Alexa Skill Blueprints Adds Fun & Order to Family Life

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. I’m excited to share about Amazon’s new Alexa Skill Blueprints because I know you’re going to love all the fun your family will soon be having! 

Parenting is a busy business of schedules, activities, carpool, meals and snacks, homework, chores, to do lists, doctor’s appointments and so much more. Sometimes I feel like there is no one way to keep it all straight, without sacrificing fun and memorable moments with my kids.

I used to keep a paper planner, a family calendar, to do lists scribbled on torn pieces of paper all over the house, printed routine charts and chore charts for the kids, homework piles and stacks of loose leaf documents which needed my attention. The thing is, all the stacks of paper and loose leaf slips only lead to more chaos and feeling like I wasn’t managing our daily life well.

Fortunately for my family, I’ve been testing out Amazon’s all new Alexa Skill Blueprints with the Amazon Echo. I was a bit skeptical on how great their new features could be, but after only two weeks our house is humming along nicely. I’ve dumped out all the to lists I had floating around my purse and since Alexa Skill Blueprints has a ton of games, stories and life hacks, there is constant fun and laughter in the house and I’m a RAVING fan.

Many customers use Alexa’s existing skills every day to make their lives a little easier, and now, cross my heart, my family is one of them!

Amazon Alexa Skill Blueprints

Alexa Skill Blueprints are free online templates which allow you to create customized responses and personalized skills unique to your family, routines and lifestyle, all within minutes for your Echo device. Essentially, they’re free apps which have fill-in-the-blank style formats for creating quick, custom Alexa skills on all Echo devices associated with your Amazon account.

What is Blueprints?

The new Alexa Skill Blueprints offers up 21 different Blueprints in four categories, simple enough to create custom responses to preset questions or storylines. Customize your own games, household checklists, chore charts, routines, and so much more!

With Blueprints, you can add custom skills for your home and family members to your Echo, and can set up easy voice commands for a ton of skills such as:

• Hear Your To Do List
• Create a Grocery Shopping List
• Step-by-Step Morning Routine with Timer for the Kids
• Play a Game like Jeopardy, Trivia and Name that Tune
• Hear Family Jokes
• Voice Only Chore Charts
• Relax and Meditate
• Use a Guided Workout
• Practice Flashcards for an upcoming Test, to Help You Study or Learn A New Subject
• Flatter your Family with Compliments
• Leave Detailed Notes for your Pet Sitter and Babysitter
• Have a Dance Party
• Make your Houseguests Feels at Home with Quick House Info
• Hear a personalized story such as a fairytale, dragon story, sci-fi story and more!
• Turn on and off lights and electronics throughout the house
• Set up customized messages for the birthday boy, birthday girl or for Mother’s Day!

To create your own blueprints, visit blueprints.amazon.com to get started designing or just ask, “Alexa, let’s try a Blueprint.”

Here are few of the fun ways my kids are really digging in Alexa Skill Blueprints:

• Listen to an Adventure Story: Craft a personalized adventure, sci-fi, or fable story starring your child. Build the story together with your child or surprise your children with their own story while you’re away.
• Chore Charts: My kids are at the age where they can contribute with daily chores around the house so it doesn’t look like glitter exploded everywhere and there’s a sea of shoes as far as the eye can see. Alexa streamlines things for Trenton and Juliette so they know what they need to do each day when they get home from school.
• Birthday Trivia: For my husband’s birthday two weeks ago, I set up Birthday Trivia using the skill Blueprint with questions such as “What is Brian’s Favorite Band?” and “What is Brian’s Favorite Color.” The kids had a blast guessing and we had a blast laughing at their answers. This would be fun for a child’s birthday party, too.

What are Skills?

Blueprints are created at blueprints.amazon.com and skills are made separately in alexa.amazon.com. Amazon is constantly adding more and more new skills, and since there is no limit on the number of skills you can add to your Echo, the world is your never-ending oyster.

Sample skills you can add right now for example are:

• The Magic Door (it’s a choose your own adventure story telling skills)
• Peaceful Medication
• Daily News Briefing
• White Noise Machine
• Would you Rather Family Game
• 5 Minute Core Workout

Here’s the Alexa Getting Started Guide which can help you along the way.

You Can Watch a Video of Alexa Skill Blueprints in Action Here:

ABCs of the New Alexa Skill Blueprints

• Each week, new skills are being added so you can constantly add more and more features to Alexa to help your family!
• When you get your Echo device, instructions for downloading the Alexa app or using your computer will prompt you to browse a full catalog of skills you can add to Alexa.
• Each skill takes minutes to personalize and add to your Alexa.
• Alexa will store helpful info too like your Wi-Fi- password, where you keep your spare keys, your calendar reminders, and grocery shopping list.
• There’s no limit to the number of skills you can create!
• Visit amazon.com to get started and inject more fun in your daily life, while also keeping everyone organized with one simple to use device.

Additional Resources for Alexa Skill Blueprints:

• Alexa App: Download from the app store on mobile or visit alexa.amazon.com on desktop and click on Skills.
• Alexa Skills Getting Started guide
• Amazon Facebook page
• Amazon Echo Facebook page
• Amazon Twitter page
• Amazon Blueprints App List