Turtle Art is a free program to download which brings programming and art together. By snapping blocks together, users explore coding, art, geometry, and math.  It helps students to detect patterns, understand the repetition of instructions, and understand following instructions only when a certain condition is met, which is important for STEM.

It has been around for a long time. I explored it many years ago but never really understood it, therefore didn’t use it in my teaching. I have rediscovered it, explored it and I like it (probably because I now understand it). Another great thing is that the program is still free!

You can download the program for free by visiting the Turtle Website and simply send them an email. I suggest you then start by watching a video introduction such as this ONE, then have a good play. Explore the software and make sure you know how it works. I think it is amazing how you save a Turtle Art project as a .png then simply drag it into Turtle Art and it copies the image and code. Check out my video tutorial below:

I’ve also planned a learning program based on some of my own ideas, and ideas of others who have openly shared their ideas. Below is a video showing how I created a learning program using Turtle Art for my Year 7 Digital Technology students.