For teachers and homeschoolers

History of Computers: try Lesson 1 free with your class.

20 free videos with printable lessons for ages 11-14, from the abacus to AI on your own desk.

Get Lesson 1 free Watch episode 1

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  • 20 free videos
  • Ages 11-14
  • Lesson 1 is free

Where would you like to start?

History of Computers · ages 11-14

Watch a part, pause, talk, try it, then press play again

Twenty free videos, from the abacus to AI on your own desk, each with a printable lesson that follows it step by step.

What’s in Lesson 1 (free)

A 10-page printable lesson that follows a free 5-minute video step by step: pause times, talk questions, a counting-board worksheet, an 8-question quiz and all the answers. About 45 minutes; you need pencils and about 20 dried beans or counters.

  • Episode 2

    The Shipwreck “Computer”

    Bronze gears from a Greek shipwreck.
    Free video$8 lesson

  • Episode 5

    Turing and the Codebreakers

    An imaginary machine from 1936 and the Enigma puzzle.
    Free video$8 lesson

  • Episode 6

    ENIAC, Baby and UNIVAC

    A computer the size of a room, and the women who programmed it.
    Free video$8 lesson

  • Episode 14

    From ARPANET to the Web

    Messages cut into packets. No computer needed for the lesson.
    Free video$8 lesson

  • Episode 19

    Large Language Models

    A paper next-word model. No computer or AI tool needed.
    Free video$8 lesson

See all 20 episodes

History of Computers: All 20 Lessons

$129 for all 20

Bought one by one, lessons 2 to 20 cost $152. About a term of lessons at one a week.

  • All 20 printable lessons in one download, one for each episode
  • Each follows its free video: pause times, questions, activities and worksheets, and a quiz with answers
  • Games with counters, cut-out timelines and paper models
  • Pay once and reuse it with your own class or family
Get all 20 lessons · $129

Pay on Payhip with PayPal or card Instant download Can’t get it working? Email within 14 days for help, then a full refund if we still can’t

Not sure yet? Try Lesson 1 free first.

The videos are voiced by an AI host; Kit, a real person, runs Kitson Workshop and reviews every script. Each lesson lists the sources for its facts. For educational purposes only.

Printable PDFs

Ebooks and workbooks

Short, practical books for money, study, selling and code.

Start free: the One-Page Budget (PDF). Print it, fill it in, and give every dollar a job. Opens straight away, no email needed. Want the numbers worked out for you? See the budget and debt payoff tools.

Pay on Payhip with PayPal or card Instant download Can’t get it working? Email within 14 days for help, then a full refund if we still can’t

For engineers and curious adults

Real stories of engineering and science

Free videos first. The books go deeper, with a source for every fact.

Kitson Teaches Pro

Engineers of the 1950s

Safer cars, medical scanning, implanted pacemakers, solar power, clean water, open-heart surgery, fibre optics, aerospace research, the laser and the hovercraft. 10 free videos, each with a full book.

Our own drawings, not photographs or likenesses. For educational purposes only.

See the ten stories · $19 books Watch episode 1

Kitson Maxxing Learning

AI scientists whose work helps people

Ten scientists and engineers whose AI work from 2020 to 2026 is helping people: in medicine, weather, floods, biology, languages, wildlife and energy. Each has a sourced Maxxing Edition book for engineers, clinicians, researchers and curious adults.

Each book page offers a free sample: the foreword and chapter one. The books are independent; the scientists named have not made, sponsored or endorsed them.

See the ten books · $39

Kitson Explains · free

ChatGPT dots: 10 safe, practical first jobs

Ten jobs worth handing a dot, each with a free video and a free, plain ebook with step-by-step setup and instructions you can copy.

  • Your morning briefing: a short read-only summary of your calendar and email
  • Your weekly inbox tidy-up: never sends or deletes without you
  • Renewals, free trials and bills radar: never cancels or pays
  • …and seven more, from a family logistics keeper to show notes

Dots need a paid ChatGPT Pro or Business Premium plan and are for ages 18+. Independent: not affiliated with or endorsed by OpenAI. For educational purposes only.

Free 10 videos, 10 ebooks

All ten Kitson Explains books in one download.

Get all 10 ebooks free
Start with episode 1 See all ten

Free ebooks are delivered by our Payhip store, which asks for an email address so it can send you the file.

Kitson Teaches: YouTube Start · free

Starting a YouTube channel? 10 honest tips

One short video and one free book for each thing new creators struggle with most. Every book has things you can try this week. Nobody can promise you views or money, and we don’t.

Get all 10 books free Start with episode 1 See the ten tips

Not affiliated with or endorsed by YouTube. For educational purposes only.

For game makers

Godot 4: finish your first game

Your First Finished Godot Game ($19): a 51-page PDF workbook. A planning workbook, not a coding course. Godot 4 State Machine + Save/Load Kit ($11): tested GDScript with a playable demo and 35 automated tests.

See the Godot kits Workbook · $19 Kit · $11

For small sellers · free

The Card Box: a free follow-up system

A 31-page guide to keeping promises and following up on time, with paper or a spreadsheet: 20 kind follow-up scripts, index-card templates and a 15-minute Monday routine.

Get it free More free downloads

Questions teachers and parents ask

Is Lesson 1 really free?

Yes. No payment is needed for Lesson 1. Payhip asks for your email address so it can send you the file. Get Lesson 1 free.

What age are the lessons for?

Ages 11 to 14. Lesson 1 also works from about age 9 with help. The videos are 5 to 8 minutes long and use our own drawings.

Do I need a computer?

You need a way to play the video to the group. The activities themselves are on paper. Several lessons, such as 14 (packets on paper strips), 18 (a paper “sorter”) and 19 (a paper next-word model), say outright that no computer is needed for the activity.

For educational purposes only. Names and trademarks belong to their owners; no endorsement is implied. Terms