Free interactive resource from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop offers practical guidance for bringing children’s voices into the design process.
NEW YORK, NY — June 9, 2026 — The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop has announced the launch of the Co-Design with Kids Toolkit, a free, interactive resource designed to help developers, designers, educators, researchers, and youth-serving organizations move beyond designing for children to designing with them.
Available at https://codesignwithkids.org, the toolkit provides practical strategies and techniques that help organizations meaningfully engage children throughout the design and development process.
Children are the intended users of products, technologies, educational experiences, and services, yet they are rarely involved in shaping them. The Co-Design with Kids Toolkit seeks to change that by making participatory design practices more accessible and actionable for organizations of all sizes. Developed as part of the Cooney Center Sandbox with the generous support of the Walton Family Foundation, the Toolkit offers research-based techniques developed by experts in co-design.
“Researchers understand how children learn,” said Michael Preston, PhD, Executive Director. “Product teams move quickly and know their users. And children themselves have ideas that routinely surprise the adults in the room — if we meaningfully include them. The Co-Design with Kids toolkit helps bring all three together.”
The toolkit supports organizations at every stage of the design process, from early ideation and brainstorming to prototyping, testing, and iteration. Resources are designed for both newcomers and experienced practitioners and can be adapted across a wide range of contexts, including education, technology, media, research, and youth development.
The launch comes at a time when educators, designers, and technology developers are increasingly recognizing the value of participatory approaches that center the voices and lived experiences of the people they serve. It’s even more critical to hear from all these stakeholders when developing AI that children will use.
“Co-design isn’t simply about collecting feedback,” said Medha Tare, PhD, Senior Director of Research. “It’s about recognizing children as capable contributors whose ideas can strengthen innovation. We hope this toolkit helps organizations build more meaningful partnerships with young people and ultimately create experiences that better reflect children’s needs, interests, and aspirations.”
The Co-Design with Kids Toolkit is available at https://codesignwithkids.org.
About the Co-Design with Kids Toolkit
The Co-Design with Kids Toolkit is a practical, interactive resource to help organizations meaningfully partner with children throughout the design and development process. Designed for developers, designers, educators, researchers, and youth-serving organizations, the toolkit provides facilitation strategies, ethical guidance, adaptable activities, and planning tools that support participatory design practices across sectors. The Co-Design with Kids Toolkit was produced by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center with generous funding from the Walton Family Foundation.
About the Joan Ganz Cooney Center
The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop is an independent research and innovation lab dedicated to advancing learning and well-being in a digital age. Through research, convenings, and practical resources, the Center works to ensure that emerging technologies and media experiences support positive outcomes for children and families.