December has just begun, but plans for Scratch Day 2012 are well underway. Scratch Day (May 19, 2012) is a group of community based events where parents, teachers, and/or kids come together to promote and learn about the Scratch programming language.
Here’s some stats to illustrate Scratch Day’s reach from the Scratch Day website.
- In 2011, there were 126 events in 36 different countries.
- In 2010, there were 120 events in 40 different countries.
- In 2009, there were 120 events in 44 different countries.
For the last two years, I’ve attended the OLPC Learning Club DC Scratch Day event in Arlington, VA to help facilitate a workshop with the students. I never stop being amazed at how quickly kids adapt to Scratch and how quickly they become skilled Scratchers. Jeff Elkner, Mike Lee and the OLPC Learning Club are great hosts; they even surprised me last year with a XO laptop. If you’re in the northern Virginia area, you’ll enjoy this event.
This year it looks like Scratch Day is coming back to Pennsylvania. Scratch Day Philadelphia is being organized by Quinn Burke. I attended Scratch Day Pennsylvania in 2009 at the Abington Friends School where I met another group of great people, including Quinn.
Scratch Day Resources
The Scratch team publishes a list of Scratch Day resources. Of course, my book Scratch 1.4 Beginner’s Guide offers many scratch programming ideas and solutions to help you develop workshops.
It’s not too early to plan your Scratch Day. It’s a lot of fun. Where will you be?