The present study aimed to compare the effects of three instructional methods, analogy instruction with a Scratch-based game, analogy instruction with picture cards, and explicit instruction, on the learning of the basketball free-throw skill in male students aged 9 to 12 years. This quasi-experimental study was conducted with 48 right-handed children with no prior experience in basketball free-throw skill. Participants were randomly assigned to four groups of 12. Data collection instruments included the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory and a scoring system for evaluating basketball free-throw performance. Data were analyzed using mixed-design analysis of variance (ANOVA) and one-way ANOVA. Results indicated a significant main effect of group on free-throw scores (P = 0.001). Bonferroni post-hoc test results revealed that, at the post-test phase, the mean free-throw score of the Scratch group was significantly higher than that of the picture-card group and the explicit instruction group (P < 0.004); additionally, the mean score of the picture-card group was significantly higher than that of the explicit instruction group (P = 0.001). In the retention test, the Scratch group demonstrated superior performance compared to the picture-card and explicit instruction groups (P = 0.001). In the dual-task phase, the explicit instruction group exhibited a significant decline in performance (P = 0.001), whereas both deductive groups displayed more stable performance. Scratch-based game instruction, as an interactive and motivational platform, appears to reduce cognitive load and facilitate implicit learning, thereby exerting a greater positive influence on performance improvement and motor skill stability under pressure conditions.