Clap to Make Your Pet Jump: A Scratch Game You Train Yourself
Train a sound model to hear a clap, and make a pet in Scratch that jumps when a key is pressed. The source names both tools. It does not show how to wire them together.
At a glance
The picture in the article is simple: a pet jumps when you clap. The article does not say which buttons to press. So this guide splits the job in two, and says so. One part teaches a computer the sound of a clap. The other part is a Scratch pet that jumps when you press a key. Connecting the microphone to Scratch is a gap in the source, not a step we will invent.
Tools (and their age limits)
| Tool | What it’s for here | Account age / who logs in | Free? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teachable Machine | A sound model with two classes: clap, and quiet | The homepage does not state a minimum age. You run the browser. It says you can use it entirely on-device, so webcam or microphone data need not leave the computer. A login page exists. We could not confirm whether saving needs an account. | No price on the homepage we read. |
| Scratch | The pet. It jumps when a key is pressed. | Designed mainly for ages 8–16, younger children with a parent. Under 16, sharing and commenting need a parent’s email. Making and saving can work unverified. The offline editor skips the community. | No fee listed on the parents page we read. |
Who does what
Kid does
- Picks the pet and draws it on paper first
- Claps for the recordings, and stays quiet for the other class
- Tests a new clap after training
- Presses the key that makes the Scratch pet jump
Parent does
- Opens Teachable Machine and Scratch
- Stops a recording if anyone says a name, a school, or a place
- Reads the Scratch steps aloud
- Does not promise the clap will reach Scratch. The source never shows that wire.
Materials
- A computer with a microphone and a browser. The Teachable Machine site we hit from this environment asked for desktop Chrome or Safari.
- Paper, for the pet sketch
- Scratch, online or offline
Steps
- Kid Draw the pet and name it with a made-up name.
- Parent Open a sound project in Teachable Machine. The homepage’s own sound example is called Snap, Clap, Whistle. You only need clap and quiet for this project.
- Together Record short claps into one class and the quiet room into the other. The homepage says: gather examples into classes, train, then test on new examples. Use the on-device option if you see it, so the audio stays on the computer.
- Kid Test with a clap you did not record. Also test a door, a cough, or a laugh. If those count as claps, record more quiet-room sounds and train again.
- Together In Scratch, make one sprite jump when a key is pressed. Follow the on-screen blocks. Our prompt asks a chatbot for those ordinary steps and tells it not to pretend the microphone is attached.
- Kid Play both. Clap at the Teachable Machine test panel. Press the key in Scratch. Say out loud that those are two tools, not one magic pet, until you have found a current way to connect them.
- Parent Optional export. The homepage says you can download a model or host it online. Do not upload it anywhere that asks for a child’s name.
Copy-paste prompts
Clap or quiet
Plan the two sound classes
I'm a parent using Teachable Machine's sound project with my child, who is [AGE]. We want two classes: a clap, and the quiet room. Please give us a short plan: how many short recordings to make for each class, what to keep out of the recording (no names, no talking about school or home), and how we should test it with a new clap the model was not trained on. Do not invent menu names. If a step depends on the current website, say "use the button the page shows for recording."Pet that jumps
Scratch pet, keyboard first
Help us make a one-sprite pet in Scratch that jumps when a key is pressed. My child is [AGE] and will choose the animal: [ANIMAL]. Give short steps a parent can read aloud. Use the ordinary Scratch blocks for a key press and a small jump. Do not claim the microphone is connected. We will test the clap inside Teachable Machine, and use the key in Scratch, unless you know a current official way to connect them. If you don't, say so.
What you’ll end up with
A sound model that can tell a clap from a quiet room, and a Scratch pet that jumps from a key. The clap-controlled pet in the article is the idea. It is not a result we are claiming to have built.
Safety box
- Age guidance: 6–12 stay with a parent. This page sits in the 10–12 band. Safety & Ages hub
- No personal info spoken into the microphone. A recording of someone saying a name is personal info.
- On-device if you can. The homepage offers a way to avoid sending microphone data off the computer. Use it if the button is there.
- Do not share the Scratch project publicly unless you have checked it. Under 16 needs a parent to verify sharing.
- Hearing. Clap, don’t shout next to someone’s ear. Nothing in the source says otherwise. This line is ordinary parent sense.
- Price and account: not confirmed. Stop if a paywall appears.
Age adaptations
| Age | How it works | Tips |
|---|---|---|
| 10–12 | Side by side. The source’s range starts at 9. A 9-year-old can use this same page with you. | Let them catch a bad test, like a cough that counts as a clap. |
Variations & next projects
- Pose instead of sound, if the microphone feels too leaky. Teachable Machine also trains poses. Still no face photos saved on purpose.
- Hand shapes are the rock-paper-scissors project, with a different tool.
- If you later find an official Scratch link for a Teachable Machine model, use that page’s steps. Do not trust a block name this guide did not verify.
Source & inspiration
JetLearn's ages 9–12 project says kids can make a simple Scratch game, train Teachable Machine on gestures, sounds, or images, and imagines clapping to make a pet jump. That is one sentence, not a tutorial. The steps for Teachable Machine's gather, train, and export flow, including sound and an on-device option, come from the Teachable Machine homepage we opened. This page does not invent a Scratch extension. You test the clap in Teachable Machine, and the pet jumps from a keyboard key.
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