Learning goals

• Explain what Python Turtle is.
• Describe how the turtle moves and draws lines.
• Name the turtle’s starting position and direction.

The Turtle robot is a simple machine that was originally created to help teach programming and math by moving around and drawing lines, much like a turtle crawling with a pen. In Python, this idea comes to life with the Turtle module, which lets you control a virtual turtle on your screen. By writing code to move the turtle and draw shapes, Python Turtle exercises make learning to program fun and easy to understand.

Beginning Python programmers can use these exercises to learn basic concepts in Python using the visual tools in the turtle module. All the code runs in your browser, so you don’t have to install anything.

If you have not used the turtle before, imagine it as a small turtle in the middle of a sheet of paper, with a pen attached to its belly. You can ask it to walk forward and backward or to turn left and right. When it walks, it drags the pen across the paper and draws a line. It always starts in the middle of the page, facing right (east).