Mouse Move Events – Coding Concepts Explained for Kids

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In the lesson “Who Moved My Mouse,” kids learn about mouse move events and how they can be used to create interactive animations on the computer screen. By using the `onMouseMove` function, students can control objects like a monkey or a crocodile to follow the mouse cursor, utilizing x and y coordinates to track the cursor’s position. The lesson encourages hands-on experimentation, allowing kids to create fun scenarios by moving objects and interacting with them using keyboard inputs.

Mouse Move Events – Coding Concepts Explained for Kids

Welcome to “Who Moved My Mouse.” Today, we’re going to learn about something cool called mouse move events. These events happen when you move or click your mouse, and they can make things happen on your computer screen!

Understanding Mouse Move Events

Whenever you move your mouse, a special function called onMouseMove is automatically triggered. This function lets you decide what should happen when the mouse moves. For example, imagine you have a monkey on your screen. You can use the onMouseMove function to make the monkey turn and face wherever your mouse cursor goes!

Inside the onMouseMove function, there’s something called a parameter, which is like a special helper. In this case, the parameter is named pause. It keeps track of where your mouse cursor is on the screen. So, when you move the mouse, pause updates automatically with the new position.

Using X and Y Coordinates

Your mouse cursor’s position is described using two numbers: the x-coordinate and the y-coordinate. You can find these numbers using pause.x and pause.y. The x-coordinate tells you how far left or right your cursor is, and the y-coordinate tells you how far up or down it is.

Fun Challenges with Mouse Move Events

Let’s dive into a fun challenge! Imagine you have a monkey, a crocodile, and three bananas on your screen. There are two functions you can use: onMouseMove and onKey. The onMouseMove function is used when you move your mouse, and it has the pause parameter. The onKey function is used when you press a key on your keyboard, and it has the key parameter.

In this challenge, you want the crocodile to turn and face the monkey. You can do this by making the crocodile follow your mouse cursor using the pause parameter. When you run the code, the crocodile will follow your cursor, and you can press any key to make the monkey move!

Another Example with a Bat

Here’s another example with a monkey, a bat, and three bananas. The onMouseMove function is used again, and the bat’s x position is set to follow your mouse cursor using pause.x. The y position of the bat is initially set to 100, so it doesn’t move up or down.

But what if you want the bat to follow your cursor both left-right and up-down? You can change the y position to pause.y, so the bat tracks your cursor’s y position too. Now, when you run the code, the bat will move right under your cursor. You can bring it to a banana, press the ‘g’ key, and make the bat grab the banana!

Try It Yourself!

Now it’s your turn to experiment with mouse move events. Have fun moving things around with your mouse and see what you can create. Good luck!

  1. How did the article help you understand the concept of mouse move events, and what was the most surprising thing you learned?
  2. Can you think of a real-world application where mouse move events could be particularly useful? How would you implement it?
  3. Reflect on the example of the monkey and crocodile. How does using the onMouseMove function enhance interactivity in digital applications?
  4. What challenges might arise when using mouse move events in a complex application, and how could you address them?
  5. Consider the example with the bat. How does changing the y-coordinate to pause.y affect the bat’s movement, and what does this teach you about coordinate systems?
  6. How might understanding mouse move events influence the way you interact with technology in your daily life?
  7. What creative projects can you imagine designing using mouse move events, and what would be your first step in bringing one of those projects to life?
  8. Reflect on the learning process described in the article. How does experimenting with code help deepen your understanding of programming concepts?
  1. Interactive Coding Exercise

    Try creating a simple web page where a monkey image follows your mouse cursor. Use the onMouseMove function to update the monkey’s position based on the pause.x and pause.y coordinates. Experiment with different images and see how they react to your mouse movements!

  2. Coordinate Mapping Game

    Design a game where you have to move your mouse to specific x and y coordinates on the screen to “collect” virtual items. Use the pause parameter to track your cursor’s position and see if you can reach the target coordinates to win points.

  3. Art with Mouse Movements

    Create a digital art project where moving your mouse changes the color or shape of objects on the screen. Use the onMouseMove function to alter properties like color or size based on the mouse’s x and y coordinates. See what creative patterns you can make!

  4. Mouse Movement Storytelling

    Write a short story where different parts of the story are revealed as you move your mouse across the screen. Use the onMouseMove function to trigger text or images to appear at certain coordinates, guiding the reader through your story with their mouse.

  5. Mouse Maze Challenge

    Create a maze on your screen and use the onMouseMove function to navigate through it. The goal is to guide a character from the start to the finish without touching the walls. Use the pause parameter to track your position and see if you can complete the maze!

Here’s a sanitized version of the provided YouTube transcript:

[Music] Welcome to “Who Moved My Mouse.” Let’s learn about mouse move events. Mouse events occur when you move or click your mouse. For the next few challenges, we’re focusing on the events that occur when you move your mouse.

The function `onMouseMove` is automatically called when you move your mouse, and in this function, you can code what should happen as a result. Here’s an example: we have the `onMouseMove` function, which has the parameter `pause`. You can see we’re using `pause` within the function. We are telling the monkey to turn to the position of your mouse cursor. The parameter `pause` holds the position of your mouse cursor, so when you move the mouse, `pause` is changed and automatically updated.

You can access the x and y coordinates of your cursor separately by using `pause.x` and `pause.y`.

Let’s look at a challenge. Here’s a challenge with a monkey, a crocodile, and three bananas. The code has two functions: the `onMouseMove` function, which is called whenever you move your mouse and has the parameter `pause`, and the `onKey` function, which is called whenever you press a key on your keyboard and has the parameter `key`. In this case, we have the monkey step one when any key is pressed.

So, how are we going to use the `onMouseMove` function to complete this challenge? If we look at the challenge, we need the crocodile to turn towards the monkey and maybe towards other things later. We can use the position of your cursor to turn the crocodile.

Let’s try that: crocodile turn to the parameter `pause`. If we run this, we can see the crocodile following my cursor. I can line it up with the monkey, and now I’m pressing any key to get the monkey to move.

Here’s another example with a monkey, a bat, and three bananas. We have the function `onMouseMove` and the parameter `pause`. Within this, we have `bat.setX`, which means we’re setting the x position of the bat to the x position of your cursor, `pause.x`, and we’re setting the y position of the bat to 100.

Then our `onKey` function, which has the parameter `key`, is checking to see if the key ‘g’ is pressed, and if so, the bat grabs what’s underneath it.

Let’s run this as is. When we run this, we can see the bat moving in the x position following my mouse, but if I move my mouse in the y position, the bat’s not moving; it’s staying at 100 because that’s what we have in the code.

Let’s change that. We’ll change the 100 to `pause.y`, so the y position of the bat tracks the y position of your cursor. Now let’s run it, and now the bat is right underneath my cursor. I can bring it to the banana, press ‘g’, and bring it over to the monkey.

Nice! Now it’s your turn to use mouse move events. Good luck!

[Music]

This version removes any informal language and maintains a clear instructional tone.

MouseA small device that you move with your hand to control the pointer on a computer screen. – Example sentence: “I used the mouse to click on the icon and open the game.”

MoveTo change the position of something on the computer screen. – Example sentence: “I had to move the character to the right to avoid the obstacle in the game.”

EventsActions or occurrences that happen during a program, like clicking a button or pressing a key. – Example sentence: “The program waits for events like a mouse click to perform an action.”

FunctionA set of instructions in a program that performs a specific task. – Example sentence: “We wrote a function to calculate the total score in the game.”

ParameterA value that you can pass to a function to customize what it does. – Example sentence: “The function takes a parameter to decide how many points to add to the score.”

CursorThe blinking line or arrow on the screen that shows where you will type or click. – Example sentence: “I moved the cursor to the search bar to type in my question.”

PositionThe specific place where something is located on the screen. – Example sentence: “I checked the position of the character to make sure it was safe from enemies.”

CoordinatesNumbers that give the exact location of something on the screen, usually in the form of X and Y values. – Example sentence: “The game uses coordinates to place the treasure on the map.”

ChallengeA task or problem in a program that requires effort and skill to solve. – Example sentence: “The coding challenge was to create a program that could sort a list of names.”

KeyboardA set of keys that you use to type letters and numbers into a computer. – Example sentence: “I used the keyboard to type my username and password to log into the computer.”

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