The first class of the AI generation
Where kids learn to build with AI — and bring home something you can actually hold.
1stgraid is a self-paced AI school for kids 8 to 12. Three tracks. Three mentors. One mission: every term ends with a real project — a playable game, a working tool, or a children’s book — that the kid built themselves, with AI as their studio partner.
Designed for kids. Built for parents. Made to license to schools.
The faculty of Graidschool
The promise
Your kid finishes a term and says, “Come look at what I made.”
Not a worksheet. Not a quiz. Not a screenshot of a chatbot transcript. A real, finished, shareable thing — built daily, one artifact at a time, with a mentor cheering them on inside the platform.
Creator track
Build a playable browser game.
Mentored by Pixel.
Builder track
Build a simple working web tool.
Mentored by Bolt.
Thinker track
Write and illustrate a children's book.
Mentored by Sage.
Why parents love it
AI literacy, taught the way you wish someone had taught you.
Kid magic, parent confidence
The product has to feel exciting to an 8-12 year old and serious enough for a parent to pay for.
One hidden skill
Every track teaches effective AI communication: context, constraints, examples, revision, and taste.
Daily artifacts
Each lesson produces something saved to the Capstone Locker, so the final project is assembled, not crammed.
AI Teacher with guardrails
The teacher guides, quizzes, and nudges. It does not replace the kid's choices or claim the work for them.
One eyebrow-raising ship
The six-week promise is one credible, demo-ready deliverable that makes a parent say, "My kid made that?"
Creator wing
Pixel
Builder wing
Bolt
Thinker wing
Sage
The mentors
Three wing leaders. One Headmaster. A school kids actually want to belong to.
Every track is led by a character your kid will quote at the dinner table. Pixel hypes the makers. Bolt grounds the builders. Sage draws out the thinkers. And Principal Quill shows up at the moments that matter — first day, capstone day, end-of-term notes home.
Meet the facultyYear-round, not summer-only
Capstone summers. Seasonal modules every term.
Halloween monster workshops. A Thanksgiving family book. December gift builds for siblings. A New Year goal lab. Spring Showcase capstones. Eight seasons of reasons to come back — designed so the program grows with the kid.
For schools and after-school programs
A plug-in AI program your teachers don’t have to invent.
Schools get the curriculum, the mentors, the artifacts, and the parent-facing reports. Teachers become coaches — they don’t have to be the AI expert in the room. Drop it into after-school, summer camp, gifted-and-talented, or as an elective.
A note from the founder
I’m building this with my own ten-year-old as the first student.
Every lesson, every mentor, every project gets tested at my own kitchen table before it ships. The goal isn’t to make kids dependent on AI — it’s to make sure that when they grow up in a world full of it, they know how to lead the conversation, not chase it.
— Dwight, Founder