As a technologist and technology professor, I would assume many would expect me to fully embrace AI.
So, if I said, “AI has become one of my favorite tools,” it would not surprise you. It may even turn you off from reading this.
But if I said, “AI has become one of my favorite tools for getting kids off the couch,” does that surprise you?
I say it this way because it knocks down the “I don’t know what to do” wall that can make a weekend a real bummer. That phrase still haunts me after raising three kids and also being a kid at one time myself.
I can recall days when my mom would simply say “just get outside” and we would have to just go. I would then wander around the yard and then something would kick in and I would be digging with my trucks, grabbing a friend to work on a fort, or even when I was a little older, making a science fiction movie with my dad’s old Super 8MM camera. Stay tuned for that release after 45 years!!
Applying ten seconds of AI, and suddenly your kid has an idea. Ten more seconds, and they have a plan. Ten minutes later, they are headed out the door doing something outside. You are no longer the entertainment director. They now own the moment and will take it in many different directions.
Look, I know as a parent we love our kids and want to always be there for them but there are times when they should have their own space. And maybe a little boredom isn’t a bad thing.
The tips I put together here are ways that can give you a different perspective on using AI.
The key is knowing which prompts to put to use. Below are three that work and you will be able to create many more with your own twists. Every one of these prompts ends with your kid off the screen and doing something in the real world.
Here is the rule I keep coming back to: AI is the launchpad. Your kid is the rocket.
1. The Silly Song That Turns Into a Backyard Concert
The PROMPT (30 seconds)
Ask your kid to pick something in their world. Their dog, cat, or goldfish. Then pick something boring like broccoli (although I do love broccoli). A grumpy grandma superhero. They can be as random as they like.
Then help them type: “A funny country song about a grumpy grandpa who loves broccoli and watching their goldfish swim.”
Hit generate.
Play it out loud. Laugh a lot. Play it over and over.
Grab a big wooden spoon, a pot, a tambourine, whatever you have. Head to the backyard or the driveway. Have your kid sing along, make up new verses, or invent a dance to match the chorus. Of course, friends are allowed to join in. Make noise. Make music. Make memories.
The AI made the demo. Your kid becomes the band. Bonus points if they perform it for their grumpy grandpa.
2. The Impossible Creature That Becomes a Cardboard Build
TOOL: Bing Image Creator (or Adobe Firefly if you have it)
PROMPT (30 Seconds)
Ask your kid to describe something that has never existed such as a cat with dragon wings. A planet made of pizza or even a robot made of clouds. Add details like color, what it eats, where it lives, etc. Type it in. Look at the result together.
I taught a kid’s coding class for over 15 years where they put together a story, and I was always amazed at the funny and sometimes very lucid stories. They always took it in directions I did not expect.
Where motion enters the picture:
Take a screenshot of the AI image. Then hand your kid construction materials like cardboard, scissors, tape, markers, LEGO, whatever is around. Ask them to build a real version. Take it outside and set it up in the yard. Make up a story about how it got there.
The AI provided a design idea. Your kid became the maker.
If your kid loves building things they can see and touch, they will also love the 20 Minute Lego Chicken Challenge.
3. The Prompt That Ends "I'm Bored" Forever
PROMPT (30 seconds)
Sit next to your kid, open the AI app, and type this exact phrase:
“Give me 10 backyard adventures for a Saturday for a [age] year old. Make them fun, creative, low-cost, and doable list with stuff we probably have at home.“
Read the list together. Let your kid pick the one that sounds most fun.
Where motion enters the picture:
Go do it. Right away. (Do not overthink this Mom or Dad!) Go and gather all the items suggested by the AI, put on your shoes and make it happen. Start building the treasure hunt, backyard obstacle course, water balloon Olympics, or whatever the plan is. When you come back inside muddy and laughing, you all win. There is nothing better than being tired from play.
The AI handed you an activity. Your family lived it.
Fun sidebar: I actually built a whole app around this idea called Backyard Coding Adventures. Here is how it happened.
Why this actually works
If AI writes the song, that is a demo. If your kid sings it in the yard with new lyrics they made up, that is creativity.
If AI draws the design or character, that is a reference. If your kid builds it out of cardboard and gives it a name, that is imagination.
If AI lists the activity steps, that is a set of directions. If your family goes outside and brings one to life, that is childhood.
Here is my honest opinion: the biggest risk with kids and AI is not that they will use it too much. It is that they will use it passively. Watch instead of make. Consume instead of create. We should approach this much different and better than the way social media landed on them (and us).
There is a strong urge to keep them away from AI. I get that. The fix is to teach them that AI is a tool. It can give you a starting point and not the stopping point. The output is the beginning and not the end.
AI is the launchpad. Your kid is the rocket.
Screens have a place but so do backyards, fort building, games of chase, riding bikes, paintbrushes, muddy shoes, and cardboard creatures that get blown over. GetMeCoding was created to inspire kids to explore tech and to lower the barrier to do so. But it is also very much about the “go out and play” side. GetMeCoding is pro balance.
Balance like I had when I was a kid growing up in the 1970s and 1980s where I had a healthy dose of outdoor play along with some time tinkering with electronic kits or exploring one of the first home computers indoors.
The weekend is here, so go ahead and try one of these. Then reach out to me and let me know how it goes. If your kid comes up with something better than what the AI gave them, and they probably will, send it my way.
That is the whole point.
Keep building,
Mr. Fred
