# Moving Sprites with Motion and Coordinates

- Link: https://thecuriosi.com/lessons/scratch-motion-coordinates/
- Published: 2026-10-31T14:56:34+05:30
- Author: MAHENDRA MANCHIKALAPATI

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 3.  Lesson 3 of 10

Moving sprites around the stage is the heart of most games and animations. Scratch
gives you two ways to move: moving by **steps** and turns, and moving to an exact
spot using **coordinates**. In this lesson you will learn both.

## Steps and turns

 * `move (10) steps` moves a sprite forward in the direction it is facing.
 * `turn right (15) degrees` and `turn left (15) degrees` rotate it. In the editor
   these blocks show a clockwise arrow (↻) for right and an anticlockwise arrow (
   ↺) for left.
 * `point in direction (90)` makes a sprite face a direction.

### Directions in Scratch

  |  Direction |  Sprite faces |  
   |  90 |  right |  
 |  -90 |  left |  
 |  0 |  up |  
 |  180 |  down |

## The stage is a grid

The stage is like a big map with an invisible grid. Every spot on the stage has 
two numbers called **coordinates**.

 * **x** tells you how far **left or right**. It goes from **-240** on the far left
   to **240** on the far right.
 * **y** tells you how far **up or down**. It goes from **-180** at the bottom to**
   180** at the top.
 * The very centre of the stage is **x: 0, y: 0**.

When you move a sprite with your mouse, look under the stage: its x and y numbers
change.

### Coordinate blocks

  |  Block |  What it does |  
   |  `go to x: (0) y: (0)` |  jumps straight to a spot |  
 |  `glide (1) secs to x: (100) y: (50)` |  slides smoothly to a spot |  
 |  `change x by (10)` |  moves right (use a negative number to move left) |  
 |  `change y by (10)` |  moves up (use a negative number to move down) |  
 |  `go to (random position)` |  jumps to a surprise spot |

## Making a sprite glide around

This script makes a sprite start in the centre and glide to three corners:

    ```
    when green flag clicked
    go to x: (0) y: (0)
    glide (1) secs to x: (-200) y: (140)
    glide (1) secs to x: (200) y: (140)
    glide (1) secs to x: (200) y: (-140)
    ```

### Starting positions

Always set a sprite’s starting spot with `go to x: () y: ()` at the top of your 
script. Then the project starts the same way every time you click the green flag.

### Example

Priya made a rocket launch. Her rocket started at **x: 0, y: -150** near the bottom.
Then she used `glide (2) secs to x: (0) y: (170)` to fly it up to the top. When 
she clicked the green flag, the rocket blasted off!

## Bouncing off the edge

If a sprite keeps moving, it may disappear off the side. Add `if on edge, bounce`
after your move block, and the sprite will turn around when it touches the edge.
You will use this with loops in Lesson 5.

## Key takeaways

 * Use steps and turns to move in the direction a sprite faces.
 * The stage uses x for left and right and y for up and down.
 * The centre of the stage is x: 0, y: 0.
 * Set a starting position at the top of every script.

## Practice

Make a bird sprite start at the left side of the stage, at **x: -200, y: 0**, then
glide to the right side in 3 seconds, then say “I made it!”.

Answer: `when green flag clicked`, `go to x: (-200) y: (0)`, `glide (3) secs to 
x: (200) y: (0)`, `say (I made it!) for (2) seconds`.

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