During an underwater story unit, pupils had vivid ideas for their own characters, but turning those ideas into precise written descriptions was hard—especially for multilingual learners. The issue was not imagination; it was the bridge from oral ideas to usable writing.
Generic AI tools were not suitable for seven-year-olds. Outputs could drift, and there were no safeguards designed around this classroom task.
03 · WHAT I BUILT
Pupils describe a character; the app returns an age-appropriate scaffold and visual output.
Guarded prompts. The tool only generated within defined age-appropriate, classroom-safe constraints. Outside them, it would not generate.
Structured writing support. Outputs doubled as printable scaffolds pupils used to write richer character descriptions.
Voice input. Added after testing showed typing was blocking some children's ideas.
04 · USER TESTING AND ITERATION
Pupil feedback revealed product assumptions adults would have missed
1
Observation
Initial prototype tested with pupils — children did not like the very cute, babyish cartoon visual style.
Product decision
Iterated the generation style and interface.
2
Observation
Some children could not type fluently enough — typing was blocking their ideas.
Product decision
Added voice transcription.
3
Observation
Boundary cases appeared as more pupils used the tool.
Product decision
Refined and re-tested the guardrails.
4
Observation
Stable classroom use; other teachers became interested.
Product decision
Rolled out across Grade 1 classes and shared the process with colleagues.
05 · CLASSROOM IMPLEMENTATION
Used across multiple Grade 1 classrooms
Other grade teachers asked me to show them how I did it, and they soon adopted this process.
The guarded prompt flow pupils used during the writing unit.
A structured scaffold pupils wrote from, capturing key character details.Pupils created wanted posters and richer written descriptions from their characters.
06 · WHAT I LEARNED
The tool only mattered because it led back to learning
Workflow beat raw output
Tools that fit real routines get used and are readily adopted by other teachers.
Guardrails build trust
Narrow prompts, safe outputs and clear boundaries matter when the users are young children.
Voice unlocked access
It surfaced ideas that typing was blocking and let children iterate faster.
Learning was the metric
The value was pupils writing with more detail and ownership—not generating an image.
RELATED PROTOTYPE
AI parent simulation for Head of Year recruitment
Built in a day using the same problem → prototype → test → iterate → deploy loop: a realistic written parent conversation with guardrails, a structured scorecard and a feedback report. It was approved by the Head of Primary and used in the recruitment process.
Supported human decision-making; it did not automate hiring.
