Skip to main content

Inventions thought up by kids turn into reality


Children can be incredibly creative and inventive. Did you know that the popsicle, ear muffs and the trampoline were invented by kids? Artist and inventor Dominic Wilcox traveled to his hometown in Sunderland, England and asked brilliant young minds to draw an invention. He then picked the best sketches and brought them to local manufacturers to turn their designs into real products.

"The aims of the project are to inspire and encourage children to believe in the power of their imagination, find some great ideas and create some wonderful objects. At the beginning of the project Dominic led 19 inventing workshops for children from age 4 to 12 that lasted 2 hours each. During the workshops he showed his own designs and inventions such as the Reverse Listening device and Cereal Serving Head Crane. He then asked the children to think of their own invention ideas and draw them down. The ideas could be crazy or useful and functional. Dominic asked the children to start by thinking about problems they have or a member of the family may have that they could solve with an invention."

Some of the ideas are so simple, yet you'll wonder why you didn't think of them. Below are my favorites:










Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Stencils and Subtlety

If there were a Michelin star for public murals, Roamcouch would have it. No debate. His art is an elegant contradiction; it stops you in mid-stride and makes you stare. You argue with what you see. He works with scenes from everyday life, nothing fancy, then drops them into backgrounds full of playfulness and surprise. His murals feel like small rebellions, and they insist on being noticed. Here are some of his recent street art works. Roamcouch has a Facebook page and a website where you can find all his work.

Want to repel mosquitoes? Use graphene-lined clothes

Health officials in the Philippines continue to seek better weapons against dengue fever as death toll from the mosquito-borne disease continues to rise in several regions in the country. Some people use insect repellents, while others use biological alternatives to kill the thirsty little bloodsuckers. Graphene also prevents mosquito bites. A team of researchers at Brown University discovered that graphene-lined clothing not only is an effective physical barrier to those pesky insects, it also blocks chemical signals in sweat that encourage them to bite. "With the graphene, the mosquitoes weren't even landing on the skin patch—they just didn't seem to care," according to Cintia Castillho, a PhD student at Brown and the study's lead author. Since its discovery in 2004, graphene has been dubbed as a wonder material. It is stronger than steel, lighter than paper, conducts heat and electricity, and highly flexible.

For readers who love Basquiat

It's been thirty-one years since Jean-Michel Basquiat 's tragic death, but his work still remains in our art consciousness. Now, a new book explores the other side of the graffiti artist turned painter. "Basquiat-isms is a collection of essential quotations from this godfather of urban culture. In these brief, compelling, and memorable selections, taken from his interviews as well as his visual and written works, Basquiat writes and speaks about culture, his artistic persona, the art world, artistic influence, race, urban life, and many other subjects. Concise, direct, forceful, poetic, and enigmatic, Basquiat's words, like his art, continue to resonate." Basquiat-isms , edited by Larry Warsh, is out now.