- Early Years
- Junior, journey 2
- Maker, journey 3
- Explorer, journey 4
- Creator, journey 5
- Researcher, journey 6
Patterns first. The thinking that comes before AI.
Early Years is planned. It will build the habits computers rely on: noticing patterns, sorting by a rule, putting steps in order and seeing cause and effect. Children play and explain. They do not train AI models.
What comes next? Where does it go?
The two habits Early Years starts with: continue a pattern, sort by a rule.
- Who it is for
- The youngest learners, playing with a grown-up nearby.
- What learners will do
- Sorting games, pattern strings, step-by-step stories and cause-and-effect toys.
- What you need first
- Nothing. A grown-up to play along.
- Available now?
- No. Early Years is planned, with no launch date yet.
For the youngest learners, before any model
Every later journey asks a learner to spot a pattern, choose a rule and check it. Early Years practises exactly that, without a model in sight.
What makes this stage different
There is nothing to train and nothing to set up. Early Years is about the ideas underneath AI: that a rule can be found from examples, that order matters, and that one thing can cause another.
Planned These are our aims for the journey. We will describe the finished activities here when they exist.
Continues a pattern
Says what comes next in a row of shapes, colours or sounds, and why.
Sorts by a rule
Puts things into groups by one rule, and says what the rule is.
Puts steps in order
Arranges the steps of a familiar task, like brushing teeth, in the right order.
Predicts what happens
Says what will happen when something changes: cause and effect.
A taste of the idea: sort, then let the computer try
This small example was made for this page to show the idea. It is not the Early Years product.
Sort four shapes into the two baskets by any rule you like: by colour, or by shape. Then let the computer look at what you did. It finds your rule from your examples alone, and sorts the rest.
Sort without a clear rule and it says it cannot tell. Sort so that two rules fit and it says that too. That is the heart of how machines learn from examples, in four moves.
Sort by your own rule
Four habits, in this order
The planned shape of every Early Years activity.
Planned
Notice
Look closely: what is the same, what is different?
Sort
Choose a rule and put things into groups by it.
Order
Put steps or pictures in the order they happen.
Predict
Say what will happen next, then check.
Planned activity: the sorting basket
Eat or play?
- What children do
- Sort pictures of everyday things into two baskets, then explain their rule out loud.
- Where the computer comes in
- Only to show the idea: it watches a few sorted examples and guesses the rule, like the example above.
- What they understand
- A rule can be found from examples, and too few examples can fit more than one rule.
- How they check it
- Try a new picture. Does the rule still work? If not, change the rule.
Planned An aim for the journey, not a finished activity.
Big ideas, in small words
A pattern repeats
If you can see what repeats, you can say what comes next.
A rule makes groups
One rule, used every time, puts things in the right basket.
Order matters
The same steps in a different order give a different result.
Examples teach
Show enough examples and someone, or something, can find your rule.
Check the rule, then change it
Testing starts early: does the next one fit? If not, the rule needs to change.
Try one more
Add a new shape or picture and see whether the rule still sorts it.
Spot the odd one out
When something does not fit, talk about why.
Make the rule better
Change the rule so it works for every example, then try again.
Patterns children already know
Traffic lights
Red, then green, then amber: a sequence that keeps everyone safe.
Tidying up
Toys in one box, books on the shelf: sorting by a rule.
Songs and rhymes
Verses repeat, so children know what comes next.
Where Early Years sits on the path
Early Years is the start. Junior is the next step: the first journey where a computer learns from examples the learner collects.
- Before
The start
Nothing comes before Early Years. It is where the path begins.
- This journey
Early Years Planned
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- Next
Junior Open now
Teach a computer to see, hear and recognise a pose.
For parents and teachers
What we are designing for, so you can tell us whether it fits.
- Play with a grown-up
- Activities meant to be done together, talking about the rule out loud.
- Little screen time
- Short activities, many of them away from the screen.
- No AI training
- Children do not train models. A computer appears only to show an idea.
- Plain words
- No technical terms a child cannot say back to you.
Planned These are design aims, not finished features. Tell us what you would need: contact us.
Planned, with no launch date yet
Leave your email and we will write once, when Early Years opens.
Get told when Early Years opens
Ready for something now?
Junior is open today. It is the first journey where a computer learns, and it needs no coding: a learner who can drag a block and hold a button can start, with a grown-up nearby.
Questions about Early Years
When will Early Years open?
Will young children train AI models?
What can my child do now?
Is the sorting example on this page the product?
Begin with patterns. Grow into AI.
Early Years is planned. Junior, the next journey, is open now.