Pick the course. Start this week.
Every mentor teaches from a structured programme, adapted live to your child. Open a course to see the full syllabus and enroll in minutes, or start with the free demo class and let the placement pick for you.
Best fitScratch Programming Complete
The full blocks-to-mastery arc: games, animations and stories carrying real computer-science ideas.
$40/mo group · $100/mo 1-on-1
View course & enroll
Vibe Coding for Kids
Scratch plus AI tools: kids build games and apps with blocks and modern AI builders, side by side.
$40/mo group · $100/mo 1-on-1
View course & enroll
Python & AI for Kids
The graduation destination: real text code, taught gently, with AI projects that make eyes go wide.
$40/mo group · $100/mo 1-on-1
View course & enrollGood Scratch classes do three things: teach the ideas inside the blocks (loops, events, conditionals, variables), not just block-snapping recipes; let the child build their own projects, because ownership is where learning lives; and graduate the child on purpose, into Python, when they are ready. That is what we do: 8 live one-hour classes a month with a dedicated mentor, 1-on-1 for $100 a month or small group for $40, free demo class first.
The best first language in the world, usually taught the worst way.
Scratch was designed at MIT's Media Lab specifically for how children learn: ideas made visible as colorful blocks, instant results on screen, and no syntax errors to crush a seven-year-old's confidence. It is free, it is brilliant, and it carries genuine computer science, the same loops, conditionals, events and variables your child will meet later in Python, just wearing a friendlier costume.
The trouble is how most children meet it: YouTube tutorials they copy without understanding, apps that gamify clicking, or big-batch classes where the teacher cannot see any one child's screen. The result is a child who has "done Scratch" and can follow a recipe, but cannot build anything of their own, because nobody ever taught the ideas.
Our classes are the opposite of a recipe. One mentor, one full interactive hour, twice a week, with your child's screen shared and their hands on the blocks. Every concept arrives inside a project the child chose to care about: a chase game teaches events and conditionals, an animation teaches loops and coordinates, a quiz game teaches variables. The mentor asks; the child builds and explains.
And because we teach coding from ages 6 to 18, Scratch here is a road, not a cul-de-sac: when your child is ready, usually after a year or so, the same school walks them across the bridge into Python, with the ideas they already own simply changing costume. Scratch is a trademark of the Scratch Foundation; our classes are independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by MIT or the Scratch Foundation.
ScratchJr, Scratch, or straight to Python: the honest decoder.
| Age & profile | Right starting point | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Ages 5-6 | ScratchJr concepts, taught playfully | Pre-readers need picture-block sequencing; we teach the thinking with ScratchJr-style activities until reading fluency arrives |
| Ages 6-9 | Scratch, the sweet spot | Old enough to read blocks and type a little, young enough that Scratch's instant feedback feels like magic; two to four terms of rich material |
| Ages 10-11 | Scratch fast-track, Python in sight | A compressed Scratch arc builds the concepts in weeks, then the Python bridge crosses while motivation is high |
| Ages 12+ | Usually straight to Python | Most 12-year-olds find Scratch babyish within a term; text code with real results respects them more, and we teach it gently |
Not sure where your child lands? The free demo class doubles as a placement: one hour with a mentor settles it with evidence, not age-chart guesswork.
Eight signs Scratch classes will land right now.
Endless "how do they make games?"
Curiosity about how the screen works is the single best readiness signal there is. Scratch answers it with their own hands.
Screen time is all consumption
Watching and swiping for hours. Scratch flips the same screen into a place where your child makes instead of scrolls.
Builds worlds in LEGO or Minecraft
Builder instinct transfers directly: Scratch is construction with logic bricks, and the builder types take to it fastest.
Loves stories and characters
Scratch is a stage: sprites, costumes, sound and dialogue. Storyteller children make animations that stun their parents.
Tried a coding app, got bored
Gamified apps run out of puzzle. A live mentor and open-ended projects do not, because the ceiling is the child's imagination.
School did an Hour of Code
The spark exists; one hour a year cannot feed it. Two real hours a week with a mentor can.
Gives up when things get hard
Debugging in Scratch is resilience training in disguise: find the broken block, fix it, feel the win, repeat.
Age 6-11 and never coded
No readiness ritual needed: Scratch was literally engineered for this child. The demo class proves it in one hour.
One chase game, four computer-science ideas.
forever
point towards [mouse-pointer]
move 5 steps
if <touching [mouse-pointer]?> then
change [score] by 1
play sound [pop]
What the child sees: a cat that chases their mouse pointer and scores points. Squeals, usually.
What the child just used: an event (when flag clicked), a loop (forever), a conditional (if touching), and a variable (score). Four of the six foundation ideas of all programming, in nine blocks, in lesson three.
The mentor's craft is in the questions: "what happens if we change 5 to 50?" "why does the score need its own block?" "how would we make the cat lose?" The child predicts, tests, explains, and the ideas move from the screen into the child. That conversation is the entire difference between our classes and a YouTube tutorial, and it is why the projects that come home are genuinely your child's own.
Projects the child chooses, ideas the mentor guarantees.
Concepts inside projects
Loops, events, conditionals, variables, broadcasting and cloning, each taught inside a game or story the child wants to exist.
The child drives
Your child's screen, your child's hands, your child explaining aloud. Mentors ask questions; they do not grab the mouse.
Debugging as a superpower
Broken projects are the curriculum's best moments: predict, isolate, fix, explain. Resilience, taught twice a week.
Creativity with craft
Art, sound, story and remixing are honored, and paired with real structure: plan, build, test, improve, present.
A real showcase
Projects go up on our Student Labs wall and are presented to family: shipping work builds a maker's identity.
The Python bridge, on purpose
When mastery shows, the same mentor walks your child from blocks to text: the ideas stay, only the costume changes.
The same idea in Scratch and in Python: the bridge, visible.
Python: for step in range(100):
player.move(2)
if player.touching_edge():
player.bounce()
The moment that matters: the child reads the Python and says "that is just my Scratch blocks written in words." Because it is. The loop is still a loop; the conditional is still a question; only the costume changed.
Children who cross this bridge with a mentor keep their confidence intact, no syntax-error cliff, no starting over. Children who stop at Scratch recipes never cross at all. That difference, more than anything else, is what you are buying with a real teacher: not this year's projects, but the road that stays open for the next ten years.
From first sprite to Python-ready, mapped.
Class 1 · The free demo
A real lesson: your child builds and runs something in the first hour, and the mentor reads readiness, pace and spark.
Months 1-2 · The foundation four
Events, loops, conditionals and coordinates through animations and a first game, plus the save-share-present habit.
Months 3-5 · Real game craft
Variables and score-keeping, cloning, broadcasting between sprites, sound design, and projects with a start screen and a win state.
Months 6-9 · The maker phase
Bigger self-chosen builds: multi-level games, animated stories, quiz apps, planned and shipped with the mentor as coach, not recipe.
Months 10-12+ · The Python bridge
When mastery shows, blocks become words: the same ideas re-met in Python with the same mentor, and the ten-year road opens.
What one full hour of Scratch class looks like.
Every class is a full 60 minutes, live and interactive, built for young attention with variety, not lectures:
0-10 min · Show and warm up
The child demos what they built or changed since last class, and a quick logic puzzle wakes the brain up.
10-35 min · New idea, new build
Today's concept arrives inside the project: the mentor asks, the child snaps the blocks and explains what they expect.
35-50 min · Make it yours
The child extends the build their way, new sprites, sounds, rules, while the mentor coaches craft and catches misconceptions.
50-60 min · Explain-back and quest
The child teaches the idea back, and leaves with a small build quest they actually want to do before next class.
Parents tell us the classes become the week's most defended hour. Watch one before believing us: the demo is free. See exactly how we teach →
Who this genuinely fits, and who it does not.
A strong fit if…
• Your child is 6-11, curious about games and screens, and you want that curiosity to become a maker's skill instead of a scrolling habit.
• Your child tried tutorials or a coding app and plateaued, because recipes ran out and nobody taught the ideas.
• You want one mentor who knows your child by name, not a rotating cast or a video library with a mascot.
• You care about the ten-year road: blocks now, Python later, with the bridge crossed on purpose.
Honestly not the fit if…
• Your child cannot yet engage with a screen and a teacher for a full hour. By age 6 nearly every child can, provided the hour is genuinely interactive, and ours are.
• You want projects built for the child so the portfolio looks good. Our mentors ask questions and coach; the child does the building, which is slower in week one and the whole point by month three.
• You are shopping for a babysitting hour. These classes demand a switched-on child, and give back one who will not stop talking about what they built.
Premium teaching. One honest price.
You are paying for a real teacher, live, for a full hour, twice a week, the format US kids-coding companies charge $175 to $350 a month for. Our cost base is global, so the price is not.
1:1 Private Mentorship
$100 / month
- 8 live one-hour classes a month, 2 per week
- A dedicated mentor who knows your child by name
- Projects chosen with, and built by, your child
- Class recordings for revision · cancel any time
Small-Group Class
$40 / month
- 8 live one-hour classes a month, 2 per week
- A handful of children at the same level
- Same teaching method, gentle peer energy
- Recordings included · cancel any time
That is $12.50 per dedicated hour of 1-on-1 teaching, or $5 in a small group. No registration fee, no contract, and a free demo before any payment. Read our zero-risk promise or compare with what US kids coding costs in 2026.
Mentors who teach the why, in classes kids wait for.
Our mentors are trained in one method: ideas before recipes, the child's hands on the blocks, and the child talking more than the teacher. They teach both coding and mathematics, which matters more than it sounds, because a mentor who can turn coordinates into a sprite's dance and score-keeping into number sense is teaching two subjects in one joyful hour.
And because the same mentor stays with your child month after month, teaching compounds: they know which ideas landed, which need another costume, and exactly when your child is ready for the next stretch.
"My child Dhairya is really enjoying the classes. This is his first online class, and he eagerly looks forward to it. I can see his improvement."
Sonam Oswal, mother of Dhairya · verified Google review
"My son struggled with math for years. Integrating it into coding projects has transformed his understanding and confidence. Highly recommended!"
Shewta Singh, mother of Ishan · verified Google review
Your real options for a young coder.
| Option | Typical cost | What it really is | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Modern Age Coders | $40-$100 / month | 8 live one-hour classes with a dedicated mentor, ideas-first, projects the child owns | Building a real maker, with the Python road open |
| Premium 1:1 platforms (Juni-style) | $200-$300 / month | Live 1-on-1, often 2-4 sessions monthly at 30-50 minutes, rotating instructors common | Families who want brand-name polish and can absorb the price |
| Marketplace classes (Outschool-style) | $15-$25 / class | One-off or short-series group classes of varying quality; no continuity of mentor or curriculum | Sampling topics cheaply before committing anywhere |
| Coding centers (Code Ninjas-style) | $175-$350 / month | Drop-in dojo floors with game-based curriculum and rotating guides, plus the drive | Children who focus better out of the house |
| Self-paced apps (Tynker-style) | $10-$30 / month | Gamified puzzle tracks, no teacher, no one to ask why | Extra practice between real lessons |
Competitor figures are typical published US prices as of July 2026. See our full comparisons: vs Outschool · vs Tynker · best online coding classes for kids 2026.
Everything parents ask about Scratch classes.
What age is right for Scratch?
Ages 6-11 is the sweet spot: old enough to read blocks, young enough that the instant feedback feels like magic. Ages 5-6 start with ScratchJr-style picture-block work; most 12-year-olds go straight to Python. The free demo doubles as a placement, so you never have to guess from an age chart.
Is Scratch real coding or just a toy?
Real coding, by design. Scratch was built at MIT to carry genuine computer-science ideas, sequencing, loops, events, conditionals, variables, concurrency, without syntax in the way. The same ideas power Python and JavaScript later; only the costume changes. What makes it a toy in some hands is recipe-teaching, which is exactly what we do not do.
My child already watches Scratch YouTube tutorials. Why pay for classes?
Tutorials teach copying; mentors teach thinking. A child can follow a video and finish with a working game they cannot explain or extend. Our mentor asks the questions that turn blocks into ideas, catches misconceptions live, and coaches your child through builds no video covers, their own.
What projects will my child actually build?
Animations and interactive stories first, then real games: chase games, platformers, quiz apps, multi-level builds with scores, sounds and win states. From month six most projects are the child's own ideas, planned and shipped with the mentor as coach. Finished work goes up on our Student Labs showcase.
When and how does a child move from Scratch to Python?
Usually after 9-15 months, when the mentor sees mastery: the child plans builds independently and explains their logic. The bridge is deliberate, the same loop and conditional re-met in Python text, with the same mentor, so confidence survives the crossing. That road is the biggest advantage of learning inside a school that teaches ages 6 to 18.
Do you follow a curriculum or just free-play?
Both, on purpose: a structured concept sequence (our Scratch Programming Complete course) guarantees the computer science, while project choice stays with the child so motivation never runs dry. Structure decides what ideas arrive; your child decides what they get built into.
Is one hour too long for a young child online?
Not when the child is building the whole time. Our hours are hands-on and varied, demo, build, extend, explain, closer to a LEGO session than a lecture. Parents are usually surprised the other way: the hour ends and the child wants to keep going.
What does it cost?
1-on-1 is $100 a month and small group is $40 a month, both with 8 live one-hour classes (2 per week) and recordings included. No registration fee, no contract. US kids-coding programs typically run $175 to $350 a month for less contact time.
What equipment does my child need?
A computer or laptop with a browser and stable internet, that is all. Scratch is free and runs in the browser; no purchases, no installs beyond a video-call app. A mouse helps small hands more than a trackpad.
Is this affiliated with MIT or the Scratch Foundation?
No, and we say so plainly: Scratch is a free platform created by MIT's Lifelong Kindergarten group and now stewarded by the Scratch Foundation. We are an independent school that teaches with it, the way a piano teacher is independent of the piano maker.
Can we try before paying anything?
Yes. Every child starts with a free live demo class that doubles as the placement, they will build and run something in that first hour, and nobody asks for a card. The promise is written on our guarantee page.
More for young coders from Modern Age Coders.
Watch one full hour of real teaching. Free.
Book the demo class. Your child gets a real lesson with a real mentor, builds and runs something of their own inside the hour, and nobody asks for a card. If your child does not leave the hour asking when the next class is, walk away with our thanks.