What should your child try after Scratch?

There is no standard step after Scratch. It depends on what your child wants to make next.

For most kids, the step we recommend is CodeDreams, our own AI app builder made for children. It keeps what kids love about Scratch, which is making real things quickly, and adds the skill that is quickly becoming how software gets built: creating with AI. It is not right for every goal, though, so this guide covers six options and says when each one fits.

A quick way to choose

CodeDreams: our pick for most kids

CodeDreams is our own product, built for exactly this moment: a child who has outgrown blocks but is not ready to set up a professional developer tool. They type an idea in a sentence, watch a working first version appear, and then shape it through conversation. Play it, spot what is wrong, ask for a change, try again. That loop is how more and more real software gets made, and learning to direct an AI well is a skill kids will carry for the rest of their lives.

Under the hood, every project is real code in a stack professional developers use. A child picks JavaScript or Python when they start, and every file stays open for them to read and edit. A built-in Learn tab teaches a full computer studies curriculum, from variables and loops through debugging, data structures, and design, using the child's own app as the example, in whichever language the project is written in. And when something is ready to share, publishing gives it a live link at its own web address that friends and family can open in any browser.

There is nothing to install, it runs on Chromebooks and shared family laptops, drafts are free, and children under 13 use a parent-owned account. The same workspace builds a quiz, a platformer, a portfolio, or something nobody has thought of yet, which is the real shift: kids stop asking whether they can build something and start deciding what to build next. See the AI game maker for kids and website builder for kids pages for examples. It makes web projects, including browser 3D games, but not native phone apps or Roblox games, and publishing requires a paid plan.

MakeCode Arcade

MakeCode Arcade is a comfortable next step for kids who still like blocks. It is made for small, retro-style games. A project can be viewed as blocks, JavaScript, or Python, so children can try text code without starting over.

It is a good fit for platformers, mazes, and arcade games. It is not a general app or website builder, so a child whose ideas go beyond retro games will outgrow it quickly.

Roblox Studio

If your child keeps talking about making a Roblox game, use the tool made for that job. Roblox Studio includes a 3D editor, play testing, publishing, and a code editor. Its scripting language is called Luau.

Studio takes more patience than Scratch, needs a Windows or Mac computer, and connects to a public platform. A parent should help with the account, collaboration settings, and publishing. Our guide to Roblox Studio for kids explains what to check before installing it.

Godot

Godot is a free, open-source game engine. It can make complete 2D and 3D games that run outside another platform.

Godot is better for an older or very patient child. They will need to learn scenes, nodes, files, and scripts before much happens on screen. The first project should be tiny. One room and one goal is enough.

MIT App Inventor

MIT App Inventor is made for apps rather than games. A child can lay out buttons, images, and text, then use blocks to decide what each part does.

It works well when the goal is specifically a phone app built with blocks. The setup is more technical than Scratch, especially when connecting a device. If a web app would do the job, CodeDreams gets to a working version with far less setup.

Python

Python makes sense when your child enjoys variables, conditions, and solving problems, or when their school teaches it. Start with something that has a visible point, such as a text adventure, drawing program, or score calculator.

Python on its own may feel flat to a child who mainly loved Scratch for the art, sound, and animation. That does not mean they are not ready to learn. It means they want something to look at. CodeDreams can build in Python: choose it when starting a project and the app is a real Flask web app, with the same Learn lessons taught in Python, so a child gets a working thing on screen and real Python behind it. A plain editor and the official tutorial are still the right choice for a child who specifically wants to type every line without AI.

Keep the first try small

Ask your child what they want another person to play or use. Write it in one sentence. Then choose the tool that can make the smallest version with the least setup. For most ideas on that list, that tool is CodeDreams, and a draft project is free.

This is not a graduation from Scratch. It is just a new project. If the tool feels wrong, try another one.