Maker Studio

Four ways to code, one stage

• Blocks. Coloured pieces that snap together, with no typing. One tap shows the real code the blocks write, so you can carry on in text when you are ready.
• Python. The language widely used in science and schools, running right in the browser.
• JavaScript. The language of the web.
• Web pages. Real HTML and CSS, with a button that does something.

The same small set of game words works in blocks, Python and JavaScript: make a sprite, move it, check what it touches, keep a score. What you learn in one carries over to the others.

What you can make

• Games to remix. Ten ready games, among them a maze, a platform jumper, a brick breaker and snake, each small enough to read and change.
• Their own pictures and tunes. A painter for characters and a grid for making music, both used in their games by name.
• 3D worlds. Place boxes, coins and trees, give each part a behaviour such as spin, slide or collect, add rules like "when the score reaches five, the player wins", then run around inside it.
• Block worlds. A small land of cubes to build on and dig into, with building ideas that are checked when finished.
• Obstacle courses. An obby builder with platforms, checkpoints and moving parts, scripted in Lua, the language used in Roblox.
• A machine that learns. Give a small sorter your own examples, see how sure it is, find a sentence that fools it and fix it. It shows plainly what a model is and why it can be wrong.

Quests in place of videos

Quests teach coding in short steps. A child does a step, presses Check, and the computer says whether it is right. A hint is a nudge, never the answer. There are four paths: Blocks, JavaScript games, Python games and Web pages. Finishing a path earns a badge and a certificate.

When code does not run, Taz explains the mistake in plain words, says one thing to try, and points to the line.

Make with Taz

A child describes the game they want: who the hero is, what to catch, what to keep away from, and where. Taz builds a working game from its own stored games, and the child then owns the code and changes it. This does not use one of the child's questions.

Sharing, and how it is kept safe

• A locked stage. Every project runs in a locked box on the child's own device. It cannot reach the internet, the child's account or anything else on the computer.
• A link that holds the game. A shared game is its own link, which plays on a phone or a computer without an account. The game travels in the part of the address a browser does not send to a server.
• Read before it is shared. Before a link is made, Taz reads the project for names, phone numbers, email addresses, home and school details, links to other websites and unkind words, and stops the share if it finds any. Games posted to the Taz arcade are read again by the server.
• An arcade to play and remix. Children can play games other children shared in Taz Community and open a copy to change. Any game can be reported.

No check is perfect, so we recommend an adult stays involved. Read how safety works on Taz.

For parents

The parent dashboard shows what a child made in the Maker Studio this week and suggests one question to ask them about it. That summary is worked out on the child's device.

When a child is ready for more, a guide inside the studio shows how the same ideas appear in Scratch, Roblox Studio and Unity, with a note for a grown-up on each.

Open Taz

Labs to start with

• Bridge design: See how a frame carries a load before sketching a structure.
• Gears: Explore how connected gears change motion.
• Pulleys: Compare pulley arrangements before drawing a lifting machine.
• Graph theory: Trace connections and paths that can inspire a game map.
• Probability: Explore the chance ideas behind random game events.