One of the favorite things my kiddos love to work with is Scratch - the coding and programming application by wonderful folks at the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab. They LOVE learning about all the possible ways to create and code using this program.
As I was looking through some curriculum connections, I ran across a lesson I used to do with Idioms using Photoshop Elements. Students would use the tools to draw an image that was a literal interpretation of the idiom. If the student had the idiom, "Painting the town red" -- they would draw a city scene and have a little figure painting everything red. Pretty fun! However, I realized that it would be even MORE fun to try and have the kids use the tools and commands in Scratch to create a mini animation of an idiom.
I spent some time talking about what an idiom is ... and that it could have a literal meaning ... as well as the more appropriate figurative meaning. Everyone agreed that the literal meaning is very funny when you stop and think about it. After I explained the concept of our assignment and reviewed some of the basic commands they may need to use -- the kids "took off like a jet plane".
We are having such a great time trying to make our idioms come to life with coding. Below are a couple of examples....hope you find this "easy as pie".
When Pigs Fly
To see the Scratch Animation, click the link - https://goo.gl/GQ04LP
Butterflies in my stomach
To see the Scratch Animation, click the link - https://goo.gl/qnnOhA
Get Scratchin' Friends!
