Innovative AI Storytelling: Engaging Children with KathputliInnovative AI Storytelling: Engaging Children with Kathputli
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Kathputli - where stories come alive!
• Pick a story type, age, and language • AI generates a brand-new story in real time, so every adventure is unique • It understands who’s on stage and instantly adapts when new characters join • Children use simple hand gestures to interact with the puppets and influence what happens next • Every puppet has its own voice, personality, expressions, and emotions • Stories end with a gentle moral, making them engaging, interactive, and meaningful 🟩 The Problem
We live in a digital era where children have access to more stories than ever before. But most digital storytelling is still passive, children tap a screen, sit back, and consume the same pre-written experience as everyone else.There’s little room for imagination, interaction, or ownership.
The story doesn’t know who they are, what language they speak, what they’re curious about, or what choices they want to make. And yet, every child imagines differently. We felt storytelling should be just as personal.
🟩 Our Solution
Inspired by Rajasthan’s traditional Kathputli puppet theatre, we built Kathputli, an AI-powered storytelling experience where children don’t just watch a story unfold, they help create it. Instead of handing a child another video, we hand them the strings.
🟩 Built With
• Figma: designed the complete experience and storytelling flow • Figma Make: rapidly prototyped the interactive product • Figma Weave: created the puppet characters, expressions, and animations • Google Gemini APIs: generated adaptive stories in real time • MediaPipe: powered webcam-based gesture interaction • ElevenLabs APIs: gave every puppet a unique and expressive voice • Supabase: handled the backend and data layer
🟩 What We’ll Remember Most
This isn't a polished final product, it's the outcome of a few intense days of experimenting, rebuilding, refining prompts, and learning entirely new tools as we went.
Figma Make alone took us 170+ iterations to get the feel right. And with limited Weave credits, we often had just one shot to get a screen or a puppet right, which made every prompt count.
As a two-person team (@Me and @Muskan), our different skill sets complemented each other surprisingly well. One idea sparked another, prototypes evolved by the hour, and every iteration made the experience a little more magical.
🟩 Where we'd take it next
• More characters, fuller emotions, and tighter lip-sync • More languages and voices • Story themes that grow from simple to complex with the child's age • More interactive challenges, smoother animation, real-time object rendering
🟩 We didn’t just build with AI.
We learned how to design with it, collaborate with it, and tell better stories because of it.
And if there’s one thing we hope people take away from Kathputli, it’s this: In a world built for endless consumption, maybe the most meaningful stories are the ones children get to shape themselves. Kathputli, where stories come alive.
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Kimaya's avatar
Good work… n approach 👍🏻
Aarohi's avatar
Great work! Looks fab✨
 Saundarya's avatar
Great graphics.
Swayam's avatar
Great work, people! A perfect blend of culture and modern technology. 🙌
Meenakshi's avatar
Very thoughtful and insightful!
Divya's avatar
Great work!!
Shiva's avatar
this is so cool, really feels like bringing the tradition to life!
Khushi's avatar
Superb work! Great Job 👍🏻
Dylan's avatar
Contra logo
this is fantastic
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