FOR CENTRES AND CLUBS · AGES 7–12

Holiday AI activity pack

Three sessions, one AI project, for children aged 7–12. No AI experience needed: you type, the children decide.

For student care and enrichment centres, clubs and families. Children aged 7–12 by birth year (the age they turn in 2026) are in YAI's Primary division, Explorer World.

It follows YAI's AI Art quest at Primary level, which asks for one finished piece in any form, with at least 3 scenes, pages or parts. AI makes pictures, sounds, words or moving images that the children pick and change. See the quest.

Free to use, whether or not your children enter YAI.

Download the one-page PDF Get your centre’s own link

WHAT YOU NEED

What you need

One laptop or tablet with internet, on a TV or projector so everyone can see.
An adult's own account on an AI tool that makes pictures, such as ChatGPT or Gemini. The adult signs in and types; children never sign in.
Paper, colour pencils, and a phone to photograph drawings.
A notebook for the process log: one dated entry per session.

THE DAY BEFORE · 15 MINUTES ON YOUR OWN

Try the AI tool once

Sign in to ChatGPT (chatgpt.com) or Gemini (gemini.google.com) with your own account. Many AI tools have a minimum age, so the adult signs in and types.
Type: “Draw a friendly cartoon of a cat eating ice cream, for a children's story.” If a picture comes back, the tool is ready.
To get another version, type “Make another version” or “Try again with a rainy sky”. Free plans may limit how many pictures you can make in a day, so try it the day before.

SESSION 1 · ABOUT 60 MINUTES

Pick it and plan it

Each team picks someone or something it loves, close to home, and plans a story in 3 scenes.

10 min. Say: “You'll make an AI project about someone or something you love: a pet, a grandparent, a favourite food, your playground. AI helps you make it, but every idea is yours.”
10 min. On the screen, show one idea from yai.sg/primary/ai-art/, such as Biscuit's Moods Song. Ask: what did the AI do, and what did the child decide?
5 min. Make teams of 1–4. Each team picks its main character.
20 min. Fold a sheet into 3 boxes. Teams draw each scene and write one sentence under it: beginning, middle, end.
10 min. Try it once: a team reads one sentence aloud, you type it into the AI tool, and everyone sees what comes back. Ask the team: keep it or change it?
5 min. Process log, entry 1: today's date, the main character, the 3 scenes, and who helped with what.

By the end: A 3-scene plan on paper and the first log entry.

SESSION 2 · ABOUT 75 MINUTES

Make it with AI

AI makes the pictures, words or sounds for each scene, and the children choose and change every result.

5 min. Say: “AI makes suggestions. You're the director: you say what to change, and you choose what to keep.”
45 min. Team by team, the children tell you what to type for each scene. Make 2 or 3 versions and let them pick. Ask for changes in their own words (“make the cat orange”, “make it rain”). With more than 4 teams, split this session over two days, or let waiting teams colour their next scene.
10 min. Each team writes down 2 things the AI made that they didn't keep, and why.
10 min. Each team writes down 1 time the AI surprised them or got it wrong.
5 min. Save the chosen results in one folder per team. Process log, entry 2.

By the end: 3 scenes made with AI, 2 results they didn't keep (and why), and 1 surprise.

SESSION 3 · ABOUT 60 MINUTES

Finish it and show it

Teams put the scenes together, show the piece to 2 people, and say in their own words what they made.

20 min. Put the 3 scenes in order. The simplest way: print the chosen pictures, glue one on each page, and let the children write their sentence under it. Slides or a short video work too. Children add a title.
15 min. Each team shows its piece to 2 people it knows, with an adult there, and notes what they thought it was about.
15 min. Each child says aloud what they made, what the AI did and what they decided. An adult types it in their words: that's the project intro.
10 min. Process log, entry 3, with a photo of the finished piece.

By the end: A finished piece of 3 scenes or more, a project intro and 3 dated log entries.

THE FINISHED PIECE

What they finish with

A picture story, song or short video of 3 scenes or more about someone or something they love, with AI-made parts they chose and changed, and their own words throughout.

More ideas, and real projects by children their age, are on the AI Art quest for Primary.

SAFE AND FAIR

Keep it safe and fair

The adult signs in and types; the children make every choice. YAI's rules allow this for younger children (rule 6).
Look at each result before you turn the screen to the children. If something isn't suitable, skip it and try different words.
Photograph drawings and finished pages, not children's faces. Record a child's voice only with their parent's OK.
Don't put names, faces, addresses or school names into AI tools: no other people's private information (rule 7).
No characters, logos, brands, music or art that belong to someone else, even AI lookalikes (rule 8).

The full rules are on the Rules page.

ENTER YAI

Entering YAI, if you'd like to

Want to enter? Work made from Mon 19 Oct counts, even before you register, so keep the log from session 1.
Teams of 1–4 register at yai.sg/register/ by Sat 2 Jan 2027, 23:59 SGT. S$68 per student.
Each Primary team has a lead adult: a teacher or parent aged 21 or over who isn't taking part. One teacher may lead more than one team, as long as they can be there for all of them.
A parent or guardian confirms each child's place.
Submit by Sat 9 Jan 2027: the piece, a short project intro and the process log.
About 15 fee-waiver places are available for students who need financial support (rule 08 on yai.sg/register/).

YOUR OWN LINK

Get your centre's own link

Every team that registers through it is counted for your centre: we tell you how many, never who. Families can also type your code on the form. Free places with a centre’s email address aren’t automatic: say how many students need one, and we reply by email.