Using Alexa Skill Blueprints

This post was sponsored by Amazon as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.

As a mom of four, I always have my eye open for two things.

1) Fun little items to capitalize on family moments.

2) Items to make my life a little easier.

Our family has always seen the Amazon Echo as a fun way to check the weather or play music. The kids definitely enjoy asking Alexa to play different songs. But, recently, with the addition of Amazon Alexa Skill Blueprints, our Echo has turned into a device that fulfills numbers one and two above!

With Alexa Skill Blueprints, I can choose from over twenty templates in six categories to create customized functions for my family. Creating a Blueprint is easy. I can hear sample Blueprints by saying, “Alexa, let’s try a Blueprint” and then make my own for my family at blueprints.amazon.com.

So exactly what IS a Blueprint, you ask?

A Blueprint is a customized feature for your Amazon Echo that is specific for your family. My kids favorite Blueprint is the Adventure Story. Do your kids love those mad lib stories? Mine do! With the Adventure Story Skill Blueprint, I can create a custom story where they are able to insert words before the story that will be used in the story (like a mad lib). The results are often hilarious (Mommy saves the day in Our Alien Story!), and it creates fun family bonding that doesn’t require much effort on my part. With the upcoming summer break, we will be spending more time at home, and I’m looking forward to trying out more of the Adventure Stories.

The Skills Blueprints feature makes my life easier in regards to reviewing testing terms with my daughter. With the flash cards Blueprint, I can insert my daughter’s vocabulary list at the beginning of each week. Alexa will then review the vocabulary terms with her. My daughter simply says, “Alexa, Open My Vocabulary Test.” Alexa then calls out the terms, helps her review, and then tests her knowledge. I can even customize the encouraging phrases that Alexa says when my daughter is finished reviewing. This would be especially helpful for parents who work outside the home or during different shifts and cannot help their kiddo study at night. Set the Skill Blueprint up from any computer, and then the child can review their test material at home.

See our Amazon Echo in action in the short video below.

Other fun Skill Blueprints include a Birthday Trivia game where birthday party guests can guess facts about the birthday boy or girl and a Chore Chart feature to streamline busy households.

If you currently own an Amazon Echo and use Skills, please note that the section for setting up Skill Blueprints is different than the section for Skills alone. Be sure to visit this link to set up your Skill Blueprints.

If you do not currently own an Amazon Echo, you can purchase one from Amazon.com. Ordering from Amazon.com is easy and shipping is always quick, so you can have your customized Blueprint set up in record time.