Inventors For Kids

Throughout history, people have experimented, invented, and created new ways of doing things. Kid Innovators tells the stories of a diverse group of brilliant thinkers in fields like technology, education, business, science, art, and entertainment, reminding us that every innovator started out as a kid. Florence Nightingale rescued baby mice, Alan Turing was a daydreamer with terrible handwriting, and Alvin Ailey felt like a failure at sports.

Toy inventor - a pretty wild gig. Wow, who wouldn’t want to sit around all day coming up with ideas for toys? The roots of this cool way to make a living were planted when I was only two. Playing pinball taught me my first word: “nickel”. That earliest memory of “play” is first in this series of 151 vignettes. Each of these vivid episodes from ages two to 21 shaped the playful grown-up I became. It’s a fairly typical American childhood.

Ten-year-old Mark was an unusual child. He worked all day long to create a combat robot to take part in the state championship. When after many months of hard work the robot was finally finished, the whole family breathed a sigh of relief. However, the next day, the robot disappeared without a trace, only to return back to the same place after a long five years...but it was already a completely "different" robot.