13 games to spot fakes together (AI images, deepfakes, misinformation)

Two faces appear side by side: one photo, one made by AI. Click the real one. It is quick, competitive, and opens a talk about how convincing fake people can be.

Watch for: The fake faces come from older AI; today's fakes are harder to spot. Say so.

You play a fake-news tycoon and learn six tricks used to manipulate people. Studies by its makers found players got better at spotting misinformation. Learning the tricks from the inside works as a kind of vaccine.

Watch for: Some crude humor and political themes. Preview it first.

A 10-minute cartoon game where you stir up trouble in a quiet town with fake stories about a 'bear controller' election. It shows how outrage spreads, without real-world politics.

1. Play it once together.
2. List the tricks you used.
3. Find one of those tricks in a real post this week.

Look at eight social media profiles and decide which are real and which are fake accounts. After each answer it explains the warning signs. The updated version covers scams and health fakes.

A browser adventure game where kids cross a river by judging what is real and what is a trick online. No login needed. A gentle first step for younger kids.

Pick a viral photo and race to find where it first appeared. Kids learn the most reliable fake-spotting skill: tracing the source, not staring at pixels.

1. Pick an image from the news or a feed.
2. Search it with Google Lens.
3. Find the oldest copy and who posted it.
4. Decide: real, fake, or real photo with a false caption?

Upload an image to see whether it carries Content Credentials, a label some cameras and AI tools attach to show how it was made. Kids learn that labels help but that most images have none.

Watch for: No label does not mean fake, and labels can be stripped. Use it as one clue.

Short write-ups of viral rumors, including AI-generated images, with the checking steps shown. Read one together each week and guess before you read the verdict.

Fact-checkers leave a site and search what others say about it. These free lessons teach that move. Race each other: who can find out who runs a website fastest?

Watch for: Free account needed for some lessons.

A parent makes a few AI images of everyday scenes and mixes them with your own photos. Kids guess. Then swap. Seeing how easy fakes are to make is the strongest lesson.

1. Parent takes five real photos around town.
2. Parent makes five similar AI images.
3. Shuffle and guess.
4. Talk about which clues worked and which failed.

Watch for: Use your own photos of places and objects, never real people's faces.

Voice-cloning scams fake a family member's voice asking for help. Pick a secret family code word, then role-play a call where someone 'sounds like Grandma' but doesn't know it.

1. Choose a word no one would guess.
2. Never post it or text it.
3. Practice: ask for the word on any urgent call.
4. If the caller can't say it, hang up and call back.

Short fact-checking lessons and videos for teens from Poynter, a journalism nonprofit. Good for a teen who wants to go further on their own, with tips they can use on the feeds they actually scroll.

Pick a claim you saw this week and see if FactCheck.org, Snopes or PolitiFact has checked it. Compare how each one explains the evidence, and notice how often the full story is more complicated than the post.