishing touches. This first project's cost is included in the class fee.

Build upon this learning to design a second project which will be limited in size and scope by a student's skill and interest in mastering CAD. We will be introducing SketchUP's CAD programming which may or may not be accessible for everyone. Those who prefer to use TinkerCAD to work on the new design may do so. The cost of this second project is covered by the $50 additional materials fee collected upon registration. If a student wants to design something larger than the $50 fee will cover, we will contact the parent first for approval. These projects will be printed out by the end of the course if possible, or mailed home after the class has been completed.

3D material and printing time can be costly - roughly $1.50/cc. To give that an understandable scale, a Matchbox size car is about 6cm x 3cm x 2cm, or about $20 to print out.

This class is for 10 year-olds and up only.

*The Eli Whitney Museum is a partner in TinkerCAD's Academic 1000 community.

Click here to register: