A Summer with Generation Alpha

Gen Alpha are those born between 2010-2025

The summer vacation of 2026 has just ended for us. Over the three months from April to June, our seven grandchildren spent different stretches of time with us. Thanks to the June vacation schedule followed in North India, we had opportunities to be with all of them at various times.

It was a delightful experience to observe these growing children at close quarters. Their thoughts, interests, and activities often seemed very different from ours. The older group consisted of four school-going children studying from Classes Two to Five, while the younger three ranged in age from two-and-a-half years to just over a year old.

Every vacation spent with children teaches us something new. This summer raised an important question: How do we nurture Generation Alpha—the first generation born entirely in the digital age?

Born to Create

The four older cousins could be together for less than a week. Yet months before their meeting, they had already begun planning a project. Their goal was to make a movie.

The script remained a closely guarded secret. We only knew that it revolved around a detective story. The cast, crew, and roles had all been assigned among themselves. The camera, naturally, was one of our mobile phones.

During the final week of May, our home echoed with shouts of “Action!” and “Take!” as they ran around filming scenes. In the end, the project did not produce the movie they had envisioned. Technical challenges, lack of planning, and perhaps youthful impatience caused the venture to fizzle out.

Yet what impressed us was not the outcome but the process. These children had imagined, planned, collaborated, assigned responsibilities, experimented, and finally resolved to do better during the next vacation. The experience itself was a lesson in creativity and teamwork.

The Restaurant in the Car Porch

One evening we took them to a nearby restaurant. The outing had an unexpected consequence.

Within a day, they had decided to start a restaurant of their own.

The location was simple—our car porch and sit-out. The name was finalized. The menu was ready. The business plan was sketched out with remarkable enthusiasm. Their imagination transformed an ordinary household space into a commercial venture.

Looking at their plans, one could only admire their ingenuity. It made me wonder whether my earlier blog on the mushrooming of eateries in Kerala and the emerging “orange economy” had influenced them. Perhaps it had. Perhaps not. Children absorb ideas from countless sources and then reshape them in their own unique ways.

Creativity in Everyday Life

The eldest grandchild, now in Class Five, is constantly engaged in creating something. She cuts paper into intricate shapes, designs posters, and prepares handmade greeting cards for special occasions.

Each card is different. One recent creation even contained a small pouch holding a heart-shaped paper insert.

What strikes me is the originality behind these efforts. There are no instructions, no templates, and no rewards involved. The motivation comes entirely from within. It is creativity in its purest form.

Not Always Perfect

Of course, childhood is not all imagination and harmony.

At times, we heard angry words, arguments, and the occasional scuffle among the cousins. Disagreements erupted unexpectedly and seemed serious at the moment. Yet, just as quickly, they disappeared. Within minutes, they were back together, playing as if nothing had happened.

Perhaps there is a lesson here for adults. Children often possess a remarkable ability to forgive and move on.

The Academic Challenge

My youngest daughter lives in Delhi and works in the IT sector. During her son’s June vacation, she was working from home while simultaneously managing his studies.

The boy, now in Class Four, faces tests immediately after school reopens on July 1. Teachers had assigned projects and model-making activities to be completed during the holidays.

Such assignments often place significant pressure on working parents. The challenge is not merely helping with the work but motivating a child to engage with academic tasks during what he sees as vacation time.

Resistance frequently led to frustration, tears, and raised voices. Watching this, one could appreciate the enormous demands placed on today’s parents and teachers.

Amidst all this, I was fascinated by one of his textbooks—Tekie.AI, a computer studies book designed in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. Here were children being introduced to Artificial Intelligence at an age when previous generations were still mastering basic arithmetic.

What will they learn? How will they use these technologies? More importantly, what kind of future awaits them? Will the introduction of AI kill their natural creativity?

A Grandfather’s Experiment

I played a modest role by helping him revise English grammar lessons taught during the first month of school.

I prepared questions from each chapter and asked him to write answers. The results were revealing. He answered nearly 90 percent correctly, demonstrating clear understanding. Yet persuading him to sit still and write for even ten minutes was a challenge.

His handwriting was nearly illegible, and my attempts to improve it through cursive writing exercises met with firm resistance.

Eventually, I surrendered. At that point, I gained a deeper appreciation for the patience required of parents and teachers.

How Do We Grow and Educate Them?

As I reflect on the experiences of spending time with my grandchildren, I am reminded of the lyrics from the classic movie The Sound of Music:

*”But how do you make her stay
And listen to all you say?
How do you keep a wave upon the sand?
Oh, how do you solve a problem like Maria?
How do you hold a moon in your hand?”

They are not the problem. In fact, Generation Alpha may well be the most creative and resourceful generation we have seen. The challenge lies not with them, but with us—parents, grandparents, and educators—who are striving to understand, guide, and educate children growing up in a world vastly different from the one we knew.

We speak today of the Creative Age, the Orange Economy, and the future of innovation. Yet these children seem to arrive naturally equipped with many of the qualities that this age demands—curiosity, imagination, collaboration, experimentation, and an ease with technology. The question before us is not how to make them creative, but how to nurture and channel the creativity they already possess.

Bloom’s Taxonomy and the Place of Creativity

Having been an educator for over forty years, my thoughts naturally turned to the fundamentals of teaching and learning—Bloom’s Taxonomy. For decades, Bloom’s Taxonomy has served as a guiding framework in education. In its revised form, the hierarchy progresses through six cognitive levels: Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyse, Evaluate, and finally, Create. Significantly, “Create” occupies the highest position, recognising creativity as the most advanced form of learning and thinking.

This emphasis on creativity is particularly relevant in preparing children for a future where innovation, design, content creation, and problem-solving will increasingly define success.

Flipping Bloom’s Taxonomy

After watching my grandchildren I joined Ms Shelly Wright in questioning the pyramid because it creates the impression that there is a scarcity of creativity — only those who can traverse the bottom levels and reach the summit can be creative.

Educational thinker Shelley Wright, in her article Flipping Bloom’s Taxonomy (2012), challenges the traditional approach. She argues: “In the 21st century, we flip Bloom’s taxonomy. Rather than starting with knowledge, we start with creating, and eventually discern the knowledge that we need from it.”

In reality, children often learn by creating first—through play, experimentation, storytelling, building, drawing, filming, and exploring. The process of creation itself becomes a pathway to knowledge.

This student-centred approach may not always fit comfortably within highly structured educational systems, but it resonates strongly with the natural learning patterns of today’s children.

Beyond the Pyramid

Bloom’s Taxonomy has also attracted criticism for its rigid pyramid representation. More recent interpretations portray the framework as a set of interlocking cogs, symbolising the interconnected nature of cognition. In this model, “Create” is not merely the final destination; it interacts continuously with remembering, understanding, analysing, and evaluating.

The image of interconnected gears better reflects how learning actually occurs. Creativity is not an endpoint but a driving force that energises all other forms of thinking. Such an understanding is especially important in preparing young learners for the emerging Orange Economy, where originality, innovation, and adaptability are prized assets.

Preserving and nurturing the childlike creativity is the greatest challenge today. Is our education system killing or nurturing the inborn creativity of gen alpha? And the bigger question: Is AI a facilitator or a threat to creativity?

The Responsibility Before Us

The ball is now firmly in the court of parents and educators. Generation Alpha possesses an innate creativity that often surprises and challenges us. Our task is not to constrain it within rigid boundaries but to provide the environment, encouragement, and opportunities that allow it to flourish.

As we look towards a future that increasingly values ideas over routines and innovation over repetition, one question remains before us: Are we prepared to nurture the creative potential that these children already carry within them?

The future seems ready for Generation Alpha. The greater challenge may be whether we, their parents and educators, are ready for them.