Children's App

Story Writer's Workshop

Children's App

Story Writer's Workshop

Children's App

Story Writer's Workshop

The Challenge

Our project unveils a unique software application developed specifically for students in elementary school designed to spark their curiosity and skills in creative writing. The application uses several core features, harnessing artificial intelligence (AI), to create an overall unique, engaging and educational experience for the kids. These include:

Speech Recognition:
Speech Recognition will allow young children the ability to create their unique story using their voice, which focuses the exercise more on creative thought rather than developing typing skills. It is also accommodating for children with disabilities and speech-to-text can also be used to remove any reading comprehension barriers.
AI Guidance and Feedback:
AI guidance and feedback will help spark ideas for their story (eg: Medieval, sci-fi, superhero, mystery) and be their creative partner as they take turns completing parts of the story. The AI will provide real-time feedback in the form of stats bars that will increase as the child adds more content, gamifying the writing process and increasing engagement in the learning process. More in depth feedback is also provided after each paragraph and at the end of the story describing what was done well and areas for improvement.
AI Text-to-Image:
AI Text-to-Image is used to create a real-time storyboard which tracks the flow of ideas. The core ideas of each paragraph are captured in an AI generated image that is always visible to the child so they can easily see the overall progression of their story. This helps anchor concepts that have been developed making it easier for the child to create more complex ideas and plots in their stories.

Here's our demonstration video:

The motivation behind creating this application was to reimagine how teachers and parents usually encourage creative writing practice. Teachers usually write one generic starting topic/prompt on the white board, that all students must follow. What if instead, students could write about topics that are personalized to them with real-time writing feedback? What if parents could give their children fun apps to use at home which also expanded creative thought? What if they could also speak instead of write to create the story, opening up the door to younger children, or children with different abilities, who are unable to type?

Try out the app yourself here: 👉 Story Writer's Workshop 👈

The Solution

The primary goal of this endeavor is to create an app that serves as a catalyst for nurturing and developing creative writing skills among children. The application is designed as a reaction to the often-tedious nature of traditional writing tasks, offering an alternative that is both educational and engaging. Through the integration of AI technologies, the app provides a number of unique benefits. This includes personalized story prompts, AI writing feedback, speech-to-text and text-to-speech, and AI generated illustrations.

By introducing children to the joy of creative writing in an innovative manner, we anticipate this app will not only inspire them but also equip them with essential skills for future success in a world where effective communication is vital.

Skills Applied:

• React • API • HTML/CSS • JavaScript • AI

Initial Sketches:

Detailed Walkthrough Sketches:

The Result

Our team created a web-based prototype to demonstrate the possible design layout of the application. When a child first accesses the app they’re prompted to select their grade level and preferred method of input (voice-to-text or typing). They can then choose a starting topic idea from a list of AI illustrated cards.

The user journey within the app is streamlined and intuitive, guided by a series of clicks. The AI takes an active role in the storytelling process by offering initial story segments and images, serving as creative prompts for the users. Users then add to the story through their selected input method (speech or text), and for each submitted segment, the AI generates relevant illustrations and provides feedback on various aspects of the story. This feedback loop continues until the story is complete, with users refining their segments based on AI suggestions to meet established writing criteria. The app thus serves as a comprehensive tool for creative expression and learning, making creative writing accessible and enjoyable for children.