Wonder Tools

• 📱The Best Mobile AI Apps

  15-second summary of this post: Your phone is now a pocket AI studio. Design a presentation, get voice coaching, conduct research, or make a quick infographic. The biggest players — ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, and Claude — all offer numerous free features on both iOS and Android. And a growing group of alternative AI apps now offer private AI for free. [See my recommendations for free, private AI on your laptop.] Read on👇 for a guide to the most notable features of the top AI chat apps.ChatGPT: Your Conversationalist 🗣️ iOS & AndroidAdvanced Voice Mode is the ChatGPT app’s most distinctive feature. Ask it to play a tough interviewer or a skeptical client as you prepare for a difficult conversation. Or have it ask questions to help you make a decision. Most of what you can do on your laptop you can do in the ChatGPT mobile app. * Create an image. Ask for an infographic, a cartoon, or a photo illustration. See examples of seven ways I use these images. * Ask for deep research. Get a detailed analysis with dozens of sources. See examples of nine ways I use this research. * Study & learn. This new mode helps you strengthen your skills & knowledge.* Analyze files or images. Turn a handwritten note into digital text, or make sense of any document, diagram, or manual. When I can’t figure out how to assemble or operate something, this offers faster help than a Google search. * Use integrated apps. You can now access Canva, Figma, Spotify, Expedia, and other tools inside ChatGPT. Try prompting for a graphic within ChatGPT while waiting in line with your phone, then edit it later in Canva.👇Pulse is ChatGPT’s best new pro mobile feature. It creates customized notes for me every morning. The AI assistant synthesizes info from my chat history, my Google Calendar, and what I’ve expressed an interest in learning. This morning’s Pulse note, for example, included tactics for using new Substack features, Penguin stories for sharing with my daughter, and breakfast ideas I had asked about for my rice cooker and bread machine. These aren’t news updates — they’re personalized resources prepared by an AI assistant. I don’t use or recommend relying on AI assistants for news searches, especially given AI’s struggles with news accuracy. Caveat: Pulse isn’t yet available for free accounts. Gemini: Your Creative Partner 🧑‍🎨 iOS & AndroidThe Gemini app has five special features, in addition to its core chat capability.* “Nano Banana” image generation model. Edit photos, blend multiple images, or design a poster. Worth trying: ask it to turn any image from your phone into a record album, book cover, or billboard poster.* Deep Research. Generate exhaustive reports with citations whenever you need thorough background on an issue. Try this prompt: “Create a step‑by‑step plan to adopt [tool/technology] in a team of [size]. Include costs, training time, change‑management risks, and how to measure success. Cite case studies.” See a few of my tips for strengthening deep research queries. * Veo 3 video generation. Paid accounts only. Create 8-second clips with Veo 3.1, Google’s new video model. Experiment: create a slick moving background for a slide. * Canvas. Make an infographic, a quiz, or a simple game. Quick test: make a self-grading quiz to challenge yourself on something you’re learning. * Guided Learning. Put Gemini in teacher mode to help you gradually strengthen your understanding of anything. Try this: ask it to walk you through the history of any concept or tech you’re curious about. When I choose Gemini: I use it as an alternative to ChatGPT and Claude when I want particular kinds of image edits and creative image designs. I also use it to experiment with generating short video clips, for guided learning, and for research reports. Sponsored MessageShare anywhere. Stay brilliant.With Flourish, your interactive charts go wherever your story lives. Embed them in websites, blogs, reports, or campaigns. Each one stays live, on-brand, and beautifully in sync as your data updates. No coding. No fuss. Just visuals that travel beautifully.Claude: Your Mobile Studio 👷 iOS & AndroidClaude’s app has a new voice mode I like. It waits for me to tap the screen to signal I’m done, so it rarely cuts me off when I pause to think—unlike ChatGPT, which often assumes I’ve finished talking. You can choose from five voices. Create on the GoCreate Artifacts — interactive little applications — from your phone. You can make games, learning resources, document templates or other useful mini programs. You can also now use Claude Code from your phone. What I most value about Claude is its excellent Projects feature, which lets me organize relevant documents and instructions for each distinct area of work. I use other tools (like ChatGPT, Gemini) for images and video, which Claude doesn’t do, but I rely on Claude for assistance with alt-text, SEO text, project planning, and other tasks where understanding my context is crucial. Copilot: A Flexible Assistant 🧑‍💼 iOS & AndroidMicrosoft’s Copilot app is a good free option that’s similar to ChatGPT and based on the same OpenAI models. One distinction is a new “real talk” mode that will sometimes challenge you. This helps address the sycophancy problem of AI chatbots blindly affirming your statements. Other useful features: Copilot can generate a podcast episode on any subject (like this one about Wonder Tools). It can also generate an image, run a deep research report, quiz you on a subject of your choice, conduct a voice chat. Like ChatGPT, it can even help you understand something in your environment. Turn on your camera or load something onto your screen, then ask Copilot questions something you’re looking at. Ask it about fine print in a document, a confusing gadget, a troubled plant🌾, or anything else. Perplexity: The Quick Researcher 🧑‍🔬 iOS & AndroidI rely on Perplexity for help understanding complex concepts. The mobile app’s voice mode is especially useful for quick searching and getting a summarized response instead of a list of links. For niche searches, adjust Perplexity’s settings to focus only on finance info, academic sources, or social sites for Reddit results. You can also use Perplexity to search your Outlook email or your Gmail and Google Calendar📆 for messages on a particular subject. Tip: Turn on incognito mode in settings anytime you’re searching on a sensitive or private subject. And as with all AI tools, avoid giving a thumbs up or down to a query because rating it signals that you’re OK with it being read and analyzed. Read more about why I find Perplexity so useful🎯 Free & Low-Cost AI App Alternatives Locally AI 📍 iOS | FreeBenefits: Free. No log-in required. Fully private. No data tracking. Easy to use.Getting started. Pick a compact open-source large language model suited for your phone’s processing power. I considered options from Qwen, Meta, and Google. Qwen 3 supports 100 languages and Meta’s Llama excels at summarization. I picked Gemma 3 QAT from Google. If you’re a tech novice or don’t care about those details, just pick Gemma as your model and you’ll be fine. Brief wait to get started. I had to keep the app open for about two minutes to download the language model to my phone. You only have to do that once. How I used it: I recently asked for a custom workout, given my constraints (no equipment, limited time) and personal fitness priorities. The result was helpful and similar to what I got from ChatGPT. Nice features * Customize or personalize your responses by inputting a prompt that will guide the app across all the individual chats. You can explain your personal or professional circumstances, for instance, or your preferences for concise or detailed answers, or any other needs you have for how the AI responds to you. * Set up Siri shortcut. You can activate Siri and say “Hey Locally AI…” to run a local AI search privately with your voice. * Well-reviewed. People seem to like it: 4.8/5 average rating with 208 reviews.* Vision tools. You can use this private AI app for text recognition, object recognition or image comprehension. That’s useful if you want to use your phone privately to understand secure documents or convert personal handwritten notes into text. To get that benefit, within the app download the Qwen 2 VL model recommended for iPhone 15 or newer phones. Caveats* Not the top models. ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini perform better for image analysis than the small mobile models this app enables. * Slow start. Expect to wait several minutes each time you download a new model, including the first time you use the app. * No plug-ins. I couldn’t connect this app to other services. Sponsored MessageFree event: Become an AI Builder in a Day (No Engineering Required) – Nov 6On November 6, 12-4 PM ET, join Section for a half-day of micro-workshops. Hear from AI experts and get practical frameworks you can apply immediately, and a certificate to showcase your new skills.Private LLM | iOS and Mac | $5 Nice features* One purchase for iPhone, iPad and Mac. Family sharing means you can share the app with five family members for free. * Choose from 60+ models. Lots of models available in this app aren’t options in Locally AI. That may not matter, unless you’re eager to use a very specific model. * Change AI models’ creativity level. Unlike Locally AI, this app allows you to adjust the “temperature” setting of your AI models to control how predictable or creative responses are. A model set to a low temperature sticks to more consistent, predictable answers, while one set to a higher temperature will generate more varied, imaginative replies. Caveats* Single chat stream. You can’t create multiple distinct chats in this app. Most other AI tools, including the Locally AI app, let you separate conversations into distinct threads for different subjects. * No help picking models. Figuring out which one to try is tricky with this app. You can click a tiny information button that links to a separate Hugging Face web page about the model, but there’s no easy-to-understand summary for novices. Locally AI has helpful concise summaries showing each model’s strengths. PocketPal AI | iOS and Android | Free Nice features* Fully Private. No conversations, prompts, or data leave your device. * Create custom “pals.” Set up multiple AI assistants or “personalities,” with different settings and system prompts.* Access models from Hugging Face. Choose from many small AI models. Caveats* May not work well on all Android phones. Depending on your phone’s age, the app might feel slow. A lot of Play Store reviewers reported this problem.* Mediocre ratings. 4.1 out of 5 with 1,200 reviews is OK, but not stellar. * The user interface lacks polish. The design isn’t as elegant as what you’ll find on Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or other top-tier apps. But it’s free, and if the AI responses are useful, you may tolerate a lower-quality interface. Get full access to Wonder Tools at wondertools.substack.com/subscribe

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• 🎯 My Private, Free AI Setup

  Short on time? Read this 30-second summary of today’s post. 👇Download a free, private AI program to run on your computer. Use it offline without any subscription cost and avoid the risk of having sensitive info ingested into a large language model like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini. The newest versions of private AI tools like Jan run easily on my 2021 Mac laptop, cost nothing, are easy to use. They’re a good alternative to costlier AI platforms. 🔰 Quick start guide * Download and install the free Jan. Other good free alternatives to consider include Msty, Anything LLM, or LM Studio. * Open Jan and pick an open-source large language model. The model you use impacts the AI’s response style. You can switch anytime. I use the v1 model. * Try your first query. Here are a few quick mini prompts to start with: * “Summarize the pros and cons of using AI for [specific task].”* “Turn my rough notes below into a short summary and bullet points.”* “Turn this angry email draft to my service provider into a constructive message more likely to generate a helpful response.” * Adjust the app’s appearance settings, including font size and shortcuts. * Close other processor-intensive apps on your computer, like video editing tools, to reduce the likelihood of your computer slowing down.🕵🏻 Five reasons to use private AI* Save money: Avoid subscription fees by running AI models on your own computer. Generate unlimited responses without monthly charges. * Keep your data private. Using private AI on your computer ensures no data is sent to or stored on big tech firms’ servers. No conversations leave your device. You can even run these tools offline. * For sensitive legal, medical, financial or personal issues, ask questions without worrying about your data ending up in a large language model’s training data. * Work offline: Having full offline access is handy whether you’re traveling without WiFi, working in a remote area, or hesitant to trust a random public network.* Experiment with hundreds of open source models. Choose an open source large language model that suits you. Each is trained differently. Some are stronger at certain languages, others specialize in coding. New ones emerge regularly. Switch as often as you’d like. By contrast, ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot and Gemini limit you to the platform’s own models. * Tip: Use LM Arena to compare two models’ responses side by side. * Reduce your environmental impact: If you run hundreds of daily prompts, a local AI app may mean less use of Internet infrastructure and remote data servers.💫 Jan is an excellent, free, private AI tool* Platforms: Mac, PC, Linux. What I like about it* Fast and easy to set up and use. Jan takes a minute to download and install. Using Jan is as easy as using ChatGPT, Claude, or any other chatbot, though you do have to make an initial decision about which model to use. * Assistants. Create customized AI helpers for various purposes. One for translating Chinese, another for coding. Task it to “Act as a software engineering mentor focused on Python and JavaScript. Provide detailed explanations with code examples. Use markdown formatting for code blocks.”* Projects. Organize queries into distinct folders for easy access to subjects of interest without searching through hundreds of threads. * Integrations. Link Jan to Canva, Todoist, Linear, or other tools using MCP — model context protocol — connections. * Documentation and resources. Lots of useful documentation including a handbook and blog. What’s Next: Jan AI is developing mobile versions for iOS and Android and adding integrations to link Jan to other services.Partner MessageLighthouse is the leading newsletter for CEOs, COOs, CIOs, and Transformation Leaders focused on achieving success in the digital age. Join over 40,000 subscribers who gain insights into proven AI frameworks, high-ROI strategies with minimal risk, and leadership approaches that empower teams to excel in the age of AI. Subscribe for free.🩺 A Jan case studyBecki Lee, a Senior Technical Writer, uses Jan to explore health questions she wants to keep private. “I have a chronic illness I’m struggling to get diagnosed,” she emailed me. “So I created an assistant to help interpret test results and brainstorm possible explanations for my symptoms. Obviously, it’s super important to take this with a grain of salt (a chatbot is absolutely no substitute for a doctor). However, this helps bubble up conditions I can research further on my own, and it also generates questions I can ask my actual doctor.” ✨ More free AI options for Mac, PC or LinuxMsty The free version of this well-designed app has multiple unique features. Unlike Jan, which is completely free, Msty also has paid advanced features. Its best free features include:* A built-in prompt library with hundreds of options.* Special focus and zen modes that strip away side menus. * Create multiple personas, which are assistants with distinct personalities. Each can adopt a different style or approach in answering your queries.* Knowledge Stacks let you import document collections for analysis. These can include PDFs, Word documents, PowerPoints, spreadsheets, lists of YouTube links, or even an Obsidian vault. * Advanced features, like multi-step automations, require a paid subscription. I’ve only used the free version. It’s easy to use, powerful, and well-designed. I chose the Gemma 3 Anything LLMLike Jan, this is a straightforward open-source AI app that’s a good option for novice AI users. How it’s different from Jan* You can upload files for AnythingLLM to summarize* Enable it to make simple charts * Turn on Web search, which requires a free API key from Google or Serpa.* There’s also a new beta Android version. Caveat: It’s not quite as nicely designed as Jan, and isn’t updated as often. LM Studio This more developer-friendly option is less simple for beginners. What’s notable: Florent Daudens, an AI expert and educator who used to oversee daily editorial coverage at CBC/Radio-Canada, relies on LM Studio for private AI use. I asked him why and he said, “It’s practical, with a user/developer-friendly interface, quick updates when new models drop, a server option, and helpful model compatibility info.” In a LinkedIn post, Florent shared an example of using LM Studio on his laptop. He used Google’s Gemma 3 model to analyze plane photos for extracting registration numbers as an investigative journalist might, without sending data to external servers. Check out my follow-up post for more on private AI mobile apps. ⛔ Limitations of private AI tools* Feature limits. Many special features on other AI platforms won’t work on these private AI platforms. ChatGPT’s new Plug-ins for Canva or Figma, for instance, won’t work with private AI. You may not be able to export results directly to Google Sheets or Slack, as you can with other AI tools. * No interactives or advanced visuals. You can’t create infographics and visual illustrations like ChatGPT’s. No coding and hosting interactive applications, as you can with Claude or Gemini. No advanced searches with detailed citations like those from Perplexity. * Quality variation. Some open-source models have limited or older training data, so results for certain queries may be worse. For ordinary queries and text summarization, this quality difference may not be noticeable. * Slower speed. Depending on your query, you might wait longer with some open-source models than with ChatGPT, Copilot, or other private AI platforms. Speed hasn’t been a big concern for me so far. * Can’t handle as much text at once. A smaller “context window” means that private AI tools may not be able to analyze text blocks as large as those ChatGPT or Claude can handle. Some small language models may resort to skimming longer text. They may also be more likely to hallucinate details if asked for summaries of long, complex documents. 🧑‍🎓 Additional resources* Free, open-source AI tools for journalists curated on Hugging Face by Florent Daudens. Read more about why I like Hugging Face as an open-source AI hub.* Local LLM Group on Reddit, with 546,000 members. Keep up on notable research on AI and private AI tool development. * Helpful writeup about local large language models by Stephen Turner* LinkedIn Learning Course on private large language models and Jan AI Get full access to Wonder Tools at wondertools.substack.com/subscribe

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• ✨ Claude Turns Ideas into Apps

  Claude feels like a genie to me. With its Artifacts feature I can turn any idea I have into an interactive application, visualization, or graphic. Yesterday I created a Flashcard maker and a breathing app. No coding. Just a short AI chat conversation. No complexity. I dream up an idea, and Claude makes it instantly real. I iterate with chat to make it better. Read on for a guide to making the most of Artifacts with examples and ideas you can build yourself.✨ How to turn ideas into apps (no coding)* Create a free Claude.ai account or log in if you already have one.* Navigate to the “Artifacts” tab.* Pick one of the existing templates in the Inspiration gallery to customize.* If you don’t want to use a template, click “New Artifact” in the top right corner of the Artifacts landing page. Pick a category of interest (e.g. Games, Quizzes, etc). Chat with Claude to iteratively design an artifact.* Customize your Artifact by pasting or uploading specific content you want it to use, or by defining a particular color palette or design style. Explain how you want it to work or ask Claude to guide you with questions.* Test out the Artifact. Click “Publish” when you’re ready to get a shareable link and optional embed code.* Return to the Artifact later to update or change it. * 🔁 Repeat to make as many Artifacts as you want. Free users may run into rate limits.Sponsored MessageLet your data do all the talkingTurn spreadsheets into sleek, interactive visuals without a line of code. With Flourish, you can quickly create charts, maps, and interactive content that impress clients, engage audiences, and make your insights crystal clear.💡Try These: Apps You Can Make Right Now✏️ Master Any Subject (Study tools you can make)Create a resource to help you learn whatever you want. Use specific facts, diagrams, documents, or other materials to seed the assistant, or ask Claude to suggest relevant info. The flashcard maker I created lets me paste in some text, upload a PDF, or just describe a topic of interest. It instantly generates 10 questions for me. [See my prior post on using AI for Learning].My Example: Instant Flashcard Maker📊 Visualize Your DataIn addition to summarizing documents or transforming files, you can use AI to make sense of data. Ask Claude to analyze or visualize info in specific formats or with your preferred design sensibility. You can upload reference images or your style guide, or just specify style or tone.My Example: Visualize CSV Data🎭 Design Custom QuizzesIt’s now easy to make your own version of “Which Harry Potter House Are You?” quizzes. Pick a subject and supply some questions. Or ask Claude to propose questions and you can act as the editor. These can be just silly or they can help students or colleagues figure out where they stand on an issue.My Example: What’s Your AI Personality?🔗 Make Content InteractiveInclude a link to an Artifact in your next piece of writing or presentation to add an interactive element. Invite readers or viewers to try it for themselves. Ideas: a visual story summary, a quiz, infographic, dashboard, or a customized cost calculator. 🧮How to get started: Upload or paste content you’ve created —or a transcript, if it’s audio or video— and chat with Claude about interactive supplements that might be useful for your reader.Examples - WT Conference Toolkit Guide - Note-Taking Devices — Interactive Summary Table Sponsored MessageBento Focus | In the era of AI, noise is increasing. It’s time to take your focus seriously! ✅ Test Your KnowledgeTesting yourself helps identify knowledge gaps. You can upload specific material you’re aiming to master or just ask Claude to design a quiz Artifact for you on any subject. Give it context about your level and the kinds of questions you’ll find most useful, as well as your preferred quiz length.My Example: Liquidation preference quiz🎯 Build a Decision HelperFigure out which of multiple options works for you. This kind of interactive poses a series of preference questions to determine a result based on your answers. It guides decisions based on whatever criteria and grounding info you provide. To customize my own matching tools, I use my own writing, analysis and research to serve as the basis for the Claude Artifact. I based the following examples on my own research on AI learning modes and note-taking tools.Examples - Find your preferred AI learning mode - Find Your Perfect Note-Taking Tool🧘 Create Calm (Meditation & timer apps)Claude Artifacts can employ timers and graphics. To make a simple breathing app, I gave Claude instructions about the 4-7-8 breathing pattern. 4 seconds of breathing in; 7 seconds holding; 8 seconds of exhalation. I included a link to the source article from which I drew the information, and instructed Claude to run four cycles of the breathing timer for an activity that would last about a minute.Example: My 60-second breathing relaxation app🎮 Make a GameIt’s simple to make puzzles, simple arcade-style games, or word games. Describe the game you have in mind or ask Claude to give you some ideas to work with. Create your own version of something you loved to play as a kid, or a brain teaser to give yourself a playful mental break at work.Example: Word MorphOther ideas for what to make:* A specialized assistant for single-purpose tasks like generating a QR code, cleaning up messy notes, translating phrases, or assessing headline ideas* A banner image like the one above I made for this post* A prototype site like this mood canvas to share an idea with a colleague* A document or template like this PRD maker (for product requirements) to reformat your own content* Visualizations for creativity or quick prototyping* Campaign dashboards for sharing performance metrics* Sales pipeline forecasts or other interactive charts ⚠️ Limitations to Consider* Sometimes Claude leaves out a detail or a button doesn’t work. Other times, what you’ve envisioned doesn’t look quite right. Solution: You often have to prompt the model to make corrections, which it does well.* Artifacts don’t have built-in databases to store information. So if you create a habit tracker or content calendar, what you type in during one session won’t be stored for later. You can ask it to add an export capability, but if you need the tool to store data you can return to, you’re better off with a more sophisticated AI coding tool (for so-called '“vibe coding”) like Windsurf, Bolt, or Lovable.* While powerful, these Artifacts aren’t agents that can go out to the Web and interact with multiple data sources to update an app.🔄 Similar Tools Worth TryingGemini Canvas | Google’s Gemini also excels at creating great interactives and tools. I made this little alt-text generator for Wonder Tools with a short prompt that took less than a minute. I asked it to handle multiple images and offer two alt-text options for each. Canvas is free for all users; a pro subscription gets you access to a more powerful model. Perplexity Labs lets you generate detailed reports with infographics, create visual dashboards with business or economic data, or make other interactive graphics. Here’s an example of a family museum itinerary planner, and a coffee shop’s financial dashboard. Additional examples: Check out Perplexity’s Project Gallery for inspiring ideas. Caveat: Unlike Claude Artifacts and Gemini’s Canvas, which can be used for free, Perplexity Labs requires a $20/month subscription. What will you create next? Share your Artifacts in the comments 👇 or reply to this email—I’d love to see what you build. Get full access to Wonder Tools at wondertools.substack.com/subscribe

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• 20+ Kid Tools for Better Screen Time 🎨

  Not everything creative needs a prompt. The Web is increasingly flooded with AI-generated images and videos, much of it aimed at kids. Sometimes it’s nice to break free of that synthetic media. As a dad of 10 and 12-year-old daughters, I appreciate resources for kids and families that celebrate human imagination, curiosity, and hands-on exploration. I had a fruitful recent conversation about resources for kids with a fellow dad, Kevin Maguire, who writes the great newsletter The New Fatherhood. If you’re a dad looking for great reads and a sense of community, check out Kevin’s newsletter. (Also read Recalculating, by Ignacio Pereyra). Kevin wrote the section below about simplifying screens and shared the tip about muted.io.The rest of the apps and resources below are ones I’ve enjoyed in recent years with my wife and daughters. From coding with visual blocks to identifying plants on nature walks, these are some of our favorite tools for sparking creativity.🧮 Building Brains Without Bots* Scratch, developed at the MIT Media Lab, is a superb program for learning to code. It’s fun and free for kids — and adults. My daughters like assembling Scratch’s visual blocks on screen to create interactive stories, games and animations. It’s designed for kids 8 to 16. ScratchJr is a great alternative for kids 5 to 7. Free* Dash Robot lets kids program it to move, light up, and make sounds. It teaches block coding, like Scratch, and our daughters enjoy making up their own instructions to send Dash on creative adventures. For kids 5 to 14. $180.* Seek is one of our favorite family apps. Point the app at any plant, flower, animal, or bug you see on a walk to learn more about it. It’s given us insight into much of the greenery (& critters) around us. iOS & Android. Free Sponsored Message🎥 Guidde | Create how-to guides with AITired of explaining the same thing over and over again to your colleagues?Guidde is an AI-powered tool that helps you explain the most complex tasks in seconds with AI-generated documentation.* Turn boring documentation into stunning visual guides* Save valuable time by creating video documentation 11x faster* Share or embed your guide anywhereJust click capture on the browser extension. The app automatically generates step-by-step video guides with visuals, voiceover, and a call to action. The best part? The extension is 100% free.📚 Words That Work Wonders* Libby lets you access thousands of free ebook or audiobooks with a free library card. It works for more than 90% of public libraries in North America, and Libby can be found in 78 countries worldwide. Free* Khan Academy is the most robust online spot for helping kids with learning almost any school subject. It’s completely free. No ads. Khan Academy Kids has great learning activities and games for kids 2-8. It’s also free and ad-free, and it’s fun for both math and reading. FreeFamily Screen Time That Actually Works* Common Sense Media | Wondering if a show, movie or video game is age appropriate? Get a quick sense of whether it’s a good fit for your family. Free* Kanopy is a terrific free resource for educational videos, documentaries and classic films. Access it with your library card. A unique feature: watch Oscar-winning short films you won’t find on other streaming platforms. Kanopy Kids is a curated collection for learning, less commercial than the kids section on Netflix. Free* JustWatch | See which platform hosts a particular movie or show. Free* Nex | Like a Nintendo Wii made for 2025, this video game system gets our bodies moving with fun, non-violent, family-friendly games. It was easy to set up, pluging right into an HDMI port on our TV. It’s a little bigger than a Rubiks Cube. Four of us can play together. We like the sports, dancing and trivia games. Some titles are just for little kids (e.g. Elmo, Peppa Pig), but most are engaging for older kids and adults. The device costs $249 with five included games. An $89 annual subscription gets you 40+ more games.Read my Fast Company interview [gift link] with Nex’s founding CEO about how his game system has spread. 🎨 Making Music* Chrome Music Lab 🎼Compose little tunes, even if you have no musical experience. Explore digital instruments and sound games. Save your favorite clips to share. Google’s MusicFX is a fun alternative for generating music with a prompt. Free* Metronaut 🎶 This sheet music app lets kids play along with an accompaniment from an phone or iPad. It supports 20+ instruments ranging from strings and woodwinds to piano, guitar, and brass. $27/year on iOS.* Tomplay is another great sheet music app that works well on Android and iOS and includes a wider range of chamber music. I pay $82/year for it.* muted.io has a vibrant collection of interactive tools and visual references to help kids — or their parents — absorb music theory. Free [by Kevin Maguire]Art Adventures & Creative Experiments 🎨* Tate Kids — An Arty Playground. Play art games, watch cute videos, try out little projects, and stretch your artistic mind with this well-designed resource from one of the UK’s great art museums. Free* Make an animated drawing. Turn a sketch into a playful moving image. This service from Meta lets you turn coloring into animation. Free* Draw A Fish. This simple, low-fidelity game lets you draw a little fish with your computer mouse, then see it swim on screen. Free* Google’s Arts & Culture Experiments include dozens of playful free apps for learning about the worlds of painting, sculpture, music, and more. FreeSpark Curiosity * How to Raise a Reader by Pamela Paul and Maria Russo is a wonderful guide to fabulous books for kids. It grew out of this free NYTimes guide (gift link). As of this writing, it’s $9.51 on Amazon.* The Week Junior is a terrific print magazine. It’s aimed at kids 8 to 14, but my wife and I also enjoy reading it. The 32 colorful pages feature short curated stories about the news of the week. It also includes puzzles, a weekly debate, and photography pages. Cost: 25 issues/year for $49, or $59 for print + digital access. (See the magazine layout design)📱 Simplifying Screens [by Kevin Maguire]* Consider a Light Phone 📱Experiment with freeing yourself (and your kids) from smartphone addiction with a full-on dumbphone. Reviews for the 3rd edition have been glowing — Wired gave it 8/10. $699 for version 3 or $299 for version 2. * Try the Dumb Phone app. Simulate a simple device with an app that strips away everything but simple links to the core phone functions: camera, maps, calendar, and photos. Imitate a simple device without dropping $500 on the love child of a Nokia and a Kindle. Free or $10/annual; $30/lifetime.* The Dumbest Phone Is Parenting Genius. A landline for kids? If it’s not too late, consider a tactic from Rheana Murray’s Atlantic article: install a landline. Buy that hamburger phone you always dreamed of as a kid; go with a “landline as a service” company like Tin Can and their gorgeous house phones; or if you’re more technically inclined roll your own VoIP line for a fraction of the cost. The bottom line: delay the start of smartphone life.What’s a creative resource for kids that you love? Leave a comment 👇 Get full access to Wonder Tools at wondertools.substack.com/subscribe

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• Gretchen Rubin’s Secrets of Adulthood: Live with Jeremy Caplan

  Get full access to Wonder Tools at wondertools.substack.com/subscribe

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