Squeak Etoys (1997)

Squeak Etoys is an open-source project created by Alan Kay using Smalltalk language and claims to be a more modern approach to textual programming for children. It combines object-oriented programming with a tile-based scripting structure. It is designed in an object-oriented paradigm since the developers believe that it is an easy accessible way for children to program objects visually with its behavior. Program statements are represented as tiles and scripts are created or edited by drag-and-drop tiles into a script. Squeak Etoys was inspired by Logo and enhanced it with modern media capabilities.

Squeak Etoys is a "drag-and-drop tile" scripting language written on top of Smalltalk. Novices can create animated storybooks, active-art, simple computations and simulations, computer games, and, well,... anything they imagine... as they grow with this quick-on-ramp programming platform.

On the Squeakland list there is an ongoing thread about Etoys documentation and how to use it for teaching. Squeak Etoys seems ideal for these kids, except that I’m frustrated by the lack of documentation. However, you can find more complete documentation in Japanese and Spanish. A lot of these documents are step by step tutorials to produce specific Etoys project. Also most of the time the related Etoys .pr projects can be downloaded directly to your plug-in.

Etoys is all about children being able to make fun working versions of interesting ideas from scratch, and learning much more about the ideas than when force-fed with them. Considerable thought on the part of the children’s mentors is often required to set up a curriculum that is a nice balance between the way children think and do, the ideas, and what is most natural to do in Etoys.