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ENLARGE
A group of young inventors from left, Ahnna Richmond, Dorje John, Elle Lyne-Schisser and Abby Hiller work at constructing an egg-cracking machine while attending Camp Invention at Frisco Elementary Wednesday.
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ENLARGE
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Students attending Camp Invention this week at Frisco Elementary got a chance to have daily water fights, helping to earn team points for the driest teams over the week.
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FRISCO — Robots that repair televisions and apply sunscreen were among the many contraptions under development at Camp Invention, held at Frisco Elementary School this week.
Gabby Magliocchetti, 8, was working Thursday on a patent application for her bad-breath detector, which includes a metal duct tube.
“When it smells bad breath, it sets an alarm off,” Gabby said.
About 77 kids aged kindergarten through sixth grade attended the third annual Camp Invention. Activities ranged from building land sleds to exploring super powers for their own comic books and even dreaming up inventions from household items.
Clayton Hough, 7, said his time machine might transport him to the time of dinosaurs or even the future “with a heater from my dad's job site.”
It has a propeller on the bottom and a gadget to read numbers for time destinations.
At a nearby table, Josh Gelman, 9, worked on a robot that repairs a scratched TV.
“When you're watching, this little bug will sew it — kind of like a spider — in 5 or 10 seconds,” he said. “It's better than waiting a while for it to get fixed.”
And Ali Christiansen, 9, came up with a gadget with arms to apply sunscreen “while you're playing — because I hate putting on sunscreen.”
Other young scientists made machines capable of removing poison from venomous animals or finding hidden pet cats.
“I'm buying the one that goes to school and cleans your room for you,” said Emily Dimler, one of four teachers at Camp Invention. She also teaches first grade at Silverthorne Elementary School.
Dimler worked with the young kids as they explored their creative frontiers and with older kids who were given a specific task to complete. The latter had to build a machine capable of breaking a green, slime-filled egg in four or more steps.
“It's a lot of fun,” she said. “I love the fact it encourages them to reuse broken and recyclable materials.”
Kids used hammers, screwdrivers and “lots of safety goggles” as they disassembled vacuum cleaners and computer hardware to create their machines.
“Pretty much you name it, we've destroyed it,” Dimler said.
Gabby Magliocchetti, 8, was working Thursday on a patent application for her bad-breath detector, which includes a metal duct tube.
“When it smells bad breath, it sets an alarm off,” Gabby said.
About 77 kids aged kindergarten through sixth grade attended the third annual Camp Invention. Activities ranged from building land sleds to exploring super powers for their own comic books and even dreaming up inventions from household items.
Clayton Hough, 7, said his time machine might transport him to the time of dinosaurs or even the future “with a heater from my dad's job site.”
It has a propeller on the bottom and a gadget to read numbers for time destinations.
At a nearby table, Josh Gelman, 9, worked on a robot that repairs a scratched TV.
“When you're watching, this little bug will sew it — kind of like a spider — in 5 or 10 seconds,” he said. “It's better than waiting a while for it to get fixed.”
And Ali Christiansen, 9, came up with a gadget with arms to apply sunscreen “while you're playing — because I hate putting on sunscreen.”
Other young scientists made machines capable of removing poison from venomous animals or finding hidden pet cats.
“I'm buying the one that goes to school and cleans your room for you,” said Emily Dimler, one of four teachers at Camp Invention. She also teaches first grade at Silverthorne Elementary School.
Dimler worked with the young kids as they explored their creative frontiers and with older kids who were given a specific task to complete. The latter had to build a machine capable of breaking a green, slime-filled egg in four or more steps.
“It's a lot of fun,” she said. “I love the fact it encourages them to reuse broken and recyclable materials.”
Kids used hammers, screwdrivers and “lots of safety goggles” as they disassembled vacuum cleaners and computer hardware to create their machines.
“Pretty much you name it, we've destroyed it,” Dimler said.
Homage to Rube
The task pays homage to Rube Goldberg, an inventor known for devices that were “exceptionally complicated to perform very simple tasks,” she saidOne group had a contraption with two wooden sticks leading down to an old electronic device that led out a duct tube to the ground. The kids tried launching their egg with a plastic phone rest.
“We're trying to make a lever, but we can't get our aiming right,” Matthew Marquardt, 11, said as a test egg rocketed beyond the machine and into the wall.
Outdoors, kids got drenched in a daily water fight for points toward building land sleds. The water balloons and sponges flew, and few of the available shields were used as children competed to be the driest team by the battle's end.
Amy Brendel, a Camp Invention teacher who also teaches fifth grade at Silverthorne Elementary, said the kids use the points to purchase such items as mower wheels, ice cube trays and wooden spools to build their sleds. The sleds on Friday were maneuvered through an obstacle course.
Other activities included a Viking Treasure Trek, where the kids searched for gold using compasses and special clues.
The National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office created Camp Invention in 1990. Such camps are held all over the country at this time of year.
Robert Allen can be contacted at (970) 668-4628 or
rallen@summitdaily.com.
