🎮 10 free AI tools your kids can use today (I made a cheat sheet)

Happy Sunday folks!

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Busy week. A cheat sheet I'm genuinely proud of, three new blog posts, and a family project going live tomorrow.

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In this week’s email:

• The 10 free AI tools we use most (cheat sheet)
• 2 new posts: lazy kids and free AI games
• A schedule change starting next week
• A new project dropping tomorrow

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🎁 The 10 free AI tools we actually use with our kids

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I keep getting the same question from parents: "Where do I even start with AI tools for my kids?"

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So I made a thing.

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It's a PDF cheat sheet with the 10 free AI tools we use most in our house, tested with all three kids (ages 3, 6, and 8).

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For each tool I've included the age range, what it costs (spoiler: nothing), and what my kids actually did with it.

Quick highlights from the list:

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• Quick, Draw! by Google is Mateo's (8-year-old) go-to. He played it for two weeks straight and started asking “how does the computer know what I’m drawing?” That led to his first real conversation about how AI works.
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• Suno has been Maria’s obsession. 30+ songs in three months. She still asks for “song time” multiple times a week. The surprise? She accidentally learned about verses and choruses because she wanted more control over her songs.
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• Teachable Machine: is the one that surprised me most. Mateo trained it to recognise his toys using the laptop camera. No code, no signup, just drag and drop. He went from "what's AI?" to "I just taught a computer" in about 10 minutes.

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All 10 tools are on the cheat sheet.

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​Download the free PDF →​

📝 Is AI making kids lazy? What teachers actually say

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70% of teachers worry AI is weakening critical thinking, but the research tells a more complicated story.

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I shared what I've seen after 500+ hours of testing with my own kids, including the time Mateo asked ChatGPT to just do his homework for him.

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Spoiler: the tool isn't the problem. Whether a parent is involved is.

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​Read the full post →​

🎮 8 Free AI Games for Kids

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No signup, no credit card, no email address. Just open a browser and let your kids play. I tested all 8 with my kids and ranked them by age.

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​See the games →​

🚀 New family project dropping Tuesday

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A new step-by-step project going live on the site. I’ll share the full details next week. Stay tuned.

📅 This newsletter is moving to Fridays

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Starting next week, you’ll get this email on Friday afternoon instead of Sunday evening.

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Why? Sunday evening emails tend to get buried by Monday morning. Friday afternoon means you can actually read it when it arrives.

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Same newsletter, better timing. Next week, look for me on Friday.

That's it for this week!

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Which of those 10 free tools are you going to try first with your kids? Hit reply and let me know. I read every response.

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Niall