Yesterday was Kid Inventors’ Day, but its never too late to celebrate those young minds that do big things. According to The Washington Post, the day is recognized each year on January 17th because it is Benjamin Franklin’s birthday. He was only 12 years old when he created a hand paddle to help him swim faster. That helped lead to the invention of the modern day flipper.
Kids can be very creative and can see things in a way that adults don’t. Many of the world’s most famous inventors say that they began inventing things when they were kids, said Thad Parsons, who works at the National Inventors Hall of Fame and Museum in Alexandria. Their early inventions usually didn’t work out that well, but that didn’t matter.
“While their invention when they were 8, 9 or 10 may not have been completely unique, may not have been successful, it was the attempts that were important,†Parsons said. “The investigation of how something worked, trying to figure out a better way to do it, eventually led them later in life to continue to push for . . . an invention that changed the modern world.â€
Photo by Kathy Mackey