Eureka! How To Get Kids Inventing

With their super-charged curiosity and sky-high imagination, kids have bags of potential to innovate and invent as they try to make sense of the world. They just need a bit of encouragement and a few tools to set them on their way.

The long summer break is the perfect time to inspire kids to get inventive. Fire up their imagination and let their creativity run wild with these genius ideas.

Necessity is the mother of invention (as we at Tefal know so well), so get your kids to think about everyday tasks and whether there’s a better way to do them. Most of the world’s greatest inventions are born this way so inspire your kids to come up with weird and wonderful solutions of their own.

Start with problem solving. Challenge them to design a new way to store and separate their favourite toys (one that removes the risk of stepping on Lego is an added bonus) and it just might lead to an exciting new invention. Dragon’s Den, here we come.

Whether they hit on a fabulous new pancake filling or discover which pans work best as a makeshift drum kit, the kitchen is a hotbed for invention and creativity. Let them chose a recipe and put their stamp on it. Play the kitchen assistant to your budding chef by helping with the hard bits but leave the rest to them.

If they’re in the mood to bake, take away the guesswork with the Cake Factory so that they can focus on the fun of experimenting with whacky flavours and decorating their masterpieces.

With a pinch of imagination kids can create incredible things from basic materials, as paper planes and cardboard tube binoculars will testify. Gather some odds and ends and see what a craft session inspires. Be ready with an encouraging smile (and a little of your own imagination) as they explain their fantastic creations.

On the same theme, doodles are the blueprints of many a wonderful invention so encourage even reluctant sketchers to put pencil to paper and see what happens. This guide to doodling for kids offers some great tips.

Long before play areas and trampoline parks, the great outdoors was the ultimate playground – and it still is. Climbing trees, building dens, making mud pies and poking around in rock pools are all food for the imagination and need plenty creative thinking to overcome challenges. And it’s all for free.

So next time you’re planning a trip to the park, head for the woods instead and let the kids take the lead in a new adventure. Check out this list of outdoor summer holiday activities for suggestions.

Spark up their imagination anytime, anywhere by inventing stories together. Perfect for long journeys, rainy afternoons and round the campfire fun, story-telling gets kids thinking and nurtures their creativity. Try one of these activities for starters:

1. Take it in turns to say a word each to make up a story, a game that’s guaranteed to lead to ridiculous plotlines and hilarious results.
2. Ask your child to recount what happened yesterday but have them throw in a few made up events and elaborate details.
3. Story cubes  are a great way to help kids invent quick and funny stories.
4. Get them to think up alternative endings to their favourite bedtime stories. Spoiler alert: things don’t end so well for Goldilocks.