Yet many students don’t see themselves as being capable of creating anything. Parents can help kids break through such thinking by believing in them. And it’s important to show students practical ways to be inventive when they need to be.

One junior high school inventor says she learned how to invent by taking these steps:

• Find a problem you think you can fix with an invention.
• Write down the problem and why it needs to be solved.
• Brainstorm possible solutions. Don’t be concerned about whether you can do them.
• Organize your thoughts. Select the best three ideas based on which you think would be the most effective.
• Decide on the one you are most capable of doing. Make different sketches of it.
• Do experiments on your idea. Write all information and data in a log book.
• Choose the experiment that turned out the best. Do the experiment again to see if you get the same results.
• Run tests on the product.
• Make improvements if needed. Give it a name.
• If your product is a model of what the real thing should be, make the real thing.

Once the product is the best it can be, your child might want to consider getting it patented. She can ask a teacher how to apply for a patent.

Copyright © Parent Institute