Activity 1 - Meet Nuvo the Explorer

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Welcome, young explorer! 🐢✨ Today, you will meet Nuvo, a curious little turtle who loves adventures. Before Nuvo can start exploring the meadow and find Nuvi, we need to help him appear on the screen using Python’s turtle module.

Nuvo the turtle

Here’s what we’ll do in this activity:

  1. Import the turtle library and our helper module.
  2. Create Nuvo the turtle.
  3. Make him appear on the screen at a starting position.
  4. Keep the window open to see him.

Before Nuvo can explore the meadow and the maze, he needs some helpful tools. 🐢✨
In Python, we can create helper functions — little instructions that make coding easier and faster.

Today, we will learn two magic helper tools from turtlehelper.py:

  1. create_turtle_object() — makes a new turtle quickly.
  2. set_cursor() — moves a turtle to any position on the screen.

🌟 Step 1: The set_cursor() function

This function moves a turtle to any position on the screen.

def set_cursor(t, x, y, isPenDown=True):
    t.penup()            # Lift the pen so it does not draw
    t.goto(x, y)         # Move turtle to (x, y)
    if isPenDown:        # If True, put the pen down to draw
        t.pendown()
    return

🔍 Explanation

  1. t.penup() – lifts the turtle’s pen so it won’t draw a line while moving.
  2. t.goto(x, y) – moves the turtle to the coordinates (x, y) on the screen. The x and y in the t.goto() method are the x and y coordinates of the turtle. We want to change the x and y coordinates of the turtle from (0, 0) which is center of the image, to somewhere a little further away so that the Nuvo can navigate within the maze and Nuvi can hide inside the maze.
  3. if isPenDown: – checks if we want the turtle to start drawing again.
  4. t.pendown() – puts the pen down so it can draw.
  5. return – ends the function (optional, but good practice).

🌟 Step 2: The create_turtle_object() function

This function creates a new turtle with custom settings like color, size, shape, and speed.

def create_turtle_object(color_name=None, size=None, turtle_shape=None, speed=None):
    t = turtle.Turtle()       # Create a new turtle
    if color_name:
        t.color(color_name)   # Set the pen color
    if size:
        t.pensize(size)       # Set the pen thickness
    if turtle_shape:
        t.shape(turtle_shape) # Set the turtle’s shape (arrow, turtle, circle, etc.)
    if speed:
        return t
    t.speed(speed)            # Set how fast the turtle moves
    return t

🔍 Explanation

  1. t = turtle.Turtle() – creates a new turtle object.
  2. if color_name: – sets the pen color if provided.
  3. if size: – sets how thick the lines will be.
  4. if turtle_shape: – chooses the turtle’s appearance.
  5. if speed: – sets the turtle’s speed.
  6. return t – gives back the turtle so we can use it in our code.

🌟 Step 3: Let’s create a text turtle for Nuvo to show messages

# Create Nuvo's text object (for messages later)
text = th.create_turtle_object("black", 4, "arrow")
text.hideturtle()  # Hide the turtle icon
th.set_cursor(text, 0, 160, False)
text.write("Welcome to the Tale of Nuvo and Nuvi", align="center", font=("Comic Sans MS", 14, "bold"))
th.set_cursor(text, 0, 140, False)
text.write("The Great Maze Adventure", align="center", font=("Comic Sans MS", 14, "bold"))

🔍 Explanation

  1. text.hideturtle() – hides the turtle so only the text is visible.
  2. text.write() – displays a message on the screen.
  3. set_cursor positions the text at the correct spot.
  4. align=“center” – positions the text in the center of the turtle’s location. Other options: “left” or “right”.
  5. font=(“Comic Sans MS”, 14, “bold”) – controls the text style: “Comic Sans MS” → font type, 14 → font size and “bold” → font weight (can also use “normal” or “italic”).

💡 Nuvo’s Tip: Helper functions are like giving your turtle a magic backpack — it carries all the instructions so your code stays neat and easy.

Try changing the text, font size, or alignment to see how it looks.

🌟 Step 4: Creating Nuvo & Nuvi

Let’s bring our heroes to life using the helper function we made earlier!

# Create our turtle friends
nuvo = th.create_turtle_object("green", 3, "turtle", 6)
nuvi = th.create_turtle_object("purple", 3, "turtle", 6)

🔍 Explanation

  1. “green” and “purple” – choose their colors.
  2. 3 – line thickness (pen size).
  3. “turtle” – gives them a cute turtle shape!
  4. 6 – sets how fast they move (higher numbers are faster).

🌟 Step 5: Make them wave hello 👋

Let’s make sure Nuvo and Nuvi start side by side, ready for adventure.

# Move Nuvo and Nuvi to their places
th.set_cursor(nuvo, -20, 0, False)
th.set_cursor(nuvi, 20, 0, False)

We can make Nuvo and Nuvi “wave” by turning left and right quickly!

for i in range(3):
    nuvo.left(30)
    nuvo.right(30)
    nuvi.right(30)
    nuvi.left(30)

Nuvo and Nuvi are happy to meet you! 💫

Awesome! 🎉 You now know how to:

  1. Create turtles using create_turtle_object()

  2. Move them around using set_cursor()

  3. Display text on the screen

In the next activity, we’ll create the maze Nuvi is hiding in and make Nuvo ready for his adventure! 🌿