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📅
Do one part per day or one per week. Each session takes 5–10 minutes. Spreading them out gives the habit time to form between sessions — that's how the skill sticks at this age. Part 4 is optional and only applies if your family has a smart speaker.
Materials 📋 This page 🟨 1 sticky note or webcam cover (~$0.10) ⭐ Stickers for the reward 📱 Device (for Parts 2–3, if available)

💡 The one habit

Every session teaches the same thing in a different way:

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Pause and ask a grown-up before tapping.
That's the whole skill. An app that wants to use the camera, microphone, or your location is asking for something big. At age 4–6, the right answer is always: pause, find a grown-up, ask.

You don't need your child to "understand permissions." You need them to pause before tapping a button that asks for something. That pause is the goal.

Part 1 · The eye
The camera — working or resting?
📷 The eye is WORKING The camera can see. Someone — or some app — might be watching.
🙈 The eye is RESTING Covered or face-down. Nothing can see in. Safe.
Opener: Hold the device camera facing your child and say: "This is the eye. Right now, can it see you?" Let them look at themselves on screen. Then cover it with your hand and ask again. The eye is either working or resting. That's the whole idea.
  1. Show your child where the front camera is on your device. Let them wave at themselves.
  2. Ask: "Is the eye working right now? Can it see you?"
  3. Cover the camera with your thumb. Ask: "Now?" Let them discover the eye is resting.
  4. Take the sticky note. Together, stick it over the camera lens. Say: "Now the eye is always resting until we choose to wake it up."
  5. Ask: "What would you do if an app asked to use the eye?" Wait for them. The answer you're building toward: "Ask you first."
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The pause moment: "If any app or game asks to use the camera — that's the eye. It's a big ask. We pause and find a grown-up first. Always."

The sticky note does not need to stay permanently — the habit does. If your child wants to remove it to take a photo together, that's fine. Let them put it back themselves.

Part 2 · The ears
The microphone — is it listening?
The idea: The microphone is the device's ear. Some apps ask to listen all the time. Some only listen when you tap the mic button. Some should never need to listen at all. Your child doesn't need to know which is which — they need to know that any mic permission is a grown-up question.
  1. Say: "Devices have ears too — they're called microphones. Right now, is this one listening to us?" Let them guess. Answer: we don't always know — that's why we're careful.
  2. Open the voice assistant on your device (Siri, Google, etc.) and show them it responds to your voice. Say: "It was listening for its name. When it heard it, it woke up."
  3. Say: "Some apps ask to listen ALL the time, not just for their name. That's a big ask."
  4. Ask: "If a game asked to listen to you, what would you do?" Practise together: "Pause. Find a grown-up. Ask."
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The pause moment: "If an app asks to use the microphone — that's the ears. Another big ask. Pause and get me before you tap anything."
Part 3 · The memory
What does the device remember?
The idea: Devices remember where they have been, what they have photographed, and what apps have been used. This part introduces the concept simply: devices have a very good memory, and that memory belongs to your family, not to apps.
  1. Say: "Do you know what this device remembers?" Let them list things: photos, videos, games, music. Confirm each one.
  2. Show them the photo gallery — just scroll past a few recent photos together. Say: "The device remembered all of these. It has a very good memory."
  3. Ask: "What if an app wanted to look at all these photos? Should it?" Answer together: No — photos are private. Apps need to ask, and grown-ups decide.
  4. Explain location: "Some apps also ask to remember WHERE we go. Like a map that tracks us. That's another big ask — always a grown-up question."
  5. Practise once more: "Eye, ears, memory — what do we do if an app asks for any of them?" Wait for: "Pause. Ask you."
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The pause moment: "Photos, videos, and where we go — that's our family's memory, not the app's. If anything asks to see it or track it, come get me first."
Part 4 · The voice in the house
Smart speakers — always listening?
Optional
Only do this part if your family has a smart speaker (Amazon Echo, Google Home, Apple HomePod, or similar). Library programmes: this part requires bringing your own device — skip it for drop-in sessions without one.
  1. Point to the smart speaker and ask: "Is this one listening right now?" The honest answer: yes — always, for its wake word.
  2. Demonstrate: say the wake word and ask it a simple question (weather, a joke). Then say: "It was waiting for its name the whole time."
  3. Explain: "We chose to let it listen for its name. That was our decision. We're in charge of it, not the other way around."
  4. Ask: "What would you do if it heard something private by accident?" Answer: we can mute it (show the mute button), or just talk about private things in a different room.
  5. Show them the mute button. Let them press it and watch the light change. Say: "Now its ears are off. We put them off."
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The pause moment: "We are in charge of which ears are open in this house. If something doesn't sound right, we can turn them off."
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The Device Guardian Sticker

Give a sticker after each part your child completes — one per session, earned by finishing. At the end of all four parts (three or four, if Part 4 applies), they are a Device Guardian: someone who knows their device has eyes, ears, and a memory — and chooses who gets to use them.

The big reward is the vocabulary, not the sticker. Watch for them using the words unprompted.

🌱 Signs it's working

Next step at ages 7–9: The same awareness grows into "what does this app actually need my location for?" — the next level of permission literacy in the DCC Kids sequence.