In the fall of 2004, Wild Planet Toys, Inc., of San Francisco, CA, sent out a challenge to third grade through fifth grade students around the country. They called it the “Wild Planet Kid Inventor Challenge” and invited students to invent a toy. 100 inventors would be chosen to work with Wild Planet toys as consultants and join the Kid Inventor Team. Winners would also receive Wild Planet toys and possibly have their toy invention turned into a real toy! Their note to parents explained that the Challenge would give their child “a sense of completion and achievement, and a chance to have that achievement recognized.”

November and December are very busy months, but some KCS third graders (all experienced inventors who participate in KCS’s yearly Inventors’ Fair) decided to enter the contest and invent a toy. Each student was required to complete four activity sheets. The first one involved brainstorming ideas and doing a preliminary sketch. Activity #2 asked the inventors to create a visual design of the toy, drawing the toy from multiple angles and labeling important features. After that, students created prototypes of their toys to show how their invention would look in “real life.” The final activity was called “Promotion” – the inventors chose a catchy name/slogan and designed packaging for their toy.