Packages disappearing? Try scaring off porch pirates with a prank delivery.
Sleeping through your morning alarm? You’ll bounce out of bed when it starts spraying you with water.
Worried about walking your dog after dusk? Skip the luminescent vest and cover your pup’s fur with glow-in-the-dark paint.
Armstrong Elementary students devised these solutions and many others during their school’s Invention Convention. The annual event, which is unique to Highland Park ISD’s smallest school, challenges young innovators to think about how to solve the problems that they and their families face in daily life.
This October, more than 80 inventors put their creativity to the test. A project was required of all third graders, but students in other grades joined the fun as well.
First-grader Bri Butani invented a package with a surprise to deter thieves. She used a bendy straw to connect a small launcher to a foam cylinder. A curious thief who pressed the launcher would get a scare, she explained.
“When it pops up fully, he’ll probably run away thinking it’s going to go even further, and thinking it’s also going to be hard,” she said.
Second-grader Ava Nirmal found inspiration in a California airport. She was so tired that she didn’t want to carry her stuffed dog, Donut. But she also didn’t want Donut to get lost or dirty.
Nirmal invented a stuffy seatbelt to keep Donut safe and secure on top of her suitcase. She experimented with versions made from a slap bracelet and pipe cleaners before finding success with stretchy ribbon.
“The slap bracelet rolled back. The pipe cleaners, clips, and tape fell apart. But the stretchy ribbon and tape — it did work!” she said. “I learned that some things may work, and some things may not. You can try more than one way to make it work.”
Many students created projects to help their furry friends. Third-grader Sloane Grubich invented a squirrel robot to keep pets busy when they want to play, but their owners don’t.
She tested the invention on her dog, Maple, who seemed to have fun with the squirrel. Potential improvements could help the project have even more appeal.
“I’m probably going to make it adaptable to other dogs. Some dogs have different needs than others,” Grubich said. “I could do different animals. I could do different sizes.”
Armstrong’s top three inventors received gift cards and trophies, while everyone was awarded participation ribbons and celebrated their creativity during a frozen yogurt party in the cafeteria, explained Lara Francis who co-chaired this year’s convention with Katie Chang.
The project’s rewards, though, went beyond ribbons and trophies.
Megan Reynolds explained that her son, Luke, created an automatic treat dispenser to train his family’s puppies while he’s at school. Luke and his mom had disagreed over whether the dispenser should include a lever or trap door.
Luke opted to try his method, the lever, and he was right.
“The confidence that builds is pretty amazing. He came up with the whole idea,” Reynolds said. “I love that he was like, ‘this is a problem that in real life we deal with, because we have a puppy, and here’s a solution.’ It’s been great.”
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