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.

Introducing Skill Blueprints – Personalized Skills for Alexa!

You might already own an Alexa-enabled device, for example the Amazon Echo. You might already use Alexa to perform simple household and entertainment tasks including turning smart home devices on and off, playing music, announcing the weather, and adding items to your grocery list. We use Alexa daily for tasks like these. It is really fun to ask her questions and the kids love using Alexa to tell jokes and other silly tasks.

What are Alexa Skills?

If you have ever used an Alexa-enabled device (our house has 2 Taps and an Echo, plus Bob has an Echo Dot at work), you might have discovered the fun of using Alexa Skills.  Once you download the Alexa app onto the device of your choice, you can access the ever-growing catalog of Alexa Skills. They can also be accessed at alexa.amazon.com.  There are new Skills added every week! Some of our favorite skills include: The Magic Door, Twenty Questions and Animal Game.

What are Skill Blueprints for Alexa?

So what happens when skills can be personalized?  That would be the brand new Skill Blueprints, recently unveiled and now available for you to try! Unlike the regular Alexa Skills that are managed through the Alexa app, Skill Blueprints are customized on the web at blueprints.amazon.com.

Landon and I made a video to share a couple of the skills that we created. Skill Blueprints are easy to make and there is no limit to how many you can create!  See below for the current categories that are currently available for these personalized skills (more will be added often)!

Available Categories for Skill Blueprints

Currently, you can personalize the following Skill Blueprints:

At Home: Chore Chart, Babysitter, Pet Sitter, Houseguest

Friends & Family: Burns, Compliments, Family Trivia, Inspirations

Fun & Games: Trivia, Alphabet Game

Learning & Knowledge: Facts, Flashcards, Quiz

Parties & Occasions: Bachelorette, Birthday Trivia, Doubles Trouble

Storyteller: Adventure, Blanks, Fable, Fairy Tale

Keep checking back for new Skill Blueprints!

Skill Blueprints that We Created

We have created several Skill Blueprints and enjoyed playing with them on our Amazon Echo and Amazon Tap. It is easy to use the available categories as inspiration to create and be entertained. The first Skill Blueprint that I made was a personalized adventure story from the Storyteller category.  In less than 2 minutes, I was able to personalize a story with the kids’ names.  They think it’s hilarious to hear themselves as the story characters!

Another Skill Blueprint that we made was Pet Sitter.  This one will definitely come in handy when our neighbor is over to feed our dog and cats while we are away!  We were able to personalize the skill with all sorts of important info – even our vet’s name and contact information!

The kids are so excited to use the Birthday Trivia skill at our next birthday party.  Use this skill to make up a guessing game that quizzes party guests on the birthday girl/boy’s favorite things!

I am looking forward to trying out the Chore Chart skill to make the weekly housework at little more efficient and (dare I say it?) fun!  Not only will this chore work great for our family, it would also be a useful tool for roommates who are splitting up the household chores.

We are having a lot of fun with this new addition to the Alexa Skills family. I see a lot of potential for Skill Blueprints and can see it being both entertaining and also super helpful. Head over to blueprints.amazon.com now and give it a try!