Take your first steps into AI with Code Club’s new toolkit

Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere in the news, and you might be wondering how to introduce this exciting technology to your Code Club creators. With our new AI toolkit, you can explore age-appropriate projects that provide a gentle introduction to AI and machine learning. These projects are designed to inspire and empower young creators, opening the door to a world of fun, hands-on technology experiences.

Bring the exploration into your Code Club!

Code Club is the perfect place for AI exploration

Code Club is a welcoming space where young people can safely and creatively explore coding, digital making, and new technologies, such as the capabilities of AI.

Our AI toolkit is a thoughtfully curated collection of ten short projects, each focusing on a carefully selected AI tool or technique. We’ve considered quality, data security, and the ethics behind AI training, for example, one of the projects uses Adobe Firefly, which is only trained on stock images and openly licensed content. That means peace of mind for you, and that your creators can engage with each tool confidently.

And the best part? You don’t need to be an expert, and neither do your creators! Each project can be tackled independently and requires only basic resources — some use webcams or a Raspberry Pi computer, but others only need a web browser. The toolkit has also been designed with flexibility in mind, so you can select projects that match your club’s available tech and your creators’ interests.

Explore our AI toolkit

Getting started with AI in your Code Club

Whether you’re new to AI or are an experienced AI user, the toolkit is designed so anyone can dive in and create something in just minutes.

Each project includes both a step-by-step tutorial video and text instructions, making it easy to follow along. The projects focus on real-world AI applications like classifiers, facial recognition, and image generation, introducing each concept in a hands-on way. And once creators complete a project, they’re encouraged to customise their work and make it their own — a perfect way to let their creativity shine.

Some project highlights…

Chomp the cheese: This fun project teaches creators to combine image recognition with a webcam, letting them virtually “chomp” floating cheese puffs. It’s easy to customise, too — whether your creators want to catch doughnuts, head a football, or add a scoreboard, they’ll have a blast bringing their ideas to life

Explore facial recognition with ‘Chomp the cheese’ 

Dinosaur decision tree: No computers available? No problem! In this paper-based project, creators build a simple decision tree, mimicking how AI classifiers work. It’s an ideal, hands-on way to understand classification — no tech required!

Create a paper-based decision tree

Dance detector: If your creators love to move, this is the project for them! By combining a micro:bit with machine learning, creators can predict and classify dance moves. It’s a perfect mix of tech and active fun.

Dance-off with machine learning!

What do our testers think?

At a recent training event for youth leaders, 77% of participants who tried the projects said that they felt confident about using them with young people in their Code Club. 

And here’s what some of our younger testers had to say:

“I really liked the projects. I now understand AI more :)”

“AI generators are annoyingly inaccurate, but also really fun to mess around with.”

With the new AI toolkit, you have everything you need to introduce AI to your Code Club. Give it a try and watch your creators’ creativity and confidence grow as they explore the endless possibilities of AI.