Before you open the laptop: The one rule to follow when using AI with your kids
When I use AI with my kids, there is one main guiding principle. They have to come with the idea. Full stop.
It can’t be vague, it has to be well thought out. The idea needs to be specific enough that he could explain it, detailed enough that he could draw it on paper if he had to (and sometime that is also a requirement).
This Spring Break, Jackson (my 8 year old) spent most of his free time building a Super Mario World. The new movie just came out, so it’s top of mind for him. The whole thing is made from cardboard, scraps, packaging boxes, toys, blankets, anything he could find. There was no picture to follow. He just kept building until it looked like what was in his head.
It's massive. And I don’t think he’s ever going to want to clean it up.
Now he wants to turn it into a video game. So we're going to try. But before we opened a single app, he needed to come up with all of the requirements himself, including the objective, how many stages there are, what the characters are trying to do, the obstacles they need to overcome, etc. He also knows he can't actually make a Super Mario game (you know, because copyright), so he has to figure out who the characters become when they're his, not Nintendo's.
He's drawing storyboards right now. His room is an absolute disaster. And, then (and only then) will we be ready to open up an AI.
Skipping the ideation gives the wrong output (and teaches the wrong lesson)
If your kid sits down and says "I want to make a video game," and you open the laptop and start there, you are going to get a video game. It might be functional. It may even look okay. But your kid will feel essentially nothing about it.
And, that’s not AI’s fault. It's just how this works. Generic in, generic out. If the idea has no specificity, no ownership, no detail that could only have come from your particular kid's brain, then what AI gives back will be equally generic. You've wasted a session and probably a lot of tokens. And, most of all, you’ve wasted time.
If you don’t follow the right process, your kid will watch AI make a thing, then put their name on it. Feels a bit like cheating. And a little pointless.
Your kid will likely have the most fun in the pre-work stage
The storyboards Jackson is drawing right now are the product. The video game is just an extension of those. The thinking that has to happen before we ever open Claude is where the real value lives, and it's the part that AI shouldn’t do for him.
When I told Jackson all of the things he had to do first, I thought he might feel disappointed. I thought he might abandon the whole thing. He didn’t. He got more engaged and really dug in. Listening to him talk through his ideas and work through them was inspiring. Listen to their thought process. It’s the best part.
This is the Idea → AI → Play™ framework in its most basic form. The idea has to come first as the actual substance of what we're going to build. AI goes in the middle. It helps execute, refine, and extend what he's already decided. And then whatever we make goes back into the real world: he plays it, shows it to his brother, decides what's missing, tells me what he wants to change.
If you want to see what this looks like for younger kids, our Creation to Coloring activity is a good place to start. Kids build something physical first, then use AI to transform it, then bring it back into the real world.
Ground rules for doing this with your kids
The idea comes first, always. Before you open anything, your kid needs to be able to tell you what they're trying to make. If they can't explain it, they're not ready for AI yet. That’s the process. Help them get more specific. Ask them what it looks like, what it does, who it's for. The more concrete the idea, the more useful AI becomes.
AI goes in the middle. Once the idea is clear, AI is genuinely useful for execution, especially when what your kid wants to create falls outside their current skill set (and probably yours too!). Jackson can imagine a video game. He cannot code one. That's exactly the gap AI helps bridge. But it bridges his vision, not a generic version of it. This distinction matters more than almost anything else.
Do it together. Sit next to your kid while they use AI. Help them think out loud, question the output, push back on something that's not quite right. I don’t let my kids type into AI directly. I handle that piece for now. That choice is entirely yours, but do be there with them through the process.
Model it yourself. If you use AI at work, let your kids see it occasionally. Not as a performance, but when it's natural. Show them that you use it to draft something and then you fix it. Show them that the first answer wasn't quite right, so you pushed back. Show them that you're the one with the idea and AI is helping you execute it. The parallel is closer than it seems, and kids are watching how you use these tools whether you point it out or not.
You can find more activity ideas designed around this same sequence in our full activity library. Each one starts with your kid's idea and ends in something real.
Their expectations might be too high
Jackson's expectations for this video game are almost certainly too high.
He has a vision in his head. There’s a chance that what we actually build doesn’t completely match it. There are things we won't know how to do. There will be features he wants that we can't figure out how to execute. The gap between what he imagined and what we produce might be significant.
And that's a great outcome and lesson in itself.
Because one of the most important things a kid can learn about AI — one of the most important things any of us are still figuring out — is that it doesn't automatically close the gap between your vision and your execution. It helps. It helps a lot. And with practice and patience that gap will get smaller and smaller. And your ideas will likely get bigger.
The version of this that worries me isn't the one where we build something imperfect. It's the one where a kid sits down, types "make me a video game," watches something appear, and decides that's what making things feels like. Fast, painless, belonging to no one.
That's not what I'm building here. My kids will know what it feels like to have actually made something and they will be able to tell you exactly why every decision was made, because every decision was theirs.
The cardboard world didn't come with instructions. Neither does this.
Idea → AI → Play™
Want more ways to use AI this way with your kids? The free starter guide includes your first activity — designed around this exact sequence.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most important rule for kids using AI?
The idea always has to come first. Before opening any app, your child should be able to explain in their own words what they want to make. The more specific and personal the idea, the more useful AI becomes.
How do I get my kid to come up with their own ideas before using AI?
Ask them what they wish existed — a game, a story, an invention. Give them time away from screens first: drawing, building, playing. When they come to AI with something they've already been thinking about, the output reflects them rather than a generic prompt.
What age is appropriate for kids to start using AI with parental guidance?
Most kids can start using AI as a creative tool with parental supervision around ages 6–8, once they're able to articulate a basic idea. The key isn't age, it's whether they can direct the tool rather than just accept what it produces.