Are you ready to add a personal touch to your child’s coding creations? While ScratchJr comes with some brilliant pre-set sounds, nothing beats the excitement of hearing your own voice or unique sound effects in a project. Today, we’re going to learn how to record sound and play it back using the Play Recorded Sound block.

Our project for this guide is simple yet fun: we’re going to help Kitten sing a song on stage! This skill is perfect for personalising stories, adding dialogue, or creating custom sound effects for games.

Setting the Stage: Preparation and Personalisation

Before we build the code, we must first capture the audio. Our setting needs to be perfect for a performance!

1. Change the Background: To set the scene, go to the background selector and choose the theatre background. Now Kitten is ready for their stage debut! [00:18]
2. Access the Recorder: Go to the green Looks and Sound category. You will see a microphone icon inside a dotted block. Click on this block to open the recording screen. [00:38]

Recording Your Unique Sound

The recording screen gives your young coder the power to be a sound designer!

1. Start Recording: When ready, press the large red record button. For our project, you could record a fun sound like “meow meow meow” or a silly song. [00:50]
2. Stop and Preview: Once finished, press the stop button. You can then use the play button to preview your recording and check that it sounds just right. [00:50]
3. Save the Sound: If you are happy with the audio, click the tick button to save it. You will see a new Play Recorded Sound block appear in the green category, usually with the number ‘1’ next to it (indicating your first recorded sound). [01:21]

Building the Performance Programme

Now that we have our custom sound saved, we can assemble the sequence of ScratchJr blocks to make Kitten perform!

1. Start the Show: Go to the yellow category and select the Green Flag trigger block. This makes the programme start when you press the flag. [01:32]
2. Play the Sound: Go back to the green category and drag your new Play Recorded Sound block onto the script.
3. End the Script: Complete the code by adding the red End block. [01:46]

Now, when you press the Green Flag, Kitten will step into the spotlight and play your very own recording! This is a simple but incredibly rewarding technique to master.

If you are looking for more fun and easy-to-follow coding tutorials, or if you need structured coding plans, be sure to check out our collection of lessons designed specifically for primary school age children. Happy recording, and happy coding!