12 AI activities for kids (most need no screen)

You can teach the big ideas of AI with a pile of cards and a pencil. Here are twelve activities, most with no screen at all. Each takes ten to twenty minutes.

Learning from examples

1. Be the AI. Make cat and dog cards. Show your child five examples and ask them to guess a sixth. Talk about how they decided. (Ages 6+)
2. Bad data. Show only orange cats, then show a black one. What does the "AI" guess? Talk about why varied examples matter. (Ages 7+)
3. Sort the world. Sort objects into "follows a rule" and "learns from examples": calculator, flashlight, video suggestions, face unlock. (Ages 6+)

Spotting patterns

1. Pattern detectives. Draw a sequence and ask what comes next, then explain how you guessed. (Ages 5+)
2. Guess the label. Cover the labels on a set of pictures and let your child guess, then show how often they were right. (Ages 6+)
3. Teach a human robot. One person gives step-by-step instructions to another who acts like a robot. Notice how precise the steps must be. (Ages 6+)

Real and fake

1. Real or AI? Look at a mix of real and AI-made pictures and sort them. See how to spot AI images. (Ages 8+)
2. Spot the mistake. Ask a chatbot something together and fact-check one answer. (Ages 9+, with a grown-up)

Safety and talking

1. Safe to type or private? Write examples on cards and sort them into two piles. (Ages 6+)
2. Chatbot agreement. Write family rules for using chatbots and sign them. (All ages)

Making

1. Write a story together. Take turns, with an AI helper if you wish, but the child decides what stays. (Ages 7+)
2. Design a game. Plan a game on paper with a goal, rules and a score. See game design for kids. (Ages 8+)

Tips

• Keep it playful; stop before they get bored.
• Ask "why do you think that?" more than you explain.
• Praise guesses and mistakes as part of learning.

These activities are the heart of the free mini course below, which spreads five of them over five days.