People often talk about “prompt engineering” as if it’s the holy grail of using AI. But prompts are only half the story. If you’ve ever tried to get ChatGPT or another AI model to do something complex, you already know the truth: one clever sentence rarely gets you the results you need.
That’s where context engineering comes in. The trick is simple. If you can explain something to a 10 year-old, you can engineer context that makes AI smarter, clearer, and more useful. AI, like a curious child, thrives when you give it background, roles, and guardrails. Without those, it guesses. With them, it shines.
Here are 10 practical ways to use this principle in your everyday interactions with AI.
1. Always Define the Role
Children behave differently if you ask them to “pretend you’re a teacher” versus “pretend you’re a pirate.” AI is the same. Before giving instructions, assign a role. For example: “You are a science tutor for 10 year-olds. Explain photosynthesis.” This sets tone, vocabulary, and style. Without it, the AI simply improvises wildly.
2. Give A Simple Background First
If you want a child to solve a math problem, you don’t drop a calculus equation on them cold. You start with the basics: “Imagine you have three apples and your friend gives you two more.” AI benefits from the same scaffolding. Feed background information before asking your big question. That way, it builds on what it knows instead of guessing what you mean.
3. Anchor With Clear Examples
Children learn best through examples they can relate to. Telling a 10 year-old “democracy is a political system” is abstract. Telling them “it’s like when your class votes on a game to play” makes it click. AI responds the same way. When you provide concrete examples in your context, you guide its imagination toward the answer you want.
4. Use Constraints Like Playground Rules
If you leave kids alone on a playground with no rules, chaos reigns. Add a few simple rules: no climbing on the roof, no pushing on the slide, and play becomes fun instead of dangerous. With AI, constraints do the same. Add limits such as “explain in under 200 words” or “use plain English.” These rules create a safe play area for the response.
5. Repeat Key Information Like a Lesson Recap
Good teachers repeat important lessons so they stick. If you tell a child once, they may forget. If you remind them three times, it sinks in. AI also benefits from repetition. If a critical instruction is buried in one sentence, it may fade. Restating constraints or reminders throughout your prompts ensures the AI stays on track.
6. Build Step by Step
You likely wouldn’t teach a child multiplication before addition. AI also works best in steps. Instead of dumping a massive task, break it down: “First, explain the main idea in one sentence. Then expand into three bullet points. Finally, write a 200-word explanation.” This sequence makes the AI’s job easier, and the answers come out cleaner.
7. Tell It the Audience
Ask a 10 year-old to explain something to their teacher, and then to their little sibling. You’ll get two very different explanations. AI shifts in the same way when you tell it who the audience is. “Write for high school students,” “aim this at busy parents,” or “pretend your reader is 10 years old.” The audience context changes everything from vocabulary to metaphors.
8. Check for Understanding With Mini Quizzes
Teachers know to pause and ask questions to make sure the student is following. You can do the same with AI. After a block of information, ask the AI to summarize or explain back in a different way. This confirms it understood your context. It’s like giving the 10-year-old a pop quiz to make sure the lesson landed.
9. Reward Clarity Over Complexity
Children love to show off big words once they’ve learned them, even if they don’t fully grasp them. AI sometimes does the same, spitting out jargon that looks impressive but isn’t useful. You can counter this by rewarding clarity: “Explain this as if I’m 10” or “avoid technical jargon.” Simple language is often the smartest language.
10. Keep Context Fresh, Don’t Overload
If you lecture a child for an hour without pause, they stop listening. If you drip-feed lessons in small chunks, they stay engaged. AI has memory limits in each session too. Don’t overload it with every detail at once. Instead, refresh the context with key pieces just before the next task. A light refresh keeps the answers sharp without drowning the system.
The Bigger Picture
These techniques may sound like child’s play, but they capture a deep truth: AI is not a mind-reader. It’s a pattern predictor. Like a 10 year-old, it learns better with examples, guardrails, repetition, and simple steps. By engineering context instead of relying on one-line prompts, you set the stage for more reliable, human-like interactions.
Prompt engineering got us started. Context engineering is what will carry AI into classrooms, workplaces, and homes in a way that feels natural. The secret is not fancy jargon or complicated tricks. It’s remembering that if you can explain it to a child, you can engineer context that AI understands.