SOCIAL STUDIES/ART
"We Are All Inventors...
All We Need is STUFF!"

Submitted by: I Love That Teaching Idea! Staff
From: Nibley, Utah
Date Submitted: April 12, 2001

Before doing this activity with your class, assemble lunch sacks full of various materials such as yarn, thread, popsicle sticks, balloons, glue, paper plates, cuts bottle caps, empty thread spools, tape, cupcake paper tins, parkers etc. (Basically anything!)
Then bring in one item that you invented the night before to show your class what you made from items that were lying around the house.
Then give the bags of "stuff" to each group. Invite them to create their own invention with the materials. Explain to your students that many inventions can be made from regular household items and stress the point that we are all inventors. Whenever we make anything, we have invented something.
After inventions have been made, have students gather in a circle and have an "invention show and tell." Give each group ample amount of time to "show off" their invention and to explain why they created it. Display the inventions in the classroom throughout your entire study on inventors and inventions.