I'd argue that it's not a syntax error simply because the whole point of Scratch is to make programming accessible an audience (small children) for whom the kin

I'd argue that it's not a syntax error simply because the whole point of Scratch is to make programming accessible an audience (small children) for whom the kinesthetic and iconic mentalities are dominant. Syntax belongs to the symbolic mentality, which they haven't developed yet. Even in the case of other visual programming languages that are targeted towards adult professionals, the point of such tools is to suppress the symbolic mentality because the iconic and kinesthetic might be better for getting the job done.