Inventors' Week at the Spark!Lab

In celebration of National Inventors' Month (2009), the Spark!Lab partnered with Lego for a weekend of inventing. For August 1 and 2, Lego builders set up shop at the National Museum of American History’s lobby to create an eight-foot tall bulb completely made up of Lego bricks. Museum visitors helped by creating the bricks, while the builders assembled the bulb.

The seven-foot LEGO light bulb and its mini-me

To launch the event, a group of kids were invited for a special activity at the Spark!Lab. It seems that people,both kids and adults, really loved the Diving Sparky, so it was the first activity we did with the kids!

The regular activities and science experiments were suspended and the Spark!Lab was converted into an invention center where kids come in and think of an invention. We even had a “patent office” where the kids can submit their new invention for approval! They can use any of the featured toys (LEGO, Tinker Toys, ZOOB, Toobers and Zots, and Lincoln Logs) and materials provided at the inventor’s corner (glue, Popsicle sticks, papers, and adhesive tapes) to create an invention. Then they fill-up the inventor’s notebook and  submit this with their invention at the patent office. There they will explain to the Patent Officer how their invention works. Once “approved”, they will receive a special edition LEGO giveaway: a small scale LEGO light bulb.

On-duty as the Patent Officer