Core: Science: Inventing: Patients: USPTO Kids, an educational offering from the US Patient and Trademark Office

Credit: Core Subject: Science Time: Open Ended

Ideas come from unlikely places. You might find yourself humming a little melody and wrapping a few words around it. The spark of creativity and the process of creation can instill a sense of empowerment. Despite a world full of people, there remains room for ideas not yet considered.

Yet, without some discipline, a melody can fail to get recorded. If you don't fix it down upon paper in some form when an idea comes to you, your creation can sometimes roll away into the foggy recesses of your mind. For this reason, I like to encourage my daughter to record her thoughts and her stories. Pen and paper are better than the best memory and.. if for no other reason than nostalgia.. it might be nice to turn your mind back in time and re-read something you created years ago.

Every year, I also try to inspire interest in my daughter for participation in the science fair. Among the various types of science fair projects one can consider lies the engineering project. This is a lot like inventing something. What if your invention actually turns out to be reasonably useful? It can happen; great ideas can come from anywhere. Children, with a fresh outlook and fewer preconceived biases may just be able to look at a problem from a unique angle and those unique perspectives might result in a patentable product.

So how do that? Well, as a first step in this line of thinking I present to you a section of the United States Patents and Trademarks Office website: USPTO Kids.

The site is broken down into three levels for Kids, Teens, and Parents / Teachers. At the Parents level you can download an activity book for young children. Among other things, the  Teen section contains a PDF related to bio-mimicry as an inspiration for inventions. In the Kids section, one of the PDFs demonstrates building a model rocket. The site has many areas for a child to explore as their interests motivate them. 

While not everyone has the creativity to be an inventor, the field does not require any specific degree. Any child from any sphere of life with ambition, persistence, and a crafty mind could find themselves in possession of a bit of intellectual property drawing a little or a lot of income. The possibilities are open ended.