Hi Reader,

Growing up in the 70s and 80s, my mom had one weekend command. "Get outside."

That was it.
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No plan.
No gear.
No app.

And somehow we always came back dirty, tired, and happy.

I would dig in the yard with my Tonka trucks and setup my army guys, drag a friend into building a fort, or when I got older, grab my dad's Super 8mm camera and try to make a science fiction movie in the driveway and getting film developed at KMart. (stay tuned...reworking that old footage into something cool!)

Fast forward to now. I have raised three kids, taught coding to hundreds more, and I still hear the same thing from kids on every Saturday morning: "I'm bored."

Here is what I have been experimenting with. And it is going to sound backwards until you try it.

I have been using AI to get kids OFF the couch.

Here is the prompt. Try it this weekend with your kid.

Copy, paste, edit the age, hit enter:

"Give me 10 backyard adventures for a Saturday for a [age] year old. Make them creative, low-cost, and doable with stuff we probably have at home."

Read the list together.
Let your kid pick one.
Then actually go do it. Shoes on. Out the door and into the yard, woods, alley...wherever.

That is the whole trick. AI hands over the menu. Your kid runs the show. You come back with a Saturday nobody forgets.

I wrote up two more prompts like this (one that turns into a backyard concert, one that ends in a cardboard build) plus a bigger take on what "balance" looks like in a house with tech, kids, and no simple answers.

Five-minute read if you have a coffee handy:

​https://www.getmecoding.com/ai-prompts-to-get-kids-off-couch/​

Podcast is back next week. Same time, same feed.

Keep learning and keep tinkering, Mr. Fred

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