Drone Planting for Moonhack
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Scratch, it’ll always be our fave! It’s the easiest place to start for newbies of any age, it gives immediate success (no grammatical errors to stop your project from working) and it’s intuitive and accessible (available in a bunch of different languages!)
This Scratch project is one of our favourite too!
This past summer has been one of the most traumatic for our community in Australia; bushfires, hail, floods. Our natural environment has taken a beating!
We created this game to simplify the tech around deforestation into a gamified and kid-friendly solution. And, what’s better — this product is real! US company Droneseed does exactly this! Check out their video below:
Here in Australia, a lot of Australian natives actually regenerate on their own after fire. So, while some of this tech wouldn’t be necessary, it’s a great example of how we could bring tech into the real world and build opportunities beyond just bush regeneration.
What about communities that have been victims of dust-storms that have removed all trace of native grasses? Or if introduced species have destroyed native flora?
Perhaps there are ways to add these extra ideas into your game? The great thing about Scratch (and any coding) is that these lessons are just the building blocks to build something bigger, better and all about you!
Getting Started
This Scratch project is the perfect start for new coders.
It’s not too complicated, and it’s GREAT fun! This game is perfect for beginner and intermediate Scratch users.
The project instructions are available at Moonhack.com/projects
If you’re an offline Scratch user, you can download the Starter Project first, or add your own sprites — just the drone, and then a tree sprite with multiple costumes.
If you’re a teacher, this is a great one to get kids started on coding in your classroom. For more info check out our curriculum blog post.
What’s next?
How could you extend this project? Every project has challenges to help extend students beyond the existing lesson. But there are other ways you could build on this too.
Maybe once the ground is full of seeds you need to fertilise them to make them grow? And then water them?
Register your participation in Moonhack at moonhack.com. Don’t miss out on being counted!
