The guide

Before you start

• Use your own Claude account. Claude accounts are for adults, so this runs on yours with you nearby. Kids do the imagining and the typing.
• Use a computer with a keyboard. The games use arrow keys and the space bar. Tablets don't work well for this.
• Get Claude Pro if you can ($20/month, cancel anytime). The free plan works for a taste. But you'll hit the message limit fast, the games aren't as good, and you can't share them.

1. Sign in to Claude

   Go to claude.ai and sign in, or make an account.

2. Start a new chat and pick the best model

   Click New chat. Near the message box there's a model picker. Choose Opus, the most capable one. This matters more than you'd think.

3. Paste the starter prompt

   This message tells Claude how to work with a kid. Copy it, paste it into the message box (Ctrl+V, or ⌘V on a Mac), and press Enter.

   Loading…

   Copy the starter promptCopied

   If the button doesn't work, select all the text in the box and copy it the normal way.

4. Hand over the keyboard

   Claude will say hi and ask your kid's name and what game they want to make. From here your kid types. The first playable version shows up in a minute or two, in a panel next to the chat.

5. Play, then ask for changes

   Click on the game first so it can hear the keyboard. Then play. When they want something different, they type it: "make the aliens shoot back." Every change becomes a new version, and they can always go back to an old one.

6. Share it

   On Pro, the game panel has a Publish button. It gives you a link that opens the game full-screen in any browser. Send it to the grandparents.

When things go wrong

They will. That's fine. Fixing things is most of what programming is.

• "It's not working!" Click on the game and try again. Still broken? Have your kid tell Claude what they pressed and what happened. Claude will find the bug.
• Half-typed messages. Kids hit Enter early. The prompt tells Claude to ask what they meant instead of guessing. Mostly works.
• Two kids, one keyboard. Someone will click into the chat while the other one is playing. Click the game again and carry on.
• Big requests. "Make it 3-D" is a lot. Claude will offer a couple of options. Smaller steps mean fewer broken versions.
• Out of messages. Free accounts hit a limit. Take a break, or upgrade.
• A new game. Start a new chat and paste the prompt again.

What they're learning

After each version, Claude explains one coding idea using your kid's own game as the example. There are 15 of them, from variables to gravity to debugging. Here's the whole list, with a "try it" for each one.

Tell us how it went

Reply to the email. We read every one. What did they build? What was confusing? Did they want more?