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Want to Play?
Want to Invent?
What’s the Difference?
When asked what inspired them to become inventors,
many adults tell stories about playing as children.
Among their most frequently cited childhood play
experiences are: mechanical tinkering, fiddling
with construction toys, reflecting about nature,
and drawing or engaging in visual modeling. There
is something about the skills fostered by play that
inventors value and keep using as part of their
working lives. The playful approaches cited by creative
adults form an interesting parallel to the four
kinds of children’s play that child-development
experts identify as more or less universal:
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Use your powers of make-believe to conjure up a cloud of your own design.
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Test your problem-solving abilities with these
fun puzzles.
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Build a track for our ball by tinkering with
everyday objects.
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Add your creativity to others’ efforts
in writing a story about invention.
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