Scratch comes with a built-in library of resources that you can use in projects but they only go so far. Fortunately, it is possible to add your own backgrounds, sprites and sounds to your projects.
In this short guide we are going to be looking at how to search for and find resources such as images and sounds you or your child can use in your Scratch projects.
You can do this with Google but we are going to be using DuckDuckGo.
What is DuckDuckGo?
DuckDuckGo is a simple and private search engine that helps you find information on the internet, like Google or Bing. However, it has a special focus on privacy—it doesn’t track what you search for or collect your personal information. This means:
- No targeted ads based on what you search.
- Your searches stay private and aren’t stored.
You can learn more about DuckDuckGo here.
Using DuckDuckGo
To get started go to the following link: https://duckduckgo.com
You will see the following, which looks very similar to other search sites, like Google.
You search in exactly the same way, so try searching for scratch for example:
Finding Images
When looking for backgrounds and sprites to use in projects, it is important to find ones that work with Scratch and that you have permission to use. Let’s look at how to do that.
Firstly, let’s find a sprite for the Beat the Goalie project. Search for “goalie clipart” (without quotes), and you will see something similar to the following, click the Images tab:
At the top, underneath the tabs, there are some options that allow you to filter the results. For a sprite, you need it to have a transparent background. Set the options as follows:
- Safe search: strict
- Types: Transparent
- All Licences: Free to Share and Use.
When you do this, the results will update and look something like this:
Click on the image that you are wanting to use in your project and then click the View File button. This will open the image in a new tab where you can right mouse click on it and choose Save Image As…
For backgrounds you can follow similar steps to the above but leave the Type filter as “All types”. It is important to note that backgrounds need to be 960×720 pixels in size for them to work properly in Scratch. Use a graphics program to crop and resize them if necessary.
Finding Sounds
For sounds that you can freely use in your projects one great resource is Pixabay which has over 90,000 sounds that you can use. Access the site here: https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/
Adding your resources to Scratch
Now that you have your background, sound, or sprite, you need to add them to your project. To do this, and we are using uploading a sprite as an example, hover over the Choose a Sprite icon as you would normally to add an included sprite, but don’t click on it. Instead, when the pop-up menu appears, click on the top icons, as shown below:
Now you will be shown the file select panel and you can find the image that you downloaded and upload it to Scratch. From now on it will work the same as all the other sprites. Do the same for any sounds or backgrounds you want to add
Anything you upload won’t be available in other projects but you can always upload them again.
By searching for and downloading new resources you can add new life to your Scratch projects.