Necessity is the Mother of Invention – What Did You Invent (June 2020)

Summer is officially here – and schools are closed. Hope you are having fun! Based upon some of the calls and messages I received, I can see and sense the excitement among kids relating to this month’s fun assignment. In this message I am summarizing the points I shared.

Inspired by the wonderful activities and amazing hands-on projects some kids presented at a part of the last month’s assignment on the idiom “Necessity is the mother of inventions”, we decided to take it to the next level as a part of this month’s assignment. Instead of the traditional assignment where kids write and speak on the topic, this month, they will share video recordings of engaging activities (mainly some hands-on projects) that they invented or tried for the first time. It could be a project (science, arts, computer, cooking, drawing etc.), game they invented, fun-skill they acquired, or anything they feel proud of sharing with others.

Now coming to what needs to be recorded, the video needs to cover one or more of the following aspects of kid’s project:
– Concept,
– Planning,
– Arrangements,
– Implementation,
– Presentation

Concept: kids can start their video by sharing why they picked a particular project.

Planning: here, kids can capture how they decided and put together a list of raw material and tools for the project.

Arrangement: in this phase, they can show how they arranged the raw materials for the project.

Implementation: this is the phase where they actually work on the project.

Presentation: This is the final demo part of the project. Along with showcasing their project, they will talk about what all challenges they faced and how they overcame them.

For the video recording, kids will need parents’ and/or sibling’s help. Let’s make it a family fun exercise.

If a kid is working alone on a project, the video must not be more than 3 minutes long. If multiple siblings are working together, the video can span as long as 5 minutes.

A few tips on making the video clip more appealing:
1. Add audio/visual effects to make it fun and professional.
2. Fast-forward some parts of the video.
3. Sometimes, it is easy to add audio commentary after compiling the whole video together. Do what makes more sense.

If you have any question, please feel free to reach out to me.

I am looking forward to watching fun and exciting presentations.

Regards,
Harsh Mendiratta🙏