TurtleLab samples

Pick a sample to open it in TurtleLab. It runs by itself, so you can watch the turtle draw it. Then change the blocks and see what happens. The sticky note on the page explains what the program does and why.

Nothing you change in a sample is saved unless you press Save, and the blocks you saved before are never touched. The eye button hides the blocks so you can see the whole picture. The samples are in order, easiest first.

A square
Open in TurtleLab
Four sides and four turns, written once and repeated.

repeat
A dotted circle
Open in TurtleLab
Lift the pen between dashes to draw a ring of dots.

repeat pen up and down
Hexagon flower
Open in TurtleLab
A repeat inside a repeat: the inside draws a hexagon, the outside spins it.

repeat inside repeat
Flower
Open in TurtleLab
Curved petals on a dark blue sky.

arc fill screen
A filled star
Open in TurtleLab
Five lines and a lot of turning, filled with yellow.

start fill pen up and down
Any polygon
Open in TurtleLab
One box holds the number of sides. Change it to change the shape.

boxes divide
Square spiral
Open in TurtleLab
Each side is a little longer than the last.

boxes add
Nested squares
Open in TurtleLab
Print shows the size of every square as it is drawn.

print boxes repeat inside repeat
Spinning squares
Open in TurtleLab
Squares turned a little each time, with colors made from a box.

boxes color
Color burst
Open in TurtleLab
Fifty rays, each in a color picked by chance.

random color
Countdown
Open in TurtleLab
Counts 3, 2, 1 and then draws a circle.

wait print boxes
Red and blue
Open in TurtleLab
If else picks red or blue, depending on whether a number is even.

if else remainder (%) boxes
Wandering turtle
Open in TurtleLab
A coin flip decides left or right, again and again.

if else random
A block of your own
Open in TurtleLab
Teach the turtle a new trick once, then use it again and again.

my own block input
Initials with straight lines
Open in TurtleLab
The letters A, B and C built piece by piece, from straight lines.

forward and turn pen up and down my own block
Initials with curves
Open in TurtleLab
The same A, with a B and a C that use the arc block.

arc pen up and down my own block
A block that calls itself
Open in TurtleLab
Each call draws a side, then calls the block again a little bigger, until it is time to stop.

my own block input calls itself
A tree
Open in TurtleLab
A block that calls itself twice draws branches that split into smaller branches.

my own block input calls itself speed
Words in seven fonts
Open in TurtleLab
The set font block picks the font for every write block after it.

write set font my own block input
Words every which way
Open in TurtleLab
Turn the turtle and the words turn with it. Set curve bends them into an arch or a bowl.

write set curve turning
Keyboard painter
Open in TurtleLab
Draw with the keyboard. The up and down arrows walk the turtle, left and right turn it, and r, g and b change its color.

when key pressed forward left right set color
The bouncing turtle
Open in TurtleLab
A timer moves the turtle by itself. When it gets near an edge it backs up and turns, so it bounces around the paper and draws a pattern.

every or if forward right speed
Click flowers
Open in TurtleLab
Click the paper and a flower of turning squares opens where you clicked, in a color and a size chosen by chance.

when paper clicked mouseX and mouseY my own block random repeat
Catch the square
Open in TurtleLab
A game. A red square sits at a random place. Click inside it to score a point, and it jumps somewhere else.

when paper clicked and if boxes random my own block start fill
The fat snake
Open in TurtleLab
A game. The snake moves by itself, and you steer it with the arrow keys. Eat the red squares and it gets fatter. Go off the edge and it starts again.

when key pressed every and or if boxes random my own block start fill speed
A heart to stitch
Open in TurtleLab
One unbroken line, which is what an embroidery machine likes best.

arc for an embroidery machine
A star in a ring
Open in TurtleLab
Two colors means two threads, so the machine stops once for a thread change.

repeat arc for an embroidery machine
A flower to stitch
Open in TurtleLab
Eight petals made of two curves each, and a yellow middle for a second thread.

repeat inside repeat arc for an embroidery machine
A cougar paw to stitch
Open in TurtleLab
Four toes and a pad. One toe block is used four times.

blocks you make arc for an embroidery machine
The SLV cougar to stitch
Open in TurtleLab
The paw with SLV above it, in one red thread.

blocks you make for an embroidery machine
Cougars in script to stitch
Open in TurtleLab
The write block draws script letters with the pen, so a word becomes a line a machine can stitch.

write for an embroidery machine
A badge with curved words to stitch
Open in TurtleLab
Two rings, with words curved round the top and the bottom of the badge.

write set curve my own block input for an embroidery machine