I built an AI-powered coding playground to teach kids how to build websites, one tag at a time

A M S — Sun, 06 Jul 2025 02:56:05 +0000

I built an AI-powered coding playground to teach kids how to build websites — one tag at a time

Hey Dev community 👋

I recently launched a project that’s super close to my heart — a guided, AI-powered playground that teaches kids how to code real websites with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Most AI tools like ChatGPT or v0 give you the final code instantly.

Cool, sure — but how much do you actually learn?

So I flipped the idea on its head:

What if an AI taught you coding by building with you, one step at a time?

That’s exactly what this project does.

✨ What It Does

The app is a kid-friendly web coding sandbox where students:

Describe what they want to build (e.g. “a birthday card website”)
The AI guides them step-by-step:
- First: Create an HTML structure (<div>, <h1>, etc.)
- Then: Add styles in CSS (color, font-size, etc.)
- Then: Add simple interactivity in JS (e.g. click buttons, alerts)

They don’t get the final code up front — they build it together with AI, like a real mentor.

💡 Why I Built It

I originally made this for my younger sister, who was curious about coding but overwhelmed by full tutorials or coding videos.

So I asked:

“What if I gave her an interface like v0, but instead of doing all the work, it taught her while building something fun?”

Now it’s a real thing — and I’ve opened it up for anyone to use.

⚙️ Tech Stack

🧠 OpenAI GPT‑4 (API for code explanation & step-by-step generation)
🧱 Next.js App Router on Vercel
🎨 Tailwind CSS + shadcn/ui
🔐 Auth (Supabase or Clerk works)
💳 Stripe for free + pro plan billing
📦 PostgreSQL (Neon DB)

Let me know if you'd like a full write-up of how I integrated AI step logic efficiently without burning API costs.

👨‍🏫 Who It's For

Kids or teens learning web development
Parents or educators looking for safe, creative screen time
Beginner coders who want to actually understand what’s happening in their code

It’s especially useful for:

Homeschoolers
After-school programs
Parents who don’t code but want their kids to start

🚀 Try It Out

You can try it for free here (no sign-up needed to test):

👉 https://codiego.vercel.app

If you like it or have feedback — I’d really appreciate it.

And if you have a younger sibling, cousin, student, or kid of your own — let them try building something!

🙏 Feedback Welcome

I'm still early on this journey and trying to turn this into something that helps kids learn for real, not just get instant results.

Would love to hear:

Is this something you'd use or share?
Any features you'd love to see next?
Do you know any communities I should talk to?

Let me know in the comments

Thanks for reading 🙌

DEV Community: A M S