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Grab Bag Inventing allows participants to try playful inventing and helps them recognize their own creative abilities. Participants work together in small groups to design inventions using common materials.
Participants
Anyone!
Time
20~60 minutes
Materials
Pre-made grab bags (one per group) containing items such as paper clips, string, yarn, pipe cleaners, craft sticks, rubber bands, balloons, paper cups—be creative! Make sure each bag needs to contain at least:
• One roll of tape
• One pair of scissors
• Writing utensil and paper
Below is an example of materials in a grab bag.
Procedure
- Distribute grab bags.
- Tell participants, “You have an opportunity to try inventing with the materials in this paper bag. You may use everything in the bag, but you don’t have to. Your task is to work together to figure out a solution to a real-world problem, decide what you are going to invent, and then make a model of your invention.”
- Hand out scenarios of real-world problems to solve. Encourage participants to doodle and draw ideas before building a model. The real-world scenarios should pose clear problems to participants. Sample scenarios include:
- Scenario 1 You live in an area that has both a rainy season and a dry season. Construct a water storage system that allows you to collect water in the rainy season so that you can use it during the dry season.
- Scenario 2 You live a nomadic lifestyle, traveling from place to place to find work. Build a sleeping unit that can be moved each day.
- Scenario 3 You and your family live far away from a water source. Invent something that will allow you to transport enough water for your family for one week.
- Scenario 4 Your farm is several miles from the nearest market. Build a vehicle on which you can transport your crops from farm to market safely and efficiently.
- After 15-20 minutes, call a halt to the invention process and ask each group of inventors to share:
What is the invention? What is it called? What problem does it solve? How will it work?
If they were going to prototype their invention, what materials would they use? Who would be their beneficiary? How would they get their invention to their beneficiary? - Congratulate the inventors! Encourage them to keep their inventions and continue to refine their idea or use it to inspire future inventions.