When given encouragement, resources, and opportunities to creatively solve problems and develop inventions, children can generate unique and clever ideas. Some student inventions are humorous and fanciful, and others are highly practical and useful. This article describes a six-step invention process that has been used by young people and adults to develop inventions successfully. Parents can purchase interactive CD-ROM programs such as InventorLabs in which children learn how different inventions work by testing them out. After stimulating children's interest, explain that inventors record their ideas and sketches in inventors' logs.
Inventors sign and date all of their entries to prove when and how they develop inventions.
Children should follow suit and use a spiral or stitched notebook to record their invention ideas. Find a Need or Want Most inventions are created to solve a problem, so the first and most important step is to find a need or want. For example, they could list the situations in which things break easily or have parts that frequently get lost. It may be helpful to examine garbage cans and trash centers to note the objects that get discarded. They record their ideas and sketches in the inventors' logs.