Inspiring Invention for K-12 Students
November 20th, 2008Discovery Education is running an ‘Inspiring Invention‘ contest. School-aged entrants create a public service announcement that motivates other K-12 students to get inspired and start inventing. It’ll be fun to see the results.
For us parents, It’d be fun to see a similar contest where we’re asked:
1. How do we create an environment/tools to help our kids be inventive.
2. How do we nurture/encourage our children without influencing their ideas.
I’m constantly struggling with both.
In the last week or so we decided to try something new at home. We had a 6′ roll of white paper laying around for years - can’t remember where we got it. We started using the paper to cover our dinner table, similar to the pizza restaurant down the street. The bowl in the center of the table, the one that used to hold apples and oranges, is now filled with markers and crayons. The paper stay on the table for three or four days at a time, and the kids are able to draw whenever the mood strikes them. It has made dinner time lots of fun. Also makes it possible for the kids to be creative anytime - they don’t need us to get supplies out for them. Added bonus: the art covers our old, junky table and really brightens up the room.
