2nd Grade Inventions

I have had my third graders do a simple machine brain project for the last several years.  I spoke to a second grade teacher early this school year to find out if I could create some projects that would align with their classroom curriculum.  The first thing she thought of was information about inventions that they never have quite enough time to fully complete at the end of the year.  I immediately thought that creating an invention project would be a great project to get 2nd graders ready for the 3rd grade machine brain project.  


After talking about Ohio inventors and their inventions, we discussed how inventors come up with ideas.  Each student created several sketches of potential inventions.  The best sketch was chosen and drawn on a huge 18"x18" paper.  They were traced with sharpie and painted with watercolors.  This was a fun end of the year project for 2nd grade.