Parents of Scratch: Self-Expression, Leadership, & Creativity with Elsie Pan
This is the first installment in our new Parents of Scratch series. This series explores the experience of parents of Scratchers worldwide, and shares the importance of getting involved in your children’s creative coding journey.
Parents and guardians are grappling with big questions about screen time and digital safety every day: how are platforms keeping kids safe, and how can they break kids out of the endless spiral of scrolling and content consumption? New York-based Consulting Partner Elsie Pan is one of millions of moms facing these challenges. Elsie’s daughter Hanna Lin, known on Scratch as -alpha_cat-, found Scratch through her peers in school. Once Hanna began exploring the creative possibilities Scratch offered, the “introverted” artist found a safe and supportive global community with exciting avenues for self-expression.
Scratching the Surface
12-year-old Hanna is a middle schooler with a variety of hobbies — she’s on the road to achieving a black belt in TaeKwonDo, she’s an avid reader, and she loves to draw and tell stories. Two years ago, Hanna and a friend were collaborating on an illustrative storybook, and they were looking for a tool to digitize their creation. Her friend suggested they try Scratch.
As Hanna and her friend explored Scratch, they discovered a thriving community of young people who had impressive animation skills that they used to bring Hanna’s favorite book series, Warrior Cats, to life. While she wasn’t initially interested in learning to code, she was inspired by the ways that coding enabled these artists to express themselves. She set out to hone her own animation talents so she could “make an impact in the community,” too.
“Hanna was very creative before she got exposed to Scratch. She was more artistic than technical,” says mom Elsie. “Her interest [in art], and really the block coding, enabled her to learn, ‘Oh, you can actually use coding to design something, make a short video, tell stories.’ I think that was very powerful. She feels that she is equipped with the necessary knowledge and tools to help her achieve her goals.”
Balancing Safety & Self-Expression
Like many parents, Elsie doesn’t consider herself particularly tech-savvy, but she’s concerned about excessive, unproductive screen time and wants to ensure Hanna’s explorations in online communities are safe and moderated.
When Hanna joined Scratch, Elsie vetted the community to ensure that it was a safe and secure place for her daughter. She noticed Scratch’s automated filters — the moderation tools that prevent users from commenting inappropriate, unsafe, or unkind things — right away. As she discovered, this feature is just one piece in a larger system of human and automated moderation that encourages Scratchers to be respectful and kind to one another and to choose their words thoughtfully. She shares, “When you know that [kids] are on a healthy and monitored platform, you know that you are getting the best value out of it.”
Of course, the safest online spaces aren’t always the most exciting for young people. Scratch was carefully designed to balance the safety and security of the global community with the engagement and motivation that comes from having a platform to express yourself, connect with other young people who share your passions, and get inspired by the ideas they’re sharing. This balance keeps Hanna excited to further her exploration.
“Kids that age are full of imagination and creativity. You put a very big group of kids of that age together, [the collaboration is] just amazing … I can only imagine when they grow up and they maintain that creativity, that would be really amazing to our society,” says Elsie. “I think [Hanna] gets a lot of benefits from interacting with other innovative kids.”
Pride, Happiness, and Joy
As Hanna spent more time on Scratch, she integrated herself into the animation community and “expanded her network” by collaborating with and learning from the Scratchers whose art she admired. She’s contributed to many multi-animator projects (MAPs), where groups of Scratchers design clips of animations set to music or other audio, then combine them to create a collaborative work of art. Soon, newer Scratchers began seeking out animation and coding advice from her.
“I think it makes her feel proud of being a Scratcher, when her work is appreciated by the other users on the platform. It’s the pride, it’s the happiness, the joy.”
Hanna has begun hosting her own MAPs — a big milestone involving project management skills like deadline-setting, communication, and motivating peers to achieve a shared vision. Elsie admires Hanna’s “courage” in taking on this self-directed leadership position, which can involve dozens of peers and take months to complete. It’s the type of challenge, she notes, that many adults would shy away from.
“There were obviously obstacles, barriers, difficulties, challenges, but she was able to work through them and get to the finish line,” she says. “I would say that that is a very good learning experience for her. It’s not limited to the technical coding abilities … but it’s really the real life skill sets that you are getting on this platform. I think that’s very valuable for her age.”
Animations like those in MAPs can also provide a safe space for kids to explore nuanced feelings through their characters: joy, anxiety, hope, sadness. Elsie appreciates that Hanna, a self-described introvert, has the opportunity to express her emotions through her art, and the bravery to share those feelings with her peers. She says this outlet is good for Hanna’s mental health, which she believes is key to children’s growth.
What advice would Elsie give to parents whose kids are new to Scratch? “It has really high potential because once you are into this community and you start learning about the process, the collaboration offered by this community, and most importantly, the leadership that the kids can potentially develop — that is truly valuable, not only on Scratch,” she says. “It’s something that the kids can own and grow going forward outside the platform. I think that is very valuable for parents to explore.”
Are you a parent looking to learn more about Scratch? Check out the Parents’ and Guardian’s Guide to Scratch to get started.
