Scratch Jr for Desktop - Open Source Community Port

About

A community open source port of a well-loved early educational programming tool.

We are very excited about the use of Scratch Jr in the classroom, especially for children in early school years. When we discovered the schools in our area did not have access to tablets, we decided to turn the tablet app into a full fledged desktop app. In order to do this, we have taken the original code recompiled it for Mac and Windows.

While we have chatted to the official Scratch team, they have asked us to let you know this important disclaimer about this experimental version:
Scratch and ScratchJr are trademarks of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which does not sponsor, endorse, or authorize this content. See scratchjr.org for more information.

Install


Install ScratchJr on your Mac, Windows PC, iPad, or Android tablet.
One button. No download, and no security warnings to click through.

ScratchJr (2.0.0)

Install ScratchJr as an app on this device. It gets its own icon and its own window, and works without an internet connection.
By installing this software, you agree to the terms and conditions of the MIT license.

The nitty gritty


Same app, new platform.

To port to the desktop, a small database and filesystem layer was rewritten, as well as access to video and sound.

This was accomplished using the original html source of ScratchJR and SQL.js for the project database. The app installs straight from this page as a Progressive Web App, so there is nothing to download and no unsigned installer for Mac or Windows to warn you about.


Offline mode

Everything is stored on the device when you install, so the app does not need an internet connection to work. New versions arrive on their own the next time the device is online.


Deleting stuff (press and hold mouse)

Because this is a tablet app, there is no right click support. In order to delete stuff you need to click and hold the left mouse button until everything wiggles. When you get a red X, click this to remove characters and projects.


Where's the cat?

Sadly, the cat is not allowed to make an official appearance in our app but has sent along all of his friends. Everything (else) you know and love about Scratch Jr on the tablet is there.


Getting Started with your Class

Scratch Jr has a set of programming worksheets your class can follow.


Where's the data?

All projects are stored locally on the device, in the same SQLite database format the desktop version used. Nothing is uploaded anywhere and there is no account to create. The projects stay put when the app is closed, and survive updates to the app.


Sharing a project

Open a project, press the share button, and the project is saved as a .sjr file you can send to someone else. Opening a .sjr file on another device loads the project there.


Thanks

Thank you to the official Scratch Jr team and their supporters. In addition, thank you to the folks working on Electron, ElectronForge, and Sql.js. Thank you to AppVeyor and Travis CL for contributing free Mac, Windows and Linux builds.

Finally, a special thank you to ScopeIT Education for donating their technical expertise to this project.
For more exciting projects by this author, see:

Support

Note we are working on a volunteer basis and only limited support is available.

Having problems? Here's what to do.