Block coding lesson 8: Drawing squares and rectangles

For parents: how to use this lesson

You don't need to know anything about coding. The lesson explains each step on screen, the way Mr Babbage, our Head of Computing, likes it: watch Myrtle first, then have a go. Programs are made from blocks – no typing – and every answer is graded straight away.

1. Before the screen: Walk a square in the playground or garden: four steps, quarter turn, four times.
2. Press Start the lesson below and watch the worked examples together. Press Run and say what each block does before Myrtle does it.
3. Let your child do the practice on their own. When Myrtle goes the wrong way, that's a clue, not a failure – press Run again and watch which block it is on.
4. Finish with the talk question: “How do you know a shape is a square?”
5. Later that day or the next day: the homework (15 minutes), then a practice test.

Watch out for

• Using three turns and wondering why it does not matter. The last turn only matters if you go on drawing – but it puts Myrtle back where she started.
• Mixing up the long and short sides of a rectangle. Say them aloud: long, short, long, short.

Miss Lovelace's tip for home: ask your child to be Myrtle. Read out the blocks and let them walk it on the floor. If they can act it out, they understand it.