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Future-Ready Skills
A curriculum built around AI fluency, computational thinking, and creative problem-solving — the literacies of the next decade, taught with the rigor of the last.
After-School Enrichment · K–6Cohort 2026 enrolling now
Preparing students
for the future of technology.
AI Playground introduces elementary and middle school students to AI, creativity, innovation, and future-ready thinking — through engaging after-school programs designed with the care of a private academy and the curiosity of a research lab.
Explore programsFCPS-aligned · PTO-approved
Why AI Playground
Programs designed for what comes next.
We started AI Playground because the gap between what schools can teach and what the next generation needs is widening — quietly, but quickly. Our work sits in that gap, with the seriousness it deserves.
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Hands-On Learning
Students build real projects from week one — prototypes, apps, stories, designs. We trade lectures for studios, and worksheets for craft.
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Confidence & Collaboration
Small cohorts, thoughtful mentors, and group critiques cultivate the quiet confidence that makes a student step forward — not just sit forward.
Our Programs
Three disciplines, one through-line: making.
- P · 01
Building Your First App
Grades K–66 weeksStudents design, build, and ship a real working app — one that solves a problem they actually care about. Modern AI-assisted tools let them focus on the idea, not the syntax.
- P · 02
Building Your First Website
Grades K–63 weeksStudents design and ship a real website from scratch — typography, layout, color, code — and learn what it feels like to put something they made out into the world.
- P · 03
AI Foundations & Ethics
Grades K–63 weeksStudents learn how AI actually works, where it fails, and what the ethical questions are — then form their own clear position on the issues adults are still arguing over.
Curricula refreshed each term to track the field.View all programs
Why this matters now
The next generation will build with AI, not just live with it.
Our approach treats AI literacy the way a strong school treats literacy itself — not as a single subject, but as a foundation that touches every discipline. The students who learn to think clearly with these tools today will lead the conversations about them tomorrow.
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From consumer to creator.
Most children use AI before they understand it. We invert that — they shape tools before they're shaped by them.
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Confidence with technology.
When a student has built something with their own hands, they stop being afraid of what's under the hood.
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Creative problem solving.
AI fluency is downstream of clear thinking. We teach the second because the first follows it.
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Future readiness.
The careers our students will pursue largely don't have names yet. The habits that prepare them for those careers do.
Curriculum architectureDisciplines orbit the student.
Fig. 01Safety & Professionalism
Operationally rigorous. Quietly, completely, dependably.
01 · Pillar
Structured supervision
Two trained instructors per cohort. Sign-in / sign-out logs. Calm, predictable session rhythms parents can count on.
02 · Pillar
Small-group learning
Cohorts cap at 12 students with a 1:6 ratio. Every child is known by name, by pace, and by interest.
03 · Pillar
FCPS-aligned procedures
Background-checked staff, incident protocols, and emergency processes that align with Fairfax County standards.
04 · Pillar
Community-use approved
Vendor agreements, insurance, and facilities-use forms structured for community-use scheduling at partner schools.
05 · Pillar
Age-appropriate curriculum
Every module is reviewed for grade-band appropriateness — content, examples, and tooling included.
06 · Pillar
Responsible AI usage
Closed, education-grade AI environments. Clear data practices. We teach the ethics alongside the engineering.
In partnership with
Fairfax County PTOsLoudoun County SchoolsArlington IndependentNorthern Virginia Family NetworkReston Community PartnersFairfax County PTOsLoudoun County SchoolsArlington IndependentNorthern Virginia Family NetworkReston Community PartnersFairfax County PTOsLoudoun County SchoolsArlington IndependentNorthern Virginia Family NetworkReston Community Partners
Representative partner profiles. Full reference list and insurance documentation available on request to PTO leadership.
Meet the founders
Built by students who took their own teachers seriously.
A
Portrait · 01
Co-Founder
Arshia Rahnavard
Co-Founder · Curriculum & Technology
Virginia Tech · Computer Science
Arshia leads curriculum design and the technology behind AI Playground's studios — drawing on years of building software, mentoring younger students, and translating advanced ideas into work an eighth-grader can be proud of.
Cohort 2026
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Portrait · 02
Co-Founder
Matt Speroni
Co-Founder · Programs & Partnerships
Virginia Tech · Industrial Design
Matt runs program operations and school partnerships. He brings a designer's eye to how a session feels and a builder's discipline to how it's run — the combination parents notice within the first week.
Cohort 2026
In their words
Parents notice the change at home.
It's the first after-school program where our daughter shows us what she made, instead of us asking how it was. The shift in confidence has been remarkable.
PA
Priya Anand
Parent · 5th grade · Reston, VA
Organized, communicative, age-appropriate, and serious about what they're teaching. Exactly the bar we hold our school partners to.
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Megan O'Sullivan
PTO President · Hunters Woods ES
I didn't know I could make a real app. Now I made two. My teacher says I think differently about problems now.
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Daniel K.
Student · 7th grade · Future Builders Lab
PTO Inquiry
Bring AI Playground to your school.
Tell us about your school and what you're looking for. We'll reply within two business days with a tailored partnership outline, including curriculum samples, scheduling options, and any compliance documentation your administration needs.
Reply window
≤ 2 business days
Cohort size
8–12 students
Session length
60–75 minutes
Coverage
Northern Virginia