The Impossible Invention · Connected Through Play

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The Impossible Invention

When I get bored, watch out. You never know what I’ll come up with. I’m sitting in the airport, people watching and waiting for my flight and started thinking how could I combine some of the odds and ends in the airport into something fun. I’m flying solo for work but many times I had youngsters to entertain. Take a peek at today’s build and let me know if you try. Here’s the best part, you don’t need a kid for this one.

Some problems need brilliant inventions.

Other problems probably shouldn’t be problems at all.

What could you invent to keep stuffed animals entertained? Detect nearby bananas? Translate what the cat is complaining about?

Find a ridiculous problem and build an equally ridiculous solution.

Gather Your Gear: Raid the Parts Department

Don’t make a shopping list. Go hunting.

Check the recycling bin, craft supplies, junk drawer or wherever interesting odds and ends collect. Each inventor can grab 3–5 things that make them wonder, “What could I do with this?”

Keep tape, string or other ways to connect things nearby if you want them.

Then bring your strange assortment back to the invention table.

Steps

Find a problem worth not solving. Maybe socks need bedtime stories. Maybe the couch needs protection from invisible elephants. Invent a ridiculous problem of your own.
Imagine an impossible solution. Look at the pieces you gathered. Turn them around. Put them together. Steal an idea from one person and mix it with another. There is no need to know exactly what you’re making before you start.
Build your invention. Connect things, stack them, arrange them or hold them together while you try out ideas. It can be tiny, strange, unfinished-looking or completely baffling to everyone else.
Put it to work. Pretend to use your invention. Push imaginary buttons. Make the noises yourself. Have another person operate part of it. Discover what happens when your invention meets the ridiculous problem it was made to solve.
Keep playing. Your invention might solve another problem, develop a strange side effect or inspire somebody else’s invention. Follow the fun rather than worrying about finishing it.

Twist: New Feature!

Your invention has just received an upgrade.

Give it one completely unnecessary new ability.

Maybe the cat translator now predicts bedtime. The invisible-elephant detector also makes imaginary toast. The stuffed-animal entertainer can suddenly control the weather.

Add something to your invention if you want, or simply decide how its new feature works.

Change It Up

Explore It | Ages 3–6

Start with a few easy-to-handle objects and invent as you go. Adults can build alongside younger inventors and join the pretend play. A creation can change every thirty seconds: today it’s a robot, now it’s a trumpet, and suddenly it’s feeding an invisible dinosaur. Changing your mind is part of the fun.

Challenge It | Ages 7–12

Make the problem increasingly ridiculous and see where the invention goes. Add controls, moving pieces, pretend functions or completely unnecessary features. Combine inventions with someone else or discover what happens when one invention has to solve two absurd problems at once.

Own It | Ages 13–17

Lean into the absurdity. Invent something satirical, wildly overdesigned or hilariously specific to your family, hobbies or interests. Build a prototype as simple or elaborate as you want, collaborate with someone else, or create competing solutions to the same ridiculous problem. You control how far the idea goes.

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The Impossible Invention