She had a hard time thinking of an invention but I was thinking into the summer months and how much work our pool is to keep clean and that I am the one who maintains it each year. Also, the fact that we're having a baby this summer really made it important to find a way to make my job quicker and easier.
Plus we have this really enormous yet beautiful tree at the corner near our pool that through the summer drops tiny blossoms and berries into the pool. It gets so bad that I can skim it out at night and by morning sometimes the pool surface is covered in them again.
So we developed a thought we'd had previous summers to create a skimmer net that will let us skim out the pool in one fell swoop instead of the spoonfuls (it seems) of debris we get with the little skimmer net.
So, together with Gabby we developed a plan. We did a demonstration in the bathtub - because of course it's winter and our pool is covered. We made a survey and took them to businesses and pool owners - and got rave reviews for it too! And we assembled a (hopefully) working prototype.
Then Gabby got to take it to the Convention, speak with judges, got videotaped for sending to Ellen DeGeneres and Jay Leno and spent the day there during school to see presentations from people in the community. It really was a fun thing for her.
Well, except for keeping that log book! What a bear that was! Of course when you're inventing something that might someday end up with a patent you need extreme documentation. Make an entry every time you even think about your invention. Date it, make drawings, have someone witness each entry. It got really old really quick for Gabby. Of course we don't think her invention will go any further than our own backyard swimming pool but this was a learning experience for her and for mom.
Here are some pictures from the whole process:
Here's her demonstration. She wanted to show how much work it is to clean out a pool with a little scoop of a net. And to show that things escape from the sides of it as she sweeps it through the water.
Going out to do surveys:
Solving the problem of attaching the big pool poles to the skimmer. We gave our skimmer handles with the button clips just like the smaller version has.
Assembly: Gabby got to use the sewing machine for the first time! She was so excited about that! Plus she's becoming a real pro at straight stitches. Also, she said something really remarkable and unexpected when the machine started doing zig-zag stitches after she played with the knobs.
"Oh, we can do zig-zag stitches because triangles are strong!"There's an engineer for you!
Even Mike got into it! Literally!
The finished product:
She didn't get 1st, 2nd or 3rd place for her invention and she was disappointed but there were lots of great inventions there.
Although, as the mom I have to wonder what the criteria the judges used to base their judgements on because some of the ones that did win were, well, not as good as my daughter's! But, you know, I'm the mom. I'm partial.
One that won for her grade was a movie box which was just a box that you could put your popcorn and snacks into and hold them on your lap. Yeah, okay, that's kinda cool especially for keeping your kids from spilling their snacks in the dark movie theater but as I recall, I've seen them already.
Another that won was a recycle marking method in which they simply marked the raised recycle code on the bottom of the plastic recyclables with a marker so you can see them more clearly.
Not to be down on those kids. Great thinking. But what about those judges?
But Gabby did get the
Best Backyard Pool Innovation Award
Thank you to Mrs. Mendelow for making an award for each kid who invented!
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