My kids have started online learning in place of heading to school each day, and it definitely felt like having mom “boss them around all day” was causing a teensy-tiny bit of irritation. (In my defense, all I did was give them a list of work they had to complete, on their own time frame, and their Zoom meeting schedule with teachers or coaches.) Apparently, having your mom tell you to check your email and work on your math assignment is waaayy worse than listening to your teacher tell you the exact same thing. Technology to the rescue. I made Alexa routines for my kids.
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Alexa Routines for Your Kids
I decided to have a little fun with Alexa, Amazon’s virtual assistant, and put Alexa “in charge” of my kids’ day. You can create Routines with Alexa, and with only a few different “skills”, she can keep your kids on track all day long. And…you can have a little fun with it too! Here’s how to make Alexa Routines for your kids:
- Open the Alexa app and touch the three bars in the upper left corner of the app. A menu screen will pop up.
- Choose Routines, and tap the + in the upper right corner to add a new Routine.
- Enter a name for the Routine. I chose to call mine “Monday Instructions,” “Tuesday Instructions,” and so on.
- Tell Alexa how to know when to start the routine. “When this happens…” You can choose a specific time of day (Schedule), or have your routine start when you say a specific phrase (Voice). I like having the routine start when I say a specific phrase, because I like to use a phrase designed to make my kids giggle, groan, or otherwise think I’m ridiculous.
A few possibilities:
MONDAY: “Alexa…I can’t even. Please just take over today.”
TUESDAY: “Alexa…please tell the girls what to do while I make coffee stronger than my daughter’s attitude.”
WEDNESDAY: “Alexa…I thought I could manage without you, but then my kids woke up. Please tell them what to do.”
THURSDAY: “Alexa…my brain has too many tabs open. You’re in charge.”
FRIDAY: “Alexa…I’m out. Don’t let those kids slack off.”
PRO TIP: If you do have multiple routines with complicated start commands, you might need a cheat sheet! Seriously, especially on Monday, you might want to keep it simple. A simple, “Alexa…it’s Monday and you’re in charge,” works great! (Also, FYI, you cannot add punctuation to the routine start phrase. Test out your phrase to make sure it doesn’t ask a question that Alexa tries to answer instead of starting your routine.) - Add Actions. For my Routine, I mostly alternated between Alexa says (type a message for her to say) and Wait (wait a specified number of hours or minutes before saying the next thing).
My Routines look something like this.
Fun with Alexa Voice Commands
I decided to have a little fun with my Alexa instructions. Keep those girls on their toes. They got a few giggles and kept wondering what she was going to say next. Way more entertaining than mom telling them what to do! Here are a few examples of things I had Alexa say to them:
“Girls, let’s get this party started. I’m so excited and I just can’t hide it. You have Language Arts, Math, and Science assignments to work on. Make sure you Google any questions you have before asking mom. She probably doesn’t know anyway.”
“Ok girls, take a break. You’ve been working really hard and I don’t want those delicate brains to get overheated or anything. Make like Elastigirl and stretch it out.”
“Hey girls, go grab a snack and your journal. You could make a list of your mom’s best qualities. I guess that might take a while, so you can pick your own thing to write about if you want. Your mom will understand.”
“Are those rumblies in your tumblies? Let’s do lunch, ladies. Free time, ahead. Be back at 1 for lots more fun. I’ll be here all day.”
“Can I have your attention please? We need a cleanup on aisle everywhere. Ten minutes should make a dent. Ready, set…by the way, you know I have permission to shut off your wi-fi right? Okay, go. I’ll drop a high energy beat to get you on your feet.” (Then I added a Music command and programmed Alexa to play a specific Pandora station for their cleanup time.)
Alexa Keeps it Fresh
This was a really easy way to add a little fun to our school day. My girls were rolling their eyes and trying to tell Alexa that she wasn’t in charge anymore, but they were laughing, and I call that a win!
After making a Routine for one day, you can copy the Routine and make changes to the voice commands so your kids will never know what Alexa is going to say next. It’s a snap to use the Alexa app to change the voice commands so they hear something new each day.
Tools to Help Your Kids Plan and Prioritize
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