Celebrating in Style with Scratch Day Themes
By Saskia Leggett and My Nguyen
This post is the third in a series aimed at getting ready for Scratch Day 2016. This year’s Scratch Day is on May 14th, but you can host a Scratch Day any day of the year!
For tips on hosting a Scratch Day, click here. For a look at how groups — both large and small — celebrate Scratch Day around the world, click here.
Scratch Day is a day to meet, share, and learn — but most importantly, to celebrate together! We encourage hosts to create fun, festive atmospheres at their Scratch Day events. Themes can inspire both hosts and participants to be creative.
Here are a few ideas we’ve brainstormed to help you get started:
Scratch Birthday Party
Fun fact: Scratch Day actually coincides with Scratch’s birthday. This year, Scratch is turning nine! To commemorate this special occasion, consider decorating your space with balloons, offering party hats and favors to Scratchers, or setting up a photobooth with cut-outs of Scratch sprites and other props. Participants can also make birthday cards with the Scratch greeting card tutorial.
Scratchfest
When hosted in bigger spaces, Scratch Day can feel a bit like a carnival or a festival. At Scratch Day @ MIT, we embrace the festival-like feel of the day and encourage participants to dip in and out of activities, similar to a carnival. We offer sprite facepainting, snacks, and craft stations to add to the festive atmosphere.
Like all great celebrations, our Scratch Day involves a lot of dancing, too! Consider creating and adding dancing sprites to a project using the Dance, Dance, Dance tutorial and projecting the project on a large wall.
Scratchlympics
The 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil are only a few months away! As a nod to the Games, the Scratch Team created a race game tutorial that Scratchers can remix to create and compete in their favorite Olympic sports.
For your own Scratch Day, consider decorating with Olympics-themed crafts, suggesting athletic or sports-themed dress, connecting to the physical world with MaKey MaKey, and sharing Scratch creations to the Rio Olympics 2016 studio!
Scratch Around the World
Scratch Day is celebrated all over the globe. Scratch Day 2015 had [ — -] recorded events! This year at Scratch Day @ MIT, we’re celebrating our international connections with a global theme. We’ll share images from Scratch Days around the world, prominently display the Scratch Day map, and decorate our venue with global and travel-themed crafts, like these DIY paper hot air balloons.
Other ideas
Scratch Day is your day to celebrate Scratch and your Scratch community, so above all, we encourage you to make the day your own. What themes, activities, or decorations would resonate most with your participants? What else will get them excited about meeting, sharing, and learning together? How creative can you get with your day?
Whatever your theme, we encourage you to think festive. We’re excited to celebrate with you!
What will you do on Scratch Day? Share photos and videos of your celebrations with us on social media using #ScratchDay!
Saskia Leggett is Outreach Manager for the Scratch Team.
My Nguyen is Communications Specialist for the Scratch Foundation.
