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Encourage Your Students to Invent

In honor of Kid Inventors' Day, we're highlighting resources to engage your students in the process of inventing. Find an appropriate activity or challenge for your students. 

Grades 4-12

Smithsonian Learning Lab

Encourage creativity and discovery in your students with these resources from the Smithsonian Museum, the National Zoo, and nine major research centers. Don't miss the distance learning resources, including a variety of ideas for all grade levels.

Grades 4-12

Technovation Families: Curiosity Machine

Connect your students with scientists and engineers to help create projects together. Discover design challenges you can build on your own, including categories such as aerospace, robotics, and engineering. View the videos for even more ideas.

Grades K-6

Do Try This at Home: Invention at Play

Engage students in these opportunities for play that develop visual thinking, problem solving, exploration, and collaboration. Have students create doodles, invent toys, or redesign a current invention to help develop their creative thinking.

Read All About Inventors & Inventions

Learn more about inventions by reading or listening to the books shared in this section. Find the perfect book to share with your students at any grade level. 

Grades K-12

CurriConnects Book List: Inventors and Inventions

Enjoy these books about inventions and inventors throughout history, including both popular and lesser-known figures. All books are divided by level, from preschool to adult.

Grades K-4

Reading Treks: My Brothers' Flying Machine, Wilbur, Orville, and Me

Reading Treks create a virtual field trip of resources about a story or text using the My Maps feature of Google Maps. Use this Reading Trek (with maps and activities) to teach your young students about the invention and history of flight.

Grades 1-5

Ada Lace, Take Me to Your Leader

Embark on an incredible literature adventure with astronaut Anne McClain as she reads a book on video. "Ada Lace" is a story about a third-grader and "inventor extraordinaire" who invents a ham radio to contact people.

Introduce Your Students to Inventors

Use these resources to bring inventors into your class and help your students engage with and understand famous inventors of the past. 

Grades K-12

TeachersFirst's Inventors and Inventions Resources

Peruse this curated special topics collection of resources about inventors and inventions. Each of the resources includes lesson ideas for science, social studies, and other subjects, plus activities about innovation, inventions, and inventors.

Grades 6-12

Da Vinci - The Genius

Explore an inventor's workshop through the eyes of artist/inventor Leonardo da Vinci. Discover elements of machines, gadget anatomy, linear perspective, and the golden ratio. View lesson plans where students sketch and build their own inventions.

Grades 3-8

Thomas Edison's Inventive Life

Learn about Thomas Edison and the impact of his inventions. Go beyond the light bulb and the phonograph, and teach your students about the full repertoire of Edison's inventions, telling the story of how one man became a national invention hero.

This Week at TeachersFirst

Register now to save your spot in our first Winter OK2Ask® session this Tuesday and be sure to join us on Twitter this Thursday for our bi-monthly Twitter chat. We're also highlighting a blog post about Kid Inventors' Day and we kindly ask for your input in our weekly poll.