An inventor is someone who comes up with ways to solve problems or make tasks easier. Check out the mini-lesson "How do you become a great inventor?" to learn more about inventions and inventors.
A woman named Josephine Cochran invented the dishwasher so that people could clean their dishes more easily. Discuss: Do you have a chore that a machine could help you do?
Choose a chore you want a machine to help you with. Then act it out — pretend to do the chore.
Think about how a machine could help with your chore. Draw a picture of your machine.
When your picture is done, find a partner. Tell your partner what your invention does and how it works.
Switch to non-narrated version
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Blank Paper (8.5 x 11")
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1 sheet per student |
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Crayons
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1 crayon per student |
For the Read-Along lesson, you don’t need any materials.
As an optional extension activity, we suggest exploring what it takes to be an inventor by drawing possible inventions. Students will need drawing supplies and you can find activity instructions here.
We also suggest an additional hands-on activity from Teach Engineering for those who want to go farther. You will find a list of activities and supplies for that activity in the link provided at the end of this Mystery.
Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.
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