AI Explorers K-2
Computer senses, pixels, sorting, patterns and learning from examples. Read aloud, tap to answer, with hands-on paper labs.
Start free → A Rocket & Raven series · AI literacy
AI Explorers
A free online AI literacy course: what AI is, how it learns and when to double-check it, with Nova.
About the series
AI Explorers teaches kids what AI is before they meet it on their own. Nova, the crew's AI companion drone, guides twelve weeks built on the AI4K12 Five Big Ideas in AI: how computers sense the world, how they represent it, how they learn from examples, how they talk with people, and how AI affects everyone. Each week pairs short on-screen lessons with a hands-on Explorer Lab using picture cards, paper and family games. No lesson connects a child to a chatbot or any real AI tool.
In every course
- Four levels: K-2 (read aloud, tap to answer), Grades 3-5, Grades 6 to 8 and AI and You for Grades 9 to 12
- Short daily lessons Monday to Friday, 10 to 15 minutes each
- An unplugged Explorer Lab every week and a Saturday Explorer Quest for the family
- Built on the AI4K12 Five Big Ideas in AI
- Each week mapped to the CSTA K-12 Computer Science Standards
- No child ever uses a real AI tool in the course
- Free, start to finish. No card.
Courses in this series
Pick the course for your child's grade. Every course is free.
AI Explorers 3-5
Pixels as numbers, features, training data, testing and fair data. Train and test a paper model, then learn to use AI wisely.
Start free →AI Explorers 6-8
Decision trees, train-test-refine, three kinds of bias, generative AI, synthetic media and an AI review board. Hands-on paper labs, no real AI tools.
Start free →AI and You 9-12
How models learn and write, testing, bias, privacy, security, synthetic media and human oversight. Ends with a model card and risk review. Hands-on paper labs, no real AI tools.
Start free →Questions families ask
What does it cost?
Nothing. AI Explorers is free from start to finish, with no card. A free parent account saves each kid's progress.
Does my child talk to a chatbot or an AI app?
No. Kids read short lessons on screen with checked answers, and the hands-on work happens on paper: they sort picture cards, color pixel grids, train a paper model and play family games. No lesson connects a child to a chatbot or any real AI tool. Nova is a story character, and the lessons say plainly that real AI is a tool people build, that it does not think or feel like a person, and that it can be wrong.
Which level should we pick?
AI Explorers K-2 is read aloud with tap-to-answer checks and a daily sight word, for kindergarten to Grade 2. AI Explorers Grades 3-5 has kids read on their own, type short answers, and train and test a paper model. AI Explorers Grades 6 to 8 goes further for middle schoolers: decision trees as flowcharts and pseudocode, three kinds of bias, how generative AI predicts the next word, synthetic media and an AI review board. AI and You Grades 9 to 12 is a high-school elective: students review a made-up AI study helper, from how it learns to privacy, security and who stays in charge, and write a model card and risk review.
Where do the facts come from?
Every fact about AI in the lessons is checked against a published source, such as the AI4K12 Five Big Ideas in AI and the US National Institute of Standards and Technology. Anything we could not check is left out.
Is it safe?
Yes. The course never asks for a name, age, school or photo, and a whole week teaches kids to keep private information private and to ask a grown-up before using any app.
More from Rocket & Raven
Coding, science, engineering, math and AI literacy from kindergarten through Grade 12. Every course is free.