I Can Invent: Fantasy Inventions & Complicated Machines II™


The I Can Invent: Fantasy Inventions & Complicated Machines II module illustrates the joys (and frustrations) that real inventors face during the process of creating totally new inventions. This module, divided into separate parts for younger and older children, uses science, creative problem solving, and hands-on applications to further children’s inventiveness and critical-thinking skills. While younger children focus on building fantasy inventions that will help solve a problem that “bugs” them, older children work in teams to create multi-step, Rube Goldberg-type machines that solve a given challenge.


On Day One, both older and younger children learn tool safety and take apart broken appliances. During Day Two, all children continue dismantling their appliances; younger children focus on finding gears and magnets within their Take Apart items, while older children begin developing complicated machines that must employ four, separate steps to solve the given challenge. On Day Three, while younger children continue taking apart their appliances, older children begin building their multi-step machines. During Day Four, younger children discover how product names are chosen, and older children enhance their multi-step machines. The week ends with younger children wrapping up their invention process (including applying for and receiving a mock patent) and older children setting their complicated machines in motion!