Kid Inventors’ Day
These young minds are like mini scientists, creating ingenious solutions to everyday problems with their boundless curiosity and creativity.
Inspire families to unlock children's creative potential with STEM kits, workshops, and educational products that celebrate young innovators.
- From swim flippers to trampolines: celebrate the inventions kids created that changed the world
- Host a family invention challenge: DIY STEM activities inspired by Kid Inventors' Day
- Spotlight young makers: share customer stories of kids who built something amazing
- Benjamin Franklin at 12 invented swim flippers—what will your child create?
Kid Inventors’ Day (K.I.D.) was founded in the early 2000s by people who wanted to celebrate the achievements of the youngest inventors as well as encourage more children to be creative.
The date chosen to celebrate was no accident—it is the anniversary of renowned polymath, politician and child inventor Benjamin Franklin’s birthday.
Due to his countless other achievements, many people don’t know that when Franklin was just 12 years old, he invented the world’s first swim flippers, making him a great role model for every child who dreams of making something nobody has ever seen before.
Over the centuries, other children have invented many other things we continue to use today, such as popsicles (a very tasty accident!), the trampoline, and ear muffs.
Perhaps one of the most impressive things invented by a child is the language of the blind now used the world over, Braille.
Louis Braille, its inventor, lost his vision in a tragic accident at age 3 and spent his early teen years developing his new language while studying at The National Institute for Blind Youth in Paris.
Almost 200 years later, American teen Ryan Patterson also improved the lives of the disabled when he invented a glove with special sensors that translates the hand motions of American Sign Language into written words on a digital display.
Encourage Kids to Be Creative
For parents, teachers or others with kids in their lives, Kid Inventors’ Day could easily turn out to be one of the most educational and at the same time fun days you’ve ever spent together. Children’s minds are yet unlimited by the knowledge of what’s possible and what’s not, and as sometimes just believing that something is possible is enough to make it so, you may be truly astounded at the ideas your children come up with. Who knows, perhaps you are unwittingly living under the same roof as a potential Ben Franklin?
Get Inventive with Activities and Ideas
The Kid Inventors’ Day website also offers plenty of fun ideas on how to spend this day creatively and productively, such as taking part in a rubber band contest for young inventors. If you live nearby a museum, this is also the perfect day to take your children there to look at all of the amazing things people have made over the ages that can serve as inspiration to them. However you decide to spend this day, be sure to raise awareness about how much children can achieve and encourage them to reach for the stars!