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AI Literacy · Stage 3

Spot the Tells

Machine-made pictures leave little clues. Learn the tells and you can spot a fake!

✦ AI Literacy📘 Stage 3 · S3⏱ ~8 min🧒 Ages 7–8★ Free to start
I can find tells that a picture is machine-made.
Start the free lesson →⬇ Printable PDF
Kavi the owl for AI Literacy
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Kavi Spots a Fake

Kavi the owl sees a picture of a girl waving. "Pretty!" she hoots — then stops. "Wait… one, two, three, four, five, six fingers?" She looks closer: the shop sign behind the girl has letters that are just wavy squiggles. "Aha! Those are tells," says Kavi. "A real hand has 5 fingers and real signs spell real words. This picture was machine-made!"

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What your child will learn

1Real photo vs machine-madeA machine-made picture can look great at first — but it leaves little clues called tells. Learn where to look. Tap each card!
2Looks real, or a tell?Read each thing you might see in a picture. Is it a normal real detail, or a tell that a machine made it? Tap a bin for each one!
3You spot the tellNow YOU decide. Look for the tells, then pick and tap to check. Tap Next test for more.
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A peek inside

A picture shows a hand with 7 fingers. Real photo or machine-made?
Count the fingers. A real hand has 5. Seven is too many — that is a tell.

Try this at home: Name one tell that a picture was made by a machine.

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Questions parents ask

+How can kids tell if a picture was made by a machine?

Look for the tells: count the fingers (a real hand has 5, not 6 or 7), read the letters on any signs (machine-made pictures often turn words into squiggles), and check whether things melt or blur into each other. One clear tell is enough to be suspicious.

+Why do AI-made pictures get hands and letters wrong?

A computer copies the shapes it has seen without really understanding fingers or spelling. So it may draw a hand with the wrong number of fingers, or a sign whose 'words' are just wavy squiggles that spell nothing.

+What age is this 'Spot the Tells' lesson for?

It is a Stage 3 lesson for roughly ages 8–9 in KAVI Academy's AI-literacy track. It builds on earlier lessons about real-versus-made and gives children concrete tells they can check for themselves.

+Why teach children to spot machine-made pictures?

Pictures made by AI are everywhere online. Knowing the tells helps children pause and think 'is this real?' instead of believing every picture — an important part of using the internet safely and wisely.

+Is the lesson free?

Yes — this overview and the printable PDF handout are free. The full interactive lesson and the endless practice are part of KAVI Academy.

Ready to play and learn?

Start the free interactive lesson, or print the handout for screen-free play.

Start the free lesson →⬇ Download PDF

Part of AI Literacy · Stage 3 · S3 on KAVI Academy — a secular, whole-child learning platform for ages 5–12.