If your teen is always breaking things, you know, the gluing, molding, sawing, and painting type stuff, inspire him/her to enter his/her ideas to our Build It Competitions.

Our 4 quarterly competitions each give away $10,000 and a real time experience with a famous innovator to the best ideas! That’s over $160,000 in prize money each year.

This season, your teens can recyle, re-engineer or reuse discarded materials into out-of-the-box inventions to win $10,000, an Intel® processor technology based Laptop and a trip to Boston to see their design built.

Here’s what you can teach your teen to help him/her generate the best possible ideas.

1. Take a poll! Talk to your teen about the ideas percolating in your head. Also, ask him to talk about it to other family members and his close friends.

2. Start with a blueprint! Don't let your teen waste valuable materials! Pencil sketches or even crayon drawings can help him/her work out problems!

3. Personalize! Encourage your teen to show their creativity and personality when designing and building a new product. 

4. Learning to be detail-oriented! Teach your teen to be meticulous. When the bulk of the work is done, it’s easy to phone it in. Remember, the final detailing can make all the difference.

5. A name isn’t everything…but it is a lot! Ask your child to give a good deal of thought to what he/ she will call their device. He could discuss it with you. his friends and other family members.

Find more tips to help your innovative teens: Say It, Build It, Design It, and Change It