For the past three months, I’ve been immersed in a creative experiment that has reshaped how I think about learning, design, and the role young people play in shaping the future. At The Hive Interactive Center, we’ve been building a curriculum co‑designed with teens and beta‑tested by learners ages 5–15, but as a core design principle, rather than novelty.
The experience has been enlightening. If we want to build learning environments that matter, we need to build them with the people who will use them. And young people are far more ready for that responsibility than most adults assume.
Why Co‑Design with Kids Isn’t Radical
Adults often talk about “preparing kids for the future,” but kids are already living in it. When we invited teens to help shape The Hive’s Ai Tools Club, they didn’t ask for more content or more structure. They asked for creative agency, real tools, and room to experiment. The Ai Tools Club itself is a weekly creative studio where young learners explore branding, storytelling, music production, and worldbuilding using age‑appropriate AI tools.
One 9-year-old summed it up perfectly: “If school felt like this, I’d actually show up early.”
That line captures the gap between what young people need and what they’re often given. Co‑design isn’t about making learning “fun.” It’s about acknowledging that young people have insight into their own learning that adults can’t replicate from the outside. We meet online most Tuesdays, and the sessions have become a kind of creative laboratory. A place where kids test ideas, break things, rebuild them, and teach us what meaningful AI literacy actually looks like. With growing interest, we’ve opened a waitlist for families and educators who want to collaborate with us.
What Three Months of Youth Beta-Testing Revealed
Letting kids test your curriculum is humbling in the best way. They don’t soften their feedback. They don’t perform politeness. They tell you what works, what doesn’t, and what needs to be rebuilt from scratch.
Thanks to partners like Colossal Academy and Miles4theMinds, we were able to run a sustained beta period that surfaced patterns worth paying attention to:
- Kids don’t fear AI; they treat it like a creative instrument.
- They want tools that help them express identity, and complete tasks.
- They learn faster when they’re allowed to “mess around and find out.”
- They value meaning over mechanics.
- They thrive when adults step back and let them lead.
One middle schooler described our sessions: “AI is like a child. You have to give it space, but pay attention to what it’s doing.” Possibly the most accurate definition of creative learning I’ve heard.
Why Founders Should Spend Time in Youth‑Powered Spaces
If you’re building anything for the next generation (curriculum, platforms, tools, communities) there’s no substitute for spending time with young learners. They prototype without fear, pivot without ego, and give feedback without corporate diplomacy.
They’ll tell you when something is “fire” and when something is “mid.” And they’re usually right.
Founders talk a lot about user‑centered design. Kids are user‑centered in design. They reveal blind spots, challenge assumptions, and surface possibilities adults often overlook.
What 5–15-Year-Olds Really Think About AI
Young learners tend to accept AI as a tool, like a pencil, but with superpowers. Their questions cut straight to purpose:
- “Can AI help me make my own soundtrack?”
- “Can it help me explain my idea better?”
- “Can it help me build a game?”
- “Can it help me tell a story I don’t have words for yet?”
They’re not worried about AI taking their jobs. They’re wondering whether it can keep up with their imagination.
Adults debate ethics. Kids test boundaries. Adults fear disruption. Kids are disruption! Their perspective is refreshing. It’s essential.
A Note of Gratitude to the Learners
To the young people who show up every Tuesday at 9am, 10am, and 11am Eastern (and to those waiting for the 2pm slot) you are the reason this work matters. Your curiosity, honesty, and creativity shape every iteration of what we build. You are “the next generation.” And you’re teaching us how to design for a world that doesn’t exist yet.
Looking Ahead
The Hive’s Ai Tools Club began as a small experiment. It’s becoming a blueprint for what youth‑powered, creativity‑driven learning can look like. Because of our approach, tools, and curriculum; because young people are showing us what’s possible when they’re invited to lead.
As we continue partnering with microschoolers, homeschoolers, roadschoolers, and learning communities across the US, we’re also opening the door for educators, founders, and families who want to participate.
The Ai Tools Club has shown us that youth-powered creativity scales best when adults collaborate, observe, and learn alongside young people, not above them. The goal isn’t to scale a program; it’s more like scaling a philosophy: When kids get power, adults get perspective, and creativity gets freedom, learning stops being a task and becomes a force.
That’s the future we’re building toward. And the most exciting part is that the kids are already way ahead of us.
LINKS
Visit thehiveinteractive.org for Ai Tools Club (Sign Up’s & Waitlist Link)
Learn more about how the future is bright at Online | Colossal AcademyFind out about Eco-adventures and Family Road Trips at Miles4theMinds.org
