Computing · Year 2

Active learning ideas

Looks and Sound Blocks

Active learning works because pupils need to see and hear how Looks and Sound Blocks change their story in real time. When children pair actions with sounds and costumes, they connect cause-and-effect faster than with static explanations alone.

• National Curriculum Attainment Targets
• KS1: Computing - Programming
• KS1: Computing - Creating Digital Content

• 20–45 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Outdoor Investigation Session
• 30 min · Pairs

Pairs Challenge: Dialogue Scenes

Students pair up, choose a sprite, and build a short script: change costume, add two 'say' blocks for conversation, play a sound. Switch roles to test and tweak timings. Share one scene with the class.

Explain how 'say' blocks can help tell a story.

Facilitation Tip

During Pairs Challenge, circulate with a timer so partners test one speech bubble at a time to avoid overlapping bubbles.

What to look for

Observe students as they work. Ask: 'Show me how you made your character wave.' or 'What sound did you choose for your character's surprise, and why?'

• Remember
• Understand
• Analyze
• Social Awareness
• Self-Awareness
• Decision-Making

Activity 02

• Outdoor Investigation Session
• 45 min · Small Groups

Small Groups: Mood Animations

Groups storyboard a three-part story on paper, noting costume changes, speech, and sounds for happy or sad moods. Code in ScratchJr, then play and compare group results. Vote on most effective moods.

Construct a script that makes a character change costume and play a sound.

Facilitation Tip

In Small Groups, hand out emotion cards so each sound chosen has a visual reference to match.

What to look for

Provide students with a small card. Ask them to draw one way they changed a sprite's appearance and write one word describing a sound they added to their project.

• Remember
• Understand
• Analyze
• Social Awareness
• Self-Awareness
• Decision-Making

Activity 03

• Outdoor Investigation Session
• 25 min · Whole Class

Whole Class: Remix Gallery

Project student projects. Class plays each, discusses sound and look matches. Students remix one peer animation by altering a sound or speech bubble, then demo changes.

Assess how different sounds can enhance an animation's mood.

Facilitation Tip

For the Remix Gallery, project one finished piece and ask the class to point out the first block that triggered the mood.

What to look for

After students share their projects, ask: 'How did the sounds make the animation feel different? If a character said 'Wow!' with a happy sound, how would that change the story compared to a surprised sound?'

• Remember
• Understand
• Analyze
• Social Awareness
• Self-Awareness
• Decision-Making

Activity 04

• Outdoor Investigation Session
• 20 min · Individual

Individual: Personal Story Soundtrack

Each pupil creates a solo animation of their day: costume for actions, 'say' for thoughts, sounds for feelings. Save and self-assess mood fit before optional sharing.

Explain how 'say' blocks can help tell a story.

What to look for

Observe students as they work. Ask: 'Show me how you made your character wave.' or 'What sound did you choose for your character's surprise, and why?'

• Remember
• Understand
• Analyze
• Social Awareness
• Self-Awareness
• Decision-Making

A few notes on teaching this unit

Focus first on sequencing: students should see that a ‘say’ block must wait for the costume change to finish before it appears. Use think-aloud modeling to show how to space blocks and when to add a short pause block. Avoid giving students pre-written scripts; instead, have them plan on paper with simple stick figures and speech lines so they internalize the flow before coding.

Successful learning looks like students combining costume changes, speech bubbles, and audio to tell a clear mini-story. They should explain which block they used and why it matched the mood or action.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Pairs Challenge, students believe say blocks appear instantly without any wait time.

  Hand each pair a sticky note timer and ask them to predict how long the first sprite’s wave costume should run before the speech bubble appears. Have them test and adjust until the speech bubble matches the wave.

• During Small Groups mood animations, students think costume changes happen automatically regardless of block order.

  Give each group a strip of paper with the blocks printed in jumbled order. Ask them to rearrange the strips physically on the table before coding so they see that the ‘change costume’ block must come first.

• During Remix Gallery, students assume multiple sound blocks will layer cleanly without pauses.

  After each group shares, replay their animation twice: once with their original timing and once with 1-second pauses between sound blocks. Ask the class to vote which version sounds clearer and explain why timing matters.

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Methods used in this brief

• Outdoor Investigation Session