Raising Pixels

Posts

38 posts

Practical guides for helping kids think computationally and build with confidence.

Field Notes

He's Almost 4. Here's What Changed.

What changed, what stalled, and what quietly went backwards as a three-year-old builder became almost four.

5 min read
Field Notes

No Time for Flow

How to keep building when parenthood takes away the long uninterrupted hours that deep work used to depend on.

5 min read
Field Notes

What Happens After the Car Crashes?

Building games with my son taught me how kids learn to think past the first idea.

5 min read
Field Notes

The Independence Day Default Audit

A twenty-minute household audit for parents who would rather govern the system than fight it all day.

5 min read
Field Notes

The Package You Didn't Choose

When the agent installs the packages, you're no longer the one who knows what's on your machine.

6 min read
Field Notes

The Morning Runs Itself Too

The 6–8am boot sequence: one button, two texts from the family agent, a red/green lamp — and the part no automation fixes.

5 min read
Field Notes

Context Filter, Not Context Window

Why toddlers and language models both do better with less on the table

5 min read
AI Projects

How to Build a Game With Your Kid Using AI

The complete method for building browser games with children using any AI chatbot: the prompt template, the session flow, troubleshooting fixes, and age adaptations. No coding …

6 min read
Computational Thinking

When Should Kids Start Learning to Code?

A software engineer's answer to when children should learn programming: why syntax can wait indefinitely, what to teach from age 2 instead, and how AI changed the question …

4 min read
Screen-Free Play

Screen-Free Activities That Teach Coding Concepts

Zero-prep, screen-free activities that teach real programming concepts — sequences, patterns, sorting, conditionals, loops, debugging, decomposition — using household items, for …

7 min read
AI at Home

AI for Toddlers and Preschoolers: The Complete Guide

What healthy AI use looks like for kids under 6: parent-mediated creation, safety setup, what research says about chatbots and young children, and red flags in 'AI for kids' …

6 min read
Computational Thinking

Computational Thinking Milestones by Age (1–6)

An age-by-age reference chart of computational thinking development in young children — what to look for, what to do, and what not to worry about, from 12 months to age 6.

6 min read
Computational Thinking

What Is Computational Thinking for Kids? The Parent's Complete Guide

Computational thinking explained for parents: the four pillars (decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction, algorithms), why it matters before coding, and what it looks like …

6 min read
Field Notes

The Useful Family Agent Is Not a Chore Chart

Family AI gets interesting when it moves household state out of one parent's head without turning the home into another dashboard.

5 min read
Field Notes

How I Run an AI Agent Without Touching My Phone

Screen-free parenting when your brain won't stop building

7 min read
Field Notes

Do Not Let The Defaults Raise Your Kid

AI is already teaching inside the home. The question is whether the adult edits the syllabus.

4 min read
Field Notes

The AI Toy Won't Teach Your Kid to Think

Why building together beats handing them a device — and what the research actually says

6 min read
Field Notes

The House Runs Itself After 8pm

How I automated hard parts of parenting and saved my sanity so I could build things in the margins.

5 min read
Field Notes

Why “Interest-Led” Beats “Curriculum-Led” for Teaching Kids Tech

My son learned algorithmic thinking from garbage trucks. Your kid can learn it from whatever they're obsessed with right now.

6 min read
Field Notes

How I Ship Products in 90-Minute Windows

The parent developer’s guide to creating time where none exists.

6 min read
Field Notes

Computational Thinking Milestones: What to Expect from Ages 1 to 4

Your kid is already a computer scientist. Here’s the developmental timeline nobody wrote.

8 min read
Field Notes

The Naptime Startup: Real Math for Parent Founders

540 focused hours a year is more than enough to build something real — if you spend them on the right thing.

7 min read
Field Notes

Physical First, Digital Second: Why Unplugged Activities Make Screen Time Work Better

How hands-on play builds the cognitive scaffolding that makes coding and screen time actually stick for toddlers

6 min read
Field Notes

Build First, Plan Later: What My 3-Year-Old Knows About Making Things

Why tinkering without a plan teaches kids computational thinking better than any curriculum — backed by Papert, Turkle, and a pile of blocks

6 min read
Field Notes

The Device Is Neutral. The Activity Is Everything.

Why active vs. passive screen time matters more than screen time limits — a research-backed framework for parents of toddlers and preschoolers

8 min read
Field Notes

The Parent Developer's Guide to Building Games With AI

How to use ChatGPT or Claude to build browser games with your kids — no coding or game dev experience required

6 min read
Field Notes

5 Computational Thinking Moments You're Already Having With Your Toddler

Everyday computational thinking activities for toddlers — no screens required

6 min read
Field Notes

My 2-year-old builds browser games. I wrote a book about it.

How a software engineer turned AI-assisted game building into a 12-week computational thinking curriculum for toddlers.

4 min read
Field Notes

12 Weeks of Tech Projects for Toddlers

A Parent’s Guide to Computational Thinking at Age 2-6 Twelve weeks of hands-on projects that teach the patterns sitting underneath all technology – sequences, conditions, loops, …

2 min read
Field Notes

2 Free Tools That Solve the Biggest Problem for Parent Developers

Free developer productivity tools for parents who code in 12-minute windows

6 min read
Field Notes

Coding with Constant Interruptions: A Parent's Survival Guide

How to code as a parent: productivity tips for developers with kids

6 min read
Field Notes

Gift Guide: Toddler Toys That Teach Systems Thinking

Best STEM toys for toddlers that teach computational thinking and problem solving

3 min read
Field Notes

Command Line Shortcuts for the Chronically Interrupted

Terminal productivity tips for developers who parent between commits

7 min read
Field Notes

Screen-Free Games That Teach Programming Logic

Screen-free coding activities for kids: teach programming logic through play

2 min read
Field Notes

How Toddler Negotiations Teach If-Then Statements

Teaching if-then logic to toddlers through everyday conversations

3 min read
Field Notes

Your Toddler's First Dev Environment in 10 Minutes

How to set up a coding environment for kids — no dumbed-down apps needed

3 min read
Field Notes

The Parent’s Guide to API Keys and Safety

API keys explained simply: a parent's guide to safe AI programming with kids

5 min read
Field Notes

My 2-Year-Old Shipped His First Game. I’m Not Teaching Him to Code.

Why I let my toddler build apps with AI instead of teaching him to code

5 min read