Anyone can be an Inventor at Kids' Day at INPEX®, The Invention Show
Over 100 children participated in Kids' Day at INPEX throughout the day Saturday, June 11, 2005 at Monroeville ExpoMart. Not only did children have the opportunity to participate in fun activities but many also took the opportunity to showcase their own inventions to the public as well as to a panel of judges.
The judges gave out Gold, Silver and Bronze medals to the top three kid inventors. Abigail Marlow took home the Bronze award for "The Wind Weight", along with a prize of $100, Rachel Kish received the Silver award with $200 for the "Handy Dandy Clothing Planner" and Carly Harris won the Gold award with the top prize of $300 for the "Canine Hygiene Unit". The judges were amazed at the high quality of the inventions the children had created.
Every child had the opportunity to participate in the many activities provided by the activity sponsors that attended Kids' Day. Radio Disney AM 540 played music and had cool games with a chance for the kids to win awesome prizes. The Carnegie Museum of Natural History had a rainforest theme with a display on protecting the rainforest as well as a few species of rainforest animals. The Carnegie Science Center offered children the opportunity to bring out their inner musician by creating musical instruments. Krueger Street Toy and Train Museum featured an operating train display and nostalgic toys for children to experience. The Children's Museum of Pittsburgh offered "The Story of Why" with Tim Hartman and the educational games of Professor MiGooch, who will also brought his magical music cart. The Washington Wild Things Professional Baseball Team and The Pittsburgh Riverhounds brought games that let kids put their athletic skills to the test.
In a battle of programming skills, two teams from The First Lego League also participated in Kids Day with their own robot competition. The children were from Word of God and Mt. Ararat Church and ranged from grades 4-8. The children built robots out of Lego's and programmed them with a computer program to perform various tasks such as moving ping pong balls from one area to another by lifting, carrying and rolling them into place. The two teams were judged on the speed of the robot and the number of balls they moved.
Susie Caleffe, organizer of Kids' Day stated that she had as much fun planning the event as she did attending it. "As I walked around Kids' Day, I felt like every child was having a really fun time from playing games with Radio Disney to exhibiting their own inventions," she said. As a parting gift, every child that attended Kids' Day received a Lego backpack donated by Brussels Eureka and INPEX, stuffed with goodies such as Kids' Day water bottles and Lego key chains. But more than that, the kids went home learning that no matter how old you are... you are never too young to be an inventor.
