More (Awesome) Advice for Young Inventors

The second annual Inventor’s Challenge is underway, thanks to AT&T Aspire and a wonderful community of creative, inspired people.

If you didn’t yet register, please do it now! It’s a cinch to get started. Just head over to www.inventorschallenge.org.

Here’s some more great advice from a few tried and true Imagination Chapter leaders.

Revel in the Wonders of the Material & Natural World

— Priyanka Parekh, Phoenix, Arizona

“Decades of research show that the objects children create are not just objects, like mass produced toys for example, but representations of children’s ideas, changing relationships with the material world around them, and possible uses that they have imagined in an ever widening understanding of the social world. Over time, these objects gain a special status — they enable conversation with things around them, how things work, how some materials respond in ways that others don’t. The best spaces for learning, hence, are ones that enable children to create, make stuff out of stuff, and share, and revel in the wonders of the material and natural world around them. Mistakes and awkwardness are celebrated as a part of the process.”

Make It a Community Event

— Izzy Jowett, Santa Maria di Leuca, Italy

“As a celebration of the kids’ work, we took their designs ‘on tour’ and displayed their inventions at the local hotel, in school, as well as in the local kindergarten and high school. The kids were really proud! We produced display boards that included questions each had answered about their specific invention. The Tour gave high visibility to the hard work done by our kids and hopefully inspired many others to let their creative juices flow!” [Editorial Note: Watch Izzy inspire her group of young inventors in beautiful Santa Maria di Leuca in “Science at Play, Ep. 4.”]

You can download the Inventor’s Challenge Playbook and register on behalf of the young inventors in your life at www.inventorschallenge.org.

— Team Imagination