Imagine it, design it, build it! Young inventors will put their creativity and problem-solving skills to work through exciting STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) challenges. Using a variety of materials and hands-on building techniques, students will design, create, test, and improve their own inventions while exploring engineering, art, and innovation. From bridges and towers to moving machines and imaginative creations, every class encourages curiosity, collaboration, critical thinking, and the confidence to turn great ideas into reality.
About This Porgram:
Inventors Workshop is a hands-on, project-based STEAM program built around one big idea:
Give students a problem to solve — and let them figure out how they want to solve it.
Rather than focusing on one “right” finished product, students should have opportunities to imagine, plan, build, test, problem-solve, redesign and try again.
A typical challenge might begin with a question:
- Can you build a bridge that holds 20 blocks?
- Can you create a vehicle that moves without being pushed?
- Can you build the tallest freestanding tower using only the materials provided?
- Can you invent something that solves an everyday problem?
Introduce the challenge and any important concepts, demonstrate techniques when needed, and then give your inventors plenty of room to experiment!
Whenever possible, encourage students to sketch or talk through their ideas before building and to test and improve their creations along the way.
Inventors Workshop Packing List
The Inventor’s Process
Projects don’t need to follow exactly the same structure each week, but throughout the term students should become familiar with the basic invention and engineering design process:
IMAGINE → DESIGN → BUILD → TEST → IMPROVE
Imagine
What could we make? What problem are we trying to solve? What possibilities can we think of?
Design
Make a plan. Sketch an idea. Choose materials. Think about how the pieces might work together.
Build
Turn the idea into something real!
Test
Does it work? Is it strong enough? Does it move? Balance? Float? Fly? Hold weight?
Improve
What could we change? Try something different and test it again.
Most importantly, help students discover that something not working the first time isn’t the end of an invention — it’s part of inventing.
Planning Your Term
Inventors Workshop should include a mix of quick challenges, larger builds, collaborative projects and open-ended invention.
Some projects may be completed in one class. Others can continue over two or more weeks, particularly as students become comfortable with the design process.
Try to vary the types of challenges throughout the term. Explore:
- Structures and engineering
- Simple machines
- Movement and motion
- Flight
- Forces and energy
- Chain reactions
- Creative construction
- Product design
- Environmental challenges
- Collaborative engineering
- Completely original inventions
Projects can incorporate art and design as well as science and engineering. A successful invention can be useful, beautiful, funny, surprising, imaginative — or all of the above!
Challenge & Project Ideas
Structures & Engineering
The Great Bridge Challenge
Design a bridge that spans a set distance. Once complete, gradually add weights and see how much it can hold. Explore different bridge shapes and structural supports before redesigning and testing again.
Tower Power
Build the tallest freestanding tower possible using a limited selection of materials. Add additional challenges such as surviving a “wind test” or supporting an object at the top.
Earthquake-Proof Building
Create a structure and test it on a simple shake table. What design features make buildings more stable?
Paper Engineering
How strong can paper become? Experiment with folding, rolling and layering paper before using it to build a structure capable of supporting weight.
Movement & Machines
Balloon-Powered Cars
Design and build a vehicle powered by escaping air. Experiment with wheel size, vehicle weight, axles and balloon placement to improve distance and speed.
Marble Runs
Create a track that carries a marble from one point to another using ramps, tubes, funnels and other materials. Add tunnels, turns, jumps or other challenges.
Simple Machines Inventor Lab
Explore levers, pulleys, wheels and axles, inclined planes and other simple machines, then challenge students to incorporate one or more into a creation.
Moving Machines
Using wheels, axles, elastic bands, string, cardboard and other materials, invent something that moves.
Flight & Forces
Parachute Engineers
Design a parachute that delivers a small passenger safely to the ground. Experiment with canopy size, shape, materials and string length.
Paper Flying Machine Lab
Go beyond the standard paper airplane! Design, test and modify different flying machines to investigate lift, balance and aerodynamics.
Zip-Line Carrier
Design a carrier that can transport a small object along a string zip line without losing its cargo.
Chain Reactions & Contraptions
Rube Goldberg Machines
Create an unnecessarily complicated machine to accomplish a very simple task! Start with small chain reactions before combining students’ creations into one giant class machine.
Domino Engineering
Experiment with chain reactions using dominoes, blocks, ramps, balls and other materials. Can students incorporate multiple types of movement?
Invent for a Purpose
The Helpful Invention Challenge
Identify a small everyday problem and invent something that could help solve it.
Design for an Animal
Invent a toy, shelter, feeder, enrichment activity or other creation for an animal.
Eco Inventors
Create an invention that could help people save water, reduce waste, reuse materials or protect the environment.
Playground of the Future
Design and build a model of an imaginative new playground feature. Think about movement, accessibility, safety and fun.
Creative Invention
Mystery Materials Challenge
Give students a collection of seemingly unrelated materials and a challenge. What can they invent?
Cardboard Inventors
Boxes, tubes and scraps become prototypes for machines, buildings, toys, games and creations of all kinds.
Invent a Toy
Design an original toy. What does it do? Who is it for? How does someone play with it?
Future Inventions
Imagine life 25, 50 or 100 years from now. What might people need? Design an invention for the future.
Invent Anything!
Toward the end of the term, let students use everything they’ve learned to develop an invention entirely of their own choosing.
A Note About Teaching Inventors
Whenever possible, resist fixing a student’s creation for them.
Instead of: “Put this piece here.”
Try:
- “What do you notice happening?”
- “Why do you think it’s tipping?”
- “What could make that part stronger?”
- “What else could you try?”
- “What happened differently this time?”
The goal isn’t simply to produce successful projects. It’s to help students develop the confidence to experiment, encounter problems, change their ideas and keep going.
There will be spectacular successes.
There will also be collapsed towers, cars that stubbornly refuse to move, parachutes that plummet, bridges that buckle and inventions that work completely differently than intended.
All of those belong in Inventors Workshop.
Inventors Workshop Packing List
Additional items may be requested by emailing Liz at any time. Please give at least 1 week notice when requesting supplies.
| QUANTITY | ITEM | |
|---|---|---|
| PAPER & CARDBOARD | 1 folder | white paper |
| 1 folder | colourful cardstock | |
| 1 folder | white cardstock | |
| 1 folder | construction paper | |
| selection | cardboard squares | |
| DESIGN MATERIALS | 1 bag | pencils |
| 1 bag | pencil crayons | |
| 1 bag | markers | |
| 15 | rulers | |
| BASIC BUILDING SUPPLIES | 1 bag | scissors |
| 5+ | glue sticks | |
| 4 rolls | scotch tape | |
| 3 rolls | masking/painter’s tape | |
| 1 bag | elastic bands | |
| 1 container | paper clips | |
| 1 bag | string/twine | |
| 1 bag | pipe cleaners | |
| CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS | 1 large bag | popsicle/craft sticks |
| 1 bag | wooden skewers/dowels | |
| 1 bag | plastic/paper straws | |
| 1 bag | assorted cups | |
| 1 bag | assorted lids | |
| 1 bag | model magic | |
| MACHINES & MOTION | selection | balloons |
| selection | marbles/balls | |
| TESTING & CHALLENGES | selection | weights/blocks |
| 3 – 6 | measuring tapes | |
| selection | LEGO/building blocks | |
| ETC. | 2 rolls | paper towel |
| 6 | table cloths |
Please note: Not every possible project material needs to be included in the standard program kit. Review your planned projects in advance and request any additional or specialized supplies at least one week before they are needed.