Project #1 – aMaze Game – A series of online computing lessons for KS2
This series of online lessons is designed for any child in Key Stage 2 (Y3 – Y6, or even beyond!) to watch and learn from independently, or for use by a class teacher who is not confident in teaching computing and can learn alongside the children.
The lessons follow the four levels of abstraction/ 4 stages of a project from Task, to Design Algorithm, to Coding to Evaluating/ Debugging. The aim is that the lessons teach the user key concepts in computing (See the table at the end of the page), whilst creating a maze game using the free block based programming software: ‘Scratch‘.
The lessons are designed to be paused at the end, showing helpful code, so that the user may follow along and create their own project in tandem with the lessons.
At the end of the series, children have the option of sharing their ‘aMaze Game’ project using the Scratch Online Studio feature, which I have set up on my Scratch account.
All of the lessons are short YouTube videos and are in sequence in the playlist: Run Don’t Walk Online Computing Lessons – aMaze game
There are 18 lessons in all, however as they are quite short, it may be possible to complete two or three in one session, depending on how long you want the children to work for.
Have a look at the first one, see what you think!
Below is a grid demonstrating key concepts and skills taught in each lesson, click on the titles to head straight to the video:
Entire series playlist: Run Don’t Walk Online Computing Lessons – aMaze game
| Lesson | Title | National Curriculum objectives and skills taught |
| 1 | The Task | Decomposition & 4 levels of abstraction (4 stages of a project) |
| 2 | Design | Decomposition & algorithms |
| 3 | Bitmap vs Vector | Using Scratch Sprite Editor, difference between Bitmap and Vector Art |
| 4 | Sprite Design | Animating Sprites using costumes, labelling and resizing sprites, saving projects |
| 5 | Maze Design | Creating Backdrops, using the shapes tool |
| 6 | Coding Movement | Using selection for smooth sprite motion control using keyboard input |
| 7 | Initialisation and Variables | Initialisation and introducing variables |
| 8 | Selection | Using selection to enable sprites to interact with backdrop |
| 9 | Obstacle Design | Animating Sprites using costumes |
| 10 | Obstacle Movement | Using the Glide block, sequence and repetition |
| 11 | Obstacle Cloning | Cloning in Scratch – generalisation |
| 12 | Obstacle Interaction | Using selection for sprite interaction, logical reasoning |
| 13 | Timer | Using a variable to create a countdown timer |
| 14 | Game Over | Switching backdrops, triggering events using variables |
| 15 | Win Broadcast | Scratch Broadcast Feature, triggering events using variables |
| 16 | Making Level 2 | Using backdrop changes as event triggers |
| 17 | Level 2 Obstacles | Duplicating sprites |
| 18 | Debugging | Debugging and logical reasoning |
| 19 | Enjoy your game! | Sharing projects online and collaborating |
