Book for children · ages 8 to 12

While You Dream…

A summer story to understand AI and create with it.

A summer tale for children aged 8 to 12. Learn, with your family, to use artificial intelligence to imagine, play and create things of your own, not just to stare at a screen.

About the book

It is summer and an adventure begins. Hand in hand with characters your own age, you will discover that artificial intelligence is nothing to fear: it is like a box of magic crayons for inventing stories, drawings, songs and games.

You do not need to know anything about computers. Step by step, and always with a grown-up nearby, you will learn to ask the AI for things with your own ideas and to turn them into something real.

It is a book to read as a family. You bring the imagination; the AI only helps. The important decisions are still yours.

The promise

By the end you will know how to create your first thing with AI: a story, a drawing or a song that did not exist before and that you made yourself.

Who it is for

For children aged 8 to 12 and for the families who want to share it with them. It reads best together, out loud.

Get the book

Available as eBook and paperback. Choose your edition:

• Spanish · Mientras sueñas: eBook · Paperback
• German · Während du träumst: eBook · Paperback
• English · While You Dream: eBook · Paperback
• French · Pendant que tu rêves: eBook · Paperback
• Portuguese · Enquanto você sonha: eBook · Paperback
• Italian · Mentre sogni: eBook · Paperback

The toolbox

A selection of ideas to create, made for your age. Always ask a grown-up to be with you the first time. Change whatever is in [brackets] for whatever you want.

3. Create with kids aged 7 to 11

• A comic or picture book: Let's make an [8]-page comic. Hero: [name], aged [age]. Idea: [the child's]. First ask me questions so the child decides the characters, the problem and the ending. Then give me the structure and, page by page, the script plus the exact description of each image.
• Video script (YouTube/TikTok): Help us prepare a [length] video about [topic]. Full script: hook, three parts and a close. Natural language for [age]. Add three title and thumbnail ideas.
• Design an invented product: My [age]-year-old wants to invent [type of product]. Help us develop it: name, description, how it works, who it's for and how we'd sell it. Ask us questions so they decide.
• Create a full character: Let's create a detailed character with us: name, age, personality, powers or talents, backstory, looks, and friends or enemies. Ask us, so the child decides the important bits.
• Code-free video game: Let's design a simple video game. Theme: [child's idea]. Give me the story, hero, obstacles, three levels and the rules. Step by step, asking us the key decisions.
• Family magazine or newspaper: Help us put together a 6-page family magazine with: a home news story, an interview with [a grandparent], a puzzle, a comic strip and a recipe. Give me the structure and help us write it.
• Stories in chapters: Let's make a story series. Hero: [name]. Give me the overall idea, the characters and the full first chapter, with an ending that makes us want more.
• Science experiment + explanation: Suggest an easy, safe home experiment for a [age]-year-old about [topic]. Household materials, steps, and at the end a simple explanation the child can tell to someone else.
• The most patient tutor: Be a teacher with endless patience for a [age]-year-old. Explain [topic] with a fun example, then ask three questions and correct gently. Don't give the answer away — help them get there themselves.
• Revising for a test (playfully): Turn into a quiz show for my [age]-year-old about [exam topic]. One question at a time, with points, and celebrate the right answers.
• Their own joke or comic strip: Help a [age]-year-old create three jokes or a short comic strip about [something that makes them laugh]. Keep the humour wholesome and age-appropriate.
• A lovely letter or speech: Help my child write a [letter / short speech] for [Grandma's birthday]. It should come from their ideas: ask them questions and then shape it warmly.

2. Create with kids aged 3 to 6

• A story starring your child: You are a very warm storyteller. Write a short, tender story for a [age]-year-old called [name]. Hero: [their favourite animal or character]. Small problem: [whatever the child says]. They get through it bravely, with a friend's help. Happy ending, short sentences.
• A personalised song: Write the lyrics for a short, cheerful, very easy-to-sing song about [name] and [their dog / sibling / favourite adventure]. Simple rhymes and a catchy chorus.
• A "what if…?" story: Write a short, funny story for a [age]-year-old that begins: "What if [name] had [a power or magic object] for one day?" Cheerful, with a lovely ending.
• A magic drawing (to generate an image): Generate a colourful image in children's-book style of: [the child's exact description]. Cheerful, tender style, like a picture-book illustration.
• Role-play (the AI as a character): From now on you are [a friendly dragon / a fairy / a robot friend]. Play and chat with a [age]-year-old. Reply in the first person, short sentences, lots of warmth, and stay in character.
• Bedtime story: Create a very calm, soothing bedtime story for [name], aged [age]. Have them [float on a cloud / walk through a forest of light] and visit a place full of peace. Slow rhythm and a soft voice.
• A story with values: Write a short story that naturally teaches [sharing / patience / courage] to a [age]-year-old, with [name] as the hero. No forced moral.
• A memory album: Create a lovely illustration of the best moment [name] had this week: [description of the child]. Warm style, like a keepsake.
• Today's adventure: Invent a 2-minute mini-adventure for [name], aged [age], around [whatever they love right now]. To tell them before leaving the house.
• A story with the whole family: Write a short story where [name], [mum/dad] and [siblings] live an adventure together in [a place]. Each one helps with something. Happy ending.
• Riddles at their level: Give me five very easy, fun riddles for a [age]-year-old about [animals / the house / food], with the answer underneath each one.
• Their first "why" explained: Explain to a [age]-year-old, with a fun everyday example, why [the sky is blue / it rains / we sleep].

6. School and studies

• Explain at their level: Explain [topic] to me as if I were [age or year group], with a real-life example. Then ask me a question to check I got it.
• Summarise something huge: Summarise this [text / video / PDF] in five to seven key points and highlight the one thing I shouldn't forget for an exam.
• Study cards in three levels: Make study cards on [topic] in three levels: easy, medium, hard. Question on the front, answer on the back.
• Generate a practice exam: Make me a practice exam in [subject] on [topics], with 10 varied questions. Don't give me the answers until I send mine for marking.
• A presentation that lands: Help me structure a [10]-minute talk on [topic] for [audience], slide by slide, one idea per slide and a memorable close.
• Nail a written assignment: Help me plan an essay on [topic]: outline, what goes in each part and the questions I should research myself. Don't write it for me — help me write it.
• Learn a language daily: I'm [level] in [language]. Chat with me for 10 minutes a day about [an everyday topic], correct me gently and teach me three new words each time.
• Learn a new tool: Teach me how to [make a pivot table in Excel / use this program], step by step, like a complete beginner, with a simple exercise to practice.
• Improve spelling: I want to improve my spelling. Every day give me three sentences with a typical mistake to spot, correct me, and explain the rule in one line.
• Prepare an oral presentation: Help me prepare a [length] oral presentation on [topic]: script, opening and closing lines, and three tips for not getting nervous.
• Crack a stubborn problem: I don't get this [maths / physics] problem: [paste it]. Don't give me the solution: guide me with questions, step by step, until I solve it myself.
• A realistic study plan: I have an exam in [subject] in [days] and these topics: [list]. Make me a realistic daily plan, with revision and breaks, that I can actually follow.

A · The dictionary without fear

Artificial intelligence (AI)

Software that learns from huge amounts of examples and, from there, writes, draws, answers or decides — imitating skills we used to think only humans had.

Model

The trained "brain" behind an AI. ChatGPT, Claude or Grok are the products; the model is what thinks inside.

Chatbot

An AI you talk to, in writing or out loud, like a messaging conversation.

Prompt

What you ask or write to the machine. The clearer and more concrete, the better the answer (the recipe is in Appendix C).

Token

The little chunk the machine breaks text into to process it — roughly a syllable or a short word. You just need to know it exists.

Hallucination

When the AI invents something and tells you with total confidence. That's why the things that matter always get double-checked.

Agent

An AI that doesn't just reply but does tasks on its own, step by step, towards a goal — even while you're not watching.

AGI

Short for "artificial general intelligence": a machine able to do almost any mental task a human can. It doesn't exist yet; it's the goal the big labs are chasing.

Multimodal

Understands and creates in several formats at once: text, images, voice, audio and video.

GPT / LLM

Technical names for the kind of model behind today's chatbots ("large language model"). The name doesn't matter; you already know what it does.

Training

Teaching a model by letting it read gigantic amounts of text and images until it picks up the patterns.

Bias

The slants and blind spots the machine inherits from its data and from whoever tuned it. That's why it isn't a neutral oracle.

Deepfake

A fake photo, voice or video produced by AI that looks completely real. The reason to teach your kids to question what they see.

Open source

Models anyone can download and use freely, as opposed to those owned privately by a company.

Local AI

An AI that runs entirely on your own computer, so your data never leaves the house (we covered it in Appendix F).

The cloud

Very powerful computers belonging to some company, which you connect to over the internet. Almost every AI you use lives there.

Context window

How much the machine can "hold in its head" at once in a conversation. If it gets very long, it starts forgetting the beginning.

Voice clone

An AI-made imitation of someone's voice. Wonderful for creating, dangerous in the hands of a scammer.