Scratch is such an awesome tool, it really is hard to find a good next step after it. Python is a common one, but presents some awkwardness if you want to do graphical games. It's also highly desirable that kids can get their friends to play their completed games on their smartdevices, and Python can't do that in any meangful way. Javascript is a good next step because it's ubiquitous, and has a syntax that leads in all sorts of other directions. The problem is finding a tutorial pitched at the right level. http://s2js.com is a Javascript tutorial aimed at kids who are very comfortable with Scratch. Instead of teaching all of HTML and javascript, it aims to teach as much as you need to produce the sort of games you were doing in Scratch, but more scalable and able to the run on your smartphone. S2JS is tutorial, development environment and deployment platform in one. It explains Javascript in terms of Scratch, showing equivalent examples in each. Free.

How do you handle the installation prequisitites for pygame? We found that when someone develops a game they're proud of, they send their ".py" file to their friend who: - doesn't have python installed, or - has 2.7 instead of 3.whatever, and - doesn't have pygame installed, then - tries to install pygame and starts getting dependancy errors, and finally - wants to run it on their iPhone I'm really curious as to your approach

It's a common conundrum for those kids who really excel at Scratch. In my view Python isn't an ideal next step, because its hard to do cool graphical games in such as way they can be shared with friends. Showing off your work to friends and family is an important validation. Javascript is a good next step, but most of the online tutorials are too vocationally oriented. It's too big a jump. http://www.s2js.com is a site specifically designed to take kids who are a whizz at Scratch, and move them onto Javascript so they can create cool games that will run directly on any device. It's "Javascript as told to Scratchers" -- Javascript concepts and examples presented in terms of the Scratch stuff they already know.