Year 4 Using repetition in programming to create a game worksheet

“Repeat blocks and shapes” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 4 computing unit “Using repetition in programming to create a game”, for children aged 8 to 9, and takes about 20 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 31 to 36 of the year, 6 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Repeat blocks and shapes

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 4 · Computing · about 20 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can explain that the repeat number changes how many sides a shape has, not its size.

A Look back3 min

1.
Which arrow means move one square to the right?
→↓↑
2.
Finish is one square right and one square down from Start. One step is missing from this route. Which step is it?
Move downMove leftTurn left
3.
Which of these is a single command?
move forward 10 stepsthe whole programthe robot's battery

B Watch me, then you4 min

Ali wants his robot to draw a square. He uses one loop, and the loop runs the same two commands each time.

A small toy robot standing on a table next to a tablet

Watch me

The repeat block says 4, so the loop runs 4 times.

Each time, the robot moves 50 steps, then turns 90 degrees.

4 sides make a square. Changing 50 changes the size.

Now you

1.
Ali changes the repeat block to 3 and the turn to 120 degrees. He keeps move 50. What shape does the robot draw?
trianglesquarehexagon
2.
Which block should Ali change to make the square bigger?
repeat blockmove block

C Your turn6 min

Each loop draws a shape. Read the repeat number and the move number. How many sides does each shape have?

1.
A loop says: repeat 3 times, move 50 steps, turn 120 degrees. How many sides does the shape have?
2.
A loop says: repeat 3 times, move 100 steps, turn 120 degrees. How many sides does the shape have?
3.
A loop says: repeat 6 times, move 40 steps, turn 60 degrees. How many sides does the shape have?
4.
A loop says: repeat 6 times, move 80 steps, turn 60 degrees. How many sides does the shape have?

Say it out loud: What changed from the row before? Did the number of sides change, or only the length of each side?

D Spot the mistake3 min

Kit says: “To make my square bigger, I will change repeat 4 to repeat 8.”

1.
What should Kit change to make the square bigger?
the repeat numberthe move numberthe sprite's name

E Think deeper3 min

A small toy robot on a table beside a tablet

1.
Kit's loop is repeat 4 times, move 20 steps, turn 90 degrees. Kit wants each side of the square twice as long. What must change, and why? Write your answer.

How did it feel?

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Repeat blocks and shapes · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. →

2. Move down

3. move forward 10 steps

B

1. triangle

2. move block

C

1. 3 your child wrote 50, the move number. That sets how long each side is. The loop runs 3 times, so there are 3 sides.

2. 3 your child wrote 100, the move number. A longer move makes a bigger triangle, but it still has 3 sides.

3. 6 your child wrote 40, the move number. The repeat says 6, so the robot draws 6 sides.

4. 6 your child wrote 80, the move number. Doubling the move makes the shape bigger, but it still has 6 sides.

D

1. the move number your child picked the repeat number. Repeat 8 with turn 90 just draws the same square twice. Ask: which block says how far to move each time?

E

1. Look for: Move 40 steps, keeping repeat 4 and turn 90, with a reason that the sides must be longer but stay 4 in number.

Words to use

Say“Which number changes how many times the loop runs, and which number changes how far it moves?”

Instead of“Just tell them the answer, or say the loop is too hard for them.”

After the sheet

Walk a square on the floor together: 4 times, take 3 steps and make a quarter turn. Then take 6 steps each time. Ask: did the number of sides change?

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

5 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

Loops that stop and loops that go on(with a plan)
Plan Steps, Start Together(with a plan)
Changing the Shark's Timing(with a plan)
Designing with loops(with a plan)
Making the apple game(with a plan)

Every Year 4 computing worksheet

The worksheets plan opens a printable sheet for every lesson in Years 1 to 6, each with its answers on a separate page for you. It costs £6.99 a month or £59 a year for the whole family, with no free trial.

The full StudyDen plan adds the lessons themselves, marked as your child works, with the worksheets included. It is 7 days free, then £29.99 a month.

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