HOW DO YOU HELP A CHILD UNDERSTAND AI?
START WITH CURIOSITY, CREATIVITY, AND A LITTLE BIT OF FUN!
AI is already becoming part of how children learn, create, communicate, and explore the world. But teaching AI does not have to feel complicated—or like rocket science.
Created by educator and illustrator Shanshan Jin, technical advisor Dr. David S. Touretzky, and ReadyAI co-founder Dr. Roozbeh Aliabadi, this workbook introduces the Five Big Ideas in AI through stories, drawing, observation, play, and hands-on activities.
Think of it as a child-friendly first adventure into the world of AI. Along the way, young learners will discover how AI recognizes patterns, learns from data, makes decisions, and sometimes gets things wrong.
And parents and educators? You are part of the adventure too.
Together, we can help children ask thoughtful questions, think critically, create with confidence, and use technology with curiosity, kindness, and responsibility.
Because the future does not just need smarter technology.
It needs thoughtful, creative, and deeply human kids.
Content
Big Idea 1: Perception
Activity 1: How Do We Sense the World?
Activity 2: AI Sensors
Activity 3: What Makes a Cat a Cat?
Activity 4: Find the Cat!
Activity 5: What Do You Hear?
Activity 6: Help Robby Choose the Right Sense!
Big Idea 4: Natural Interaction
Activity 19: Robby Learns Human Words
Activity 20: Could This Be a Word?
Activity 21: Same Sound, Different Meaning
Activity 22: What Does the Word Mean?
Activity 23: What Can Robby Understand?
Activity 24: What Makes Sense?
Big Idea 2: Representation & Reasoning
Activity 7: Sort It!
Activity 8: Which One Belongs?
Activity 9: Follow the Rule
Activity 10: Finish the Pattern!
Activity 11: Help Robby(AI) Decide
Activity 12: Make Your Own Rule
Big Idea 5: Societal Impact
Activity 25: Where Is AI Helping?
Activity 26: Who Did Robby Help?
Activity 27: Fair or Not Fair?
Activity 28: AI for Good: Clean the Ocean
Activity 29: Old Tools, New Tools, New Jobs
Activity 30: Design a Kind AI Helper
Big Idea 3: Learning
Activity 13: Humans vs AI Learning
Activity 14: Find the Pattern in Data
Activity 15: Train Robby with Data
Activity 16: What Did Robby Learn?
Activity 17: What Does Robby Look At?
Activity 18: Why Did Robby Make a Mistake?
Resources
Event:
More Books on Artificial Intelligence for Kids & Parents
AI+Me Series
Artificial Intelligence & Me is a five-book series designed to introduce AI to young learners through engaging stories and activities. Learning AI opens up a world of opportunities. As the fastest growing area of computer science, AI will become the most important change force when our children grow up so it is critical they learn about it early.
Each book introduces one Big Idea in AI, from machine learning to how AI will affect our lives. It’s designed for kids age 5 years and older, but even adults might learn something new.
The book series is also available in Portuguese and German.
Artificial Intelligence & Me(Special Edition)
The special edition combines five books (one on each idea) in a single book. The special edition makes it convenient to learn all 5 big ideas in one book along with extra activities, prompts & puzzles. So, while you get more value you also end up saving more!
A Fresh Squeeze on Data
A picture book about problem solving with data
Physical copies are available for the following languages: French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish.
AI Education for the Next Generation: Nurturing K-12 Students: Effective Methods for Teaching Large Language Models (LLMs) to Young Learners
This short book was written for the educators of today to teach the youth of tomorrow. Think of this like a handbook or field manual – a guide for curious students anywhere from kindergarten through the twelfth grade to become familiar with AI. Here, we focus on explaining concepts as simply as possible and providing actionable tools and activity guides designed such that teachers such as yourself can immediately take these ideas and begin working with them in the classroom.
Interested in Publishing in Your Country?
For foreign/translation rights and publishing rights please contact our team at info@readyai.org
Author & Contributor
Author & Illustrator
Shanshan Jin
Technical Advisor
Dr. David S. Touretzky
