14 AI tools for DIY projects and young makers

Photograph a spread-out pile of LEGO and Brickit finds the pieces and suggests what you can build, with step-by-step instructions and the parts highlighted in your photo.

Watch for: Suggestions are fairly simple; Pro upsell.

A huge free library of science and engineering projects with full instructions. Its Topic Selection Wizard asks about your child's interests and suggests matching projects, including ones about AI.

Hundreds of thousands of step-by-step projects from makers: crafts, costumes, cooking, electronics. Search by what you have, then let your child pick. Ask an AI to adapt a project to the materials you have.

Watch for: Community projects vary in safety. Read the whole guide first.

Free 3D design, circuits and code in the browser. Kids' accounts need parent consent and start in Safe Mode, which blocks public sharing. A natural first step toward 3D printing.

Kids record their own movements, train a model, and program the micro:bit to react. A step counter, a dance move detector or a wave-to-unlock box are all weekend-sized.

Train a camera or microphone model in minutes, then export it to a web page or a project. Kids can make a sorting machine that spots recyclables.

Built into the Arduino Cloud Editor and trained on Arduino docs. It writes, explains and debugs sketches from plain English. Good for a teen stuck on a sensor.

Watch for: Check generated code before wiring anything to mains power.

Simulates Arduino, ESP32 and Raspberry Pi Pico boards in the browser, so kids can test a circuit before they buy parts or risk frying one.

Scratch-style blocks with extensions for face detection, object recognition, speech and machine learning, and support for robots and boards. A good step for kids who know Scratch and want to make a robot react to faces or voices.

Point the phone at a project and ask out loud what is wrong or what to try next. Camera sharing in Gemini Live is free on Android and iPhone.

Watch for: Camera and mic stream to Google while live. Use a parent's phone with younger kids.

Snap a mystery part, screw or plant and Lens searches for what it is. Handy for sorting a junk drawer of electronics. It can also read tiny print on chips and batteries.

Free, step-by-step coding and electronics projects for Scratch, Python and physical computing, including AI projects for young people. Many projects need only a browser, so you can start before buying any hardware.

The long-running maker magazine and site, with projects, kit reviews and guides for families. A human-written counterweight to AI-generated project lists. Good for finding kits that are worth the money.

Turns a text description or picture into a 3D model you can export as an STL for printing, with a printability check. Great for a teen's custom game piece.

Watch for: Credits run out fast on the free tier.