Scratch

My 12-year-old wanted to make a game, so we searched for KPL (Kids Programming Language), but unfortunately its developer has chosen to make its successor not-free and to prevent access to KPL. So we kept searching ... and happened upon Scratch, a visual scripting language by The Lifelong Kindergarten Group at MIT. Free... cool, my favorite price.

Downloaded it... started playing with it... and it's actually pretty cool. You can make games, interactive animations, all sorts of things. And it's actually pretty simple... yet provides a great background on event-driven (and also both functional and object oriented) programming, including variables, logic elements, etc. Even I, having been programming for for nearly a quarter of a century, enjoyed it.

That being said, here is the initial version of my 12-year-old's "Easiest Game on Earth" (his moniker when I mentioned that it didn't have any way to lose). A little input from me, but he did a lot of it himself. Not bad for a first attempt! Enjoy...

Learn more about this project

Swimming can be hazardous to your child's life

According to this CNN article, you should be very careful with your children and swimming pools. Apparently there is a very real danger related to the suction/return on the pool or hot tub filtration system. I was never really aware of this... but it has claimed the lives of children. Quite honestly, the article doesn't give much information about what are or are not the "correct" (safe) drain covers. And personally, I am not sure where to ask about this information... if any readers have info, feel free to share.

This has been public service announcement number 1 on my blog (ok, maybe there have been others). Now back to your regularly scheduled life.

Does anyone read this?

How exactly do you playground - just lay there?

Frustration

Crossblock (that's a link). Enjoy.

(I'm currently stuck at the last level, 50.)