Free Online AI Camp: A Summer AI Curriculum That Costs Nothing
Updated June 6, 2026 · 1,643 words
You can run a four-week online AI camp at home for exactly $0, using Chippu's free lessons, Google's Teachable Machine, Scratch, and Code.org's AI activities. Budget 45–90 minutes a day, four days a week, with Friday as demo day. The full week-by-week schedule for every age is below.
I built this plan the way I wish someone had built it for me: after pricing out commercial AI summer camps (the well-known online ones run $500–$1,000+ per week) and realizing that almost everything they teach kids under 18 is available free, just scattered across a dozen sites. What you are paying camps for is sequencing and accountability. This article is the sequencing. The accountability part — showing up four days a week — is yours.
What do you need before week one?
Less than you would think:
- A laptop or Chromebook with a webcam (Teachable Machine uses the camera to train models — this is the single most magical free activity, and it needs the camera).
- A free Scratch account for ages 9–15 (scratch.mit.edu).
- A parent's AI chat account for any chatbot activities — kids under 13 should not have their own.
- A "demo day" audience: a sibling, a grandparent on a video call, anyone. Do not skip this. The Friday showcase is the engine of the whole camp; kids finish things when someone is going to watch.
Everything else is browser-based with no installation: Quick, Draw! and AutoDraw (Google's drawing-recognition games), Code.org's AI for Oceans, Machine Learning for Kids (machinelearningforkids.co.uk, which connects trained models to Scratch), and Chippu's first lessons in each age band, which are free with no signup and have no ads or tracking.
How is the camp structured?
Four weeks, each with a question kids can actually hold onto:
- Week 1 — What is AI and how does it see the world?
- Week 2 — How does AI learn? (Training, data, and why AI makes mistakes)
- Week 3 — What can I make with AI? (The building week)
- Week 4 — Should AI do everything? (Ethics, judgment, and the final project)
A daily session is three parts: about 15 minutes of learning (a lesson or guided activity), 30–45 minutes of making, and 10 minutes of "show and tell what broke." That last segment sounds like a joke; it is the most pedagogically important part of the day. AI tools fail constantly, and a kid who narrates the failure ("it thought my cat was a dog because the lighting changed") is learning how machine learning actually works.
What is the schedule for ages 6–9?
Shorter sessions — 45 minutes is plenty — and a parent in the room for anything involving a chatbot.
| Week | Focus | Core activities (all free) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | AI is around us | Chippu AI Friends free lessons; Quick, Draw! (can the computer guess your drawing?); AI scavenger hunt around the house |
| 2 | Computers learn from examples | Teachable Machine with a parent: train it to tell two stuffed animals apart; talk about why it fails when you swap backgrounds |
| 3 | Making with AI | AutoDraw art week; parent-typed story prompts (the kid directs, the parent types); illustrate the story by hand |
| 4 | Smart helpers, real feelings | "Is it alive?" sorting game (robot vs. pet vs. tablet); record a 1-minute "what I made at AI camp" video for demo day |
When I ran the Teachable Machine session with a 7-year-old, the model confused her two stuffed animals the moment she moved to the couch — and her outraged "but it KNEW this!" turned into the best ten-minute conversation about training data I have ever had with anyone, of any age.
What is the schedule for ages 9–12?
This band can do 60–75 minute sessions and start working semi-independently, with a parent reviewing chatbot outputs.
| Week | Focus | Core activities (all free) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | What is AI, really? | Chippu AI Explorers free lessons; Code.org AI for Oceans (train a model, meet bias accidentally); start an "AI spotting" journal |
| 2 | Training data is everything | Teachable Machine: rock-paper-scissors hand classifier; deliberately sabotage it with bad examples, then fix it |
| 3 | Build week | Machine Learning for Kids + Scratch: build a game that responds to a model they trained (e.g., a pet that reacts to happy vs. sad faces) |
| 4 | Judgment week | "Should a robot be a referee?" debate with a parent; final project: improve the Week 3 game; demo day presentation |
What is the schedule for ages 12–15?
Sessions of 75–90 minutes, real independence, and the introduction of deliberate prompt work.
| Week | Focus | Core activities (all free) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | How models work | Chippu AI Builders free lessons; Quick, Draw! data gallery (inspect what 100,000 people's drawings teach a model); write up one surprise |
| 2 | Prompting as a skill | Daily prompt drills on a parent-supervised account: same task, three prompt versions, compare outputs; build a personal prompt library doc |
| 3 | Build week | Teachable Machine audio or pose project (a model that detects slouching, or recognizes who is talking); embed it in a Scratch or simple web project |
| 4 | Ethics and the capstone | Bias hunt: find a real AI failure online and explain why it happened; capstone: a 3-minute taught lesson — the camper teaches the family one AI concept |
What is the schedule for ages 15–18?
At this age the camp becomes a self-directed sprint with checkpoints. 90 minutes a day.
| Week | Focus | Core activities (all free) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Foundations, fast | Chippu AI Innovators free lessons; start Elements of AI (University of Helsinki, free certificate) — chapters 1–2 |
| 2 | Under the hood | Elements of AI chapters 3–4; hands-on: compare two chatbots on identical prompts and document where they diverge and why |
| 3 | Build week | A real project: a Teachable Machine model embedded in a web page, a documented prompt-engineering portfolio, or (for coders) a first pass at CS50 AI's search problems |
| 4 | Finish and ship | Complete Elements of AI (that is a real university certificate, free); polish the project; demo day is a portfolio review — what would you show a college interviewer? |
A teen who completes this band exits with a certificate and a project artifact. That combination — proof of knowledge plus proof of making — is worth more than most paid camp certificates of attendance.
How do you keep kids going without a live instructor?
Four things did the heavy lifting in my house:
Demo day is sacred. Fridays exist so the week has a deadline. Invite a grandparent to the video call; the performance pressure is gentle but real.
The streak chart beats the reward chart. A paper calendar with an X per camp day. Kids protect streaks with an intensity no prize can buy.
Let them go off-script one day a week. If a 13-year-old wants to spend Thursday making the slouch-detector bark like a dog, that is the curriculum working.
Parents do Week 2 alongside them. Training a Teachable Machine model with your kid takes 20 minutes and permanently upgrades every future AI conversation in your household from "be careful" to "remember when our model thought the cat was a dog?"
One honest note: this camp does not replace a structured full-year curriculum, and it is not supposed to. Common Sense Media reports 72% of teens have already used AI companions — kids are marinating in this technology year-round. Four focused weeks builds the judgment layer; ongoing programs (Chippu's 48-lesson sequence, Code.org's full courses, Elements of AI for teens) are the follow-through if the camp catches fire.
Frequently asked questions
Is there really a completely free online AI camp?
There is no single official one, but this guide assembles a free four-week equivalent from Chippu's free lessons, Teachable Machine, Scratch, Machine Learning for Kids, Code.org, and Elements of AI. Total cost is zero; the trade-off is that a parent provides the schedule and accountability.
How much do commercial online AI camps cost?
Typically $500–$1,000+ per week for live online formats. They primarily add live instruction and peer cohorts; the underlying tools and concepts they teach minors are almost all freely available.
What ages does a home AI camp work for?
Ages 6–18 with the right scaffolding: ages 6–9 need a parent in every session, 9–12 need output review, 12–15 can work semi-independently, and 15–18 run it as a self-directed sprint with checkpoints.
Do kids need to know how to code?
No. Teachable Machine, Quick Draw, AutoDraw, and AI for Oceans require zero code. Scratch (block-based) enters at ages 9+, and real programming is optional even in the teen band.
How many hours a day should an AI camp run?
45 minutes for ages 6–9, 60–75 minutes for 9–12, and up to 90 minutes for teens, four days a week with a Friday showcase. Shorter and consistent beats longer and sporadic.
Is Teachable Machine safe for kids?
Yes — it trains models in the browser and Google states the camera data is processed on-device for training, not uploaded. As with any webcam activity, a parent should set up the session for younger kids.
What does a child have at the end of the four weeks?
A working project (a trained model, a Scratch game, or a portfolio), the habit of narrating why AI fails, and for teens, optionally a free University of Helsinki certificate from Elements of AI.