Read Time:8 Minute, 33 Second

AI-

By William Van Zyl

Published in June 2025.

Table of Contents

Focus and learning intention:

Students learn how to use AI (Copilot & ChatGPT).
Students learn how to create prompts for AI images.
Students develop their creative writing skills.
Students learn how to edit text.
Students learn how to structure a story of fiction.
Students learn how to use Minecraft education software to tell stories.

Extension: Challenging

Create a storybook using AI with illustrative images from AI.
Create a summary of the moral of the story. Explore possibilities, asking AI for possible deeper meanings.
CULTURAL FOCUS: Include a Māori indigenous character or component (New Zealand context). For example, include a tahiwha (river monster).

What you have to do in a nutshell:

Think of one of your Minecraft Educational worlds, or any other Minecraft idea.
Think about 3 characters or more that could be in your fiction story. Describe them and give them names. HINT: Write it down or make a simple watercolour sketch.
Add some minor details to the scenes, such as what the boat looked like, the fear on one of the characters’ faces, or the mean shark. Use facial expressions, items, and emotion. Type it up.
Copy and paste the story into Copilot or ChatGPT. For example, ask: “Please create a creative and innovative Minecraft story of fiction: A large, hungry, mean shark spotted a small rowboat in the ocean….”
Copy the AI story and paste it into your Google DOC. Please read it and make some tweaks.
Now, ask AI to generate images of your characters. For example, use the words: “Please create an image of a fierce Minecraft-style shark. Name: “Sharkey.”You could also use ChatGPT and Canva AI.
Please read through it and then make some minor changes. Make sure the story makes sense and that the plot has some drama.
Go to Canva (website) and create an ebook cover.
Share it with the teacher (upload to Google Classroom – GOOGLE DOC).

AI-GENERATED STORY:

Open Copilot or ChatGPT

Example: This is the prompt Mr Van Zyl entered into Copilot:

Create a dramatic story with Minecraft characters. Create the story around the character Sharkey, a Very Hungry Shark. Sophie, a young girl, is in a rowing boat. And a giant squid with the name tenti. The shark called Sharky attacked the Robot, swallowed one of the teeth, and bit the rowboat in half. Sophie fell into the water. Sophie thought it was all over. Suddenly, a giant squid appears. A Minecraft-shaped squid lunged onto half of the boat, grabbed Sophie with its long tentacle, and pulled her onto its hull. By now, the rowboat had capsized. The Minecraft squid pulled Sophie onto the boat and rolled his other tentacles into a small bowl. As the shark came in for his second attack, this would punch the shark in the head and knock him out. Then, from nowhere, a large white-coloured sperm whale opened its massive mouth and swallowed the first half of the rainbow, followed by the second half, the squid and Sophie. They ended up in the dark, dark Belly of the sperm whale. Tenti pinched the tummy of the shark, and he vomited them out onto the beach.

Here is Copilot’s story and some of the teachers’ editing (including some new sentences by the teacher):

The Belly of the Beast

Sharkey’s Bite and the Beast

The square sun hovered over the pixelated horizon as Sophie paddled her tiny Minecraft rowboat across the shimmering sea. The water was calm, and the sky was a perfect gradient of blocky blues. She hummed a tune, unaware that beneath the surface, something stirred.

Suddenly, the water exploded.

Sharkey, the Very Hungry Shark, surged from the depths—his jagged, obsidian teeth glinting like enchanted swords. With a roar that echoed through the world’s code, he lunged—not at Sophie—but at a nearby iron robot fishing on a raft. Sharkey bit the robot in half with a crunch, swallowing one of its diamond-encrusted teeth.

But he wasn’t done.

With a second, ferocious snap, Sharkey bit Sophie’s rowboat clean in two. Wood splinters flew. Sophie screamed as she tumbled into the cold, dark water. Her heart pounded. She kicked and flailed, but the ocean dragged her down. She thought it was over.

Then—a shadow.

From the depths rose Tenti, the giant Minecraft squid, his blocky body glowing faintly with bioluminescent pixels. With a mighty splash, he lunged onto the remaining half of the boat, his long, square tentacle snaking through the water to grab Sophie just before she sank. With a mighty heave, he pulled her onto the upside-down hull.

Tenti was ready.

He curled his other tentacles into a tight, blocky bowl—like a living shield—and braced himself. Furious and hungry, Sharkey came charging back for a second attack. But this time, Tenti struck first.

WHAM!

With a thunderous punch from his coiled tentacle-bowl, Tenti slammed Sharkey right in the snout. The shark’s eyes rolled back, and he floated, stunned.

But before they could celebrate, the sea rumbled again.

From the deep rose a massive white sperm whale—Mobilo—its square mouth yawning open like a Nether portal. With a single gulp, it swallowed the broken boat, Tenti, and Sophie—all in one go.

Darkness.

They tumbled through the whale’s throat and landed with a splash in its cavernous belly. The walls pulsed. The air was thick with the smell of salt, seaweed, and something ancient.

And then…

Inside the Belly

Tenti the squid, with his shimmering, iridescent skin glinting in the filtered sunlight from the gills of the whale, clung desperately to the slick, pulsating walls of the whale’s stomach. The air was thick with the stench of bile and half-digested sea creatures. Tangled in seaweed and barely conscious, Sophie floated beside him in the churning half-darkness.

With a determined glint in his eye, Tenti reached out with his most extended tentacles and latched onto the stomach lining in several places. Then, with all the strength his sinewy limbs could muster, he pinched—hard. The whale convulsed. A low, guttural groan echoed through its massive body as waves of nausea surged through it.

Outside, the ocean boiled as the stunned shark thrashed to escape.

Then, with a violent heave, the massive whale surged toward the shore and vomited its unwilling passengers onto the beach in a torrent of seawater, seaweed, and half-digested mussels.

Sputtering and gasping, Sophie and Tenti lay sprawled on the wet sand, covered in slime and tangled kelp. They slowly sat up, peeling rotten mussels from their hair and tentacles, coughing and laughing in disbelief.

Sophie wiped a strand of seaweed from her face and grinned. “Wow… that was close.”

Tenti, still catching his breath, gave a tired but triumphant squelch.

“Well done, Tenti,” Sophie said, nudging him playfully. “You must have some serious pinch power in your long arms!”

They both burst into laughter, the sound mingling with the crash of waves and the cries of distant gulls.

The Square Sun

As the yellow square sun rose higher in the sky, casting golden light across the blocky beach, Sophie and Tenti sat side by side, grateful to be alive. Their bond—sealed in the belly of a beast—was now unbreakable. The cubic Minecraft seas still held many dangers, but they knew they could face anything together. And as they looked out over the square and rectangular waves, they smiled—ready for whatever adventure came next.

Here are the characters created by AI:

The ravenous shark. PROMPT: IMAGE PLEASE: Sharkey the hungry shark (Minecraft character style)

Sharkey the vicious shark.

Mobilo, the enormous sperm whale, the rowboat, Tenti, the giant squid, and the ravenous shark in the foreground.

Tenti, the giant squid. PROMPT: IMAGE: Giant squid minecraft-style.

Sophie, the young girl (Minecraft-style). PROMPT: Image: Sophie, a young girl, Minecraft-style.

Sophie and Tenti are in the belly of the whale.

Alternative Ebook Cover (Using Canva – Online):

EXTENSION OF THIS LESSON:

Overview: Include

A storybook with AI-generated text and illustration placeholders
A moral summary and exploration of deeper meanings
A Māori cultural component, such as a taniwha

Here is an example:

Storybook Summary (with Māori Element)

Title: The Belly of the Beast: A Minecraft Adventure

Story Highlights:

A young girl, Sophie, is attacked by Sharkey the Very Hungry Shark.
Tenti, a glowing Minecraft squid, rescues her.
Mobilo, a massive white sperm whale, swallows them.
Inside the whale, Tenti uses his strength to escape.
On the beach, they are greeted by a taniwha, a guardian spirit of the sea in Māori tradition.
The taniwha blesses them for their courage and respect for the ocean.

Moral of the Story:

Courage and friendship can overcome even the darkest challenges.
Quick thinking and teamwork are potent tools in the face of danger.
The taniwha’s blessing reminds us to respect the natural world and the wisdom of indigenous cultures.
The story encourages cultural appreciation, showing how traditional guardians like the taniwha can coexist with modern fantasy worlds like Minecraft.

Deeper Meanings to Explore:

The whale’s belly as a metaphor for transformation: Sophie and Tenti emerge changed, stronger, and bonded.
The taniwha symbolises ancestral protection and the importance of harmony with nature.
Mobilo the whale could represent overwhelming challenges that seem to swallow us whole, but from which we can still emerge.
Minecraft’s blocky world contrasts with the taniwha’s fluid, spiritual presence, showing how tradition and technology can blend in storytelling.