A group of kids get a get a hands-on lesson in invention at
the Lemelson Center’s Spark!Lab.

Putting Children Inside the Invention Process

"Eureka!" — the moment in an inventor’s life where inspiration and need coalesces into an idea that will change the world. At the Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center in Washington, D.C., the innovative Spark!Lab allows children to experience first-hand the “Eureka moment” as well as other moments in the life-cycle of an inventor’s work.

Designed as a "free-choice learning environment," Spark!Lab gives children and their families hands-on opportunities to build, test and – most importantly – play with their own innovations. Interactive workstations provide a variety of activities, designed around a few key themes following the process of invention:

• Think it!  Identify a problem or area of need
• Explore it!  Conduct research
• Sketch it!  Make sketches
• Create it!  Build prototypes
• Try it!  Test the invention
• Tweak it!  Refine the invention
• Sell it!  Market the invention

Read more: Spark!Lab online 

   sparklab.si.edu