Hello, coders! Are you ready to dive into the world of ScratchJr project creation? If you’re looking for a brilliant way to practise your coding skills and get into the festive spirit, then we’ve got just the tutorial for you! This video is part of a series of Christmas coding projects that will be released for the first 12 days of December 2025.

The video below walks you through how to create a simple yet highly addictive Santa jump game using ScratchJr. This is a fantastic ScratchJr project for beginners and kids who want to learn about animation, movement, and setting up game controls.

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Step 1: Setting Up Your Game’s Characters and Scene

Every great game needs a great setting! The first thing you’ll need to do is prepare your characters and background.

• Create Santa: The tutorial starts by using the default cat sprite and transforming it into Santa using the paint editor—adding a hat and beard ([00:00:20]). You’ll also want to make sure your Santa is sized appropriately for the game ([00:01:34]).
• Design the Obstacle: The game’s challenge comes from a rolling Christmas pudding! You’ll need to create this sprite from scratch, giving it a brown base, white icing, and a sprig of red and green holly ([00:01:59]).
• Choose a Background: Select a ‘Winter’ scene from the background options to complete your festive look ([00:01:41]).

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Step 2: Coding the Rolling Christmas Pudding

The Christmas pudding serves as the obstacle Santa must jump over. It needs to move and look like it’s rolling across the screen.

The code for the Christmas pudding is simple but effective:

1. Green Flag Start: The code starts when the green flag is tapped.
2. Continuous Movement: A forever block is used to keep the action going.
3. Roll and Rotate: Inside the loop, you use the move left block and the rotate block ([00:03:30]). This gives the perfect visual effect of the pudding continuously rolling across the ground.
4. Game Over Condition: Crucially, you must code what happens if Santa fails to jump! The bump block is used to detect contact with Santa. If touched, the code stops the game and displays a “Game Over” message ([00:03:55]).

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Step 3: Coding Santa’s Jump and Controls

The player needs a way to control Santa. For this ScratchJr project, you’ll create a set of on-screen control buttons, similar to a joystick, to move Santa left, right, and, of course, jump!

1. Create the Buttons: Draw three buttons: one for jump (blue), one for left (yellow), and one for right (purple) ([00:04:52]).
2. Send Messages: On each button, use the message block to broadcast a unique colour-coded signal when tapped (e.g., the blue button sends a blue message) ([00:05:32]).
3. Receive and Jump: Now, move back to the Santa character. Use the receive message block (blue) to trigger the jump sequence. Santa needs to move up and then slightly forward before coming back down ([00:06:15]). This makes the jump look natural and gives him enough air to clear the pudding!
4. Receive and Move: Use the yellow and purple receive message blocks to code Santa to move left and right, respectively, making the player able to control his position ([00:06:53]).

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Get Started on Your Christmas Coding Journey!

This ScratchJr project is a brilliant introduction to game development concepts like collision detection and user input. It shows just how much you can achieve with the simple blocks in ScratchJr.

If you enjoyed creating this Santa jump game, why not explore more exciting coding activities? You can find a whole range of festive challenges and expand your skills with more Christmas coding projects. Happy coding! Please click here to see the next project.

Alternatively, if you are looking for Coding Tutor in Hertfordshire to support your children with this, I can also help.