✏️
💡
It started with "No, I want to build the app with you."
I'm not a developer. I don't write code. But I'd built a math practice app for my son using AI, and he loved it. When he came to me with his own idea — a spelling game — I said "Ok, mommy will build it for you." He said: "No. I want to build the app with you."
That changed everything. He started sketching game ideas on paper. He learned to describe what he wanted clearly — because the AI needed clear instructions. He looked at what the AI built and said "no, that's not what I meant" — and figured out how to guide it closer to his vision.
What we described to the AI:
"I want to build a word game for kindergarteners. Present them with a few letters so they will try to form words. Level 1: 6 letters, 2-letter words. Level 2: 9 letters, 3-letter words. Add visual and sound feedback. When a player forms a word, play a cheerful sound and show a celebratory animation."
🐛 Letterbug — built in an hour, approved by the school principal the next day
Our first game, Letterbug, ended up being used in his classroom. By the fourth game — Fruit Boomerang — he spoke the entire game into existence using a microphone. He can't type yet. He didn't need to.