We can all benefit from AI summer fun when it takes the guesswork out of what will motivate, inspire, and connect our own family. Make AI work for you by personalizing ideas for your family fun that include your kids’ interests, what time constraints or allowances you have, and your budget. Here’s how.
Why AI Summer Lists Are Trending
Companies and tech writers aren’t the only ones using AI; platforms like Google Gemini, ChatGPT and Claude can all be used by regular moms and dads just looking for ways to engage their family in flexible seasons.
Summer is one of those.
Even if you homeschool or are part of a hybrid school like Learnwell Collective, most families set aside some additional time in the summer to connect over longer meals, family trips and excursions like trampoline parks or swimming pools. But what if you could personalize your family’s interests (and those outlier family members who don’t seem to like what the others like) to shortcut the brainstorming efforts you’re putting into making summer fun?
Great news! It’s a trend to use AI to grab a personalized list for your family. The benefits are surprising; first, we’ll call these AI “friends” and let’s explore how they help us.
- They search for ideas from all over the internet, not just our region. But they can also niche to just our area of the world.
- They can help us brainstorm what we need and don’t need by asking us follow-up questions, such as, “What should you take on a day trip to Disneyland?” (AI reminds of things we may already know but have forgotten; we’ll blame it on the sun.)
- They can sift through ideas that don’t apply to our family context. If you live in Florida, for example, you’re not going to find many ideas that revolve around hiking a mountain if you tell your AI friend how to search. (This is called user profiling, and it’s your secret weapon to niching your family’s interests into helpful information.)
How to Use AI Friends Like Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini
These are some of the major players in the game of AI right now; it’s not an exhaustive list, but for your purposes, one of these will do just fine. Everyone has their preference, but here are a few quick tips.
Claude tends to scour large amounts of information and go a little deeper than the average next-door (AI) neighbor. However, try your prompt on two different AI platforms, and see which one you like better. If you use Google tools frequently, then Gemini is likely to be easier for you.
However, if Microsoft is something you’re into (e.g. you are using Word and other Microsoft tools regularly), their AI tool is likened to ChatGPT and is called Copilot. It’s built into your tools, so you don’t have to jump out of your document to use it. Of course, most of us are familiar with ChatGPT and some people prefer it.
For our purposes, we used the same prompt in two different tools: Gemini and Claude:
What are some ideas for family fun when we live in Georgia and love to dress up? We have teenagers and not everyone likes to hike.
Our results were similar, but we preferred Gemini’s roundup of ideas because there were some that Claude didn’t come up with, and Gemini added some best practices tips when it comes to family fun.
The key to using AI tools is for brainstorming; then it’ll give you a head start on where to look in your city or town for fun activities.
If you include more details, such as your budget constraints and the month of the year you’d like to take part in these activities, your AI friends can give you even more refined results.
Here’s an example:
“Tell me where to find family-friendly dinner theater and escape rooms in the north Alpharetta area in July.”
One of our AI friends suggested primarily escape rooms, but that’s likely because we’d need to venture outside of Alpharetta to find family-friendly dinner theater options. So, again, AI summer doesn’t mean you don’t do any work or research, but using these tools can help you and your family brainstorm how to enjoy the lazy days of summer without breaking the bank and adding stress to an already active household.
However you choose to AI summer your family fun, keep in mind that simple wins the day more often than not. We like to advise families to plan one extravagant summer idea — a road trip, city excursion or trip to the theater — and then plan a few different low-key opportunities to connect.
The local bookstore and a farmer’s market in your area may be just what the family needs, especially if a live musician is playing for your teens to listen to, a center fountain for your younger kids to run through in their bathing suits, and a place for Mom and Dad to sit and sip a refreshing Coke while watching the world go by.
Are you reconsidering your child’s educational options? There are so many choices, and we understand what a tough decision it can be. If you’d like to hear more about the Learnwell educational options, we invite you to tour our hybrid school or ask about our coaching-homeschooling partnership, the Learnwell Navigator Program.