Python 101 camp plan

Use this page when running Python 101 as a 5-day camp.

At a glance

Day	Blocks	Goal
1	Setup, Stage 1, Stage 2	Students open Trinket and draw the game screen and character.
2	Stage 3, Stage 4, Stage 5	Movement, task collection, score, and progress work.
3	Stage 6, Stage 7, Stage 8	The chaser appears, moves, and creates win/lose states.
4	Stage 9, Stage 10, catch-up	Students tune difficulty and prepare a playable demo.
5	Bug fixes, rehearsal, parent demo	Students explain variables, functions, loops, and conditions.

Minimum viable finish

A student should leave with a playable Turtle game where the player moves, collects tasks, and reaches a clear ending.

Coach triage

• If a student is behind, preserve movement and one collectible before adding the chaser.
• If code order is broken, compare against the latest completed stage instead of rewriting from memory.
• If a student is ahead, have them tune named constants and explain why the game feels easier or harder.

Common stuck points

• global is needed when a function changes shared score or task variables.
• Turtle coordinates can be confusing; sketch the x/y grid on paper.
• Students may accidentally place new code after turtle.done().