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It’s that time
of year again…back to school! Don’t dread it,
instead, check out how some of the coolest school supplies were
invented! Did you know school supplies can be invented by kids? Of
course, who better to understand what you really need than kids
themselves!
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At age 11, Rikio
invented Rocketz Backpack Wheels to prevent back pain caused by
carrying a heavy backpack. Rikio’s sister complained of back
and neck pain caused by her 32-pound backpack. Rikio thought there must
be a way to prevent this from happening, since kids everywhere were
having the same experience. The wheeled backpacks that were available
in the stores would not fit in the school lockers and were often
considered uncool. He created Rocketz, universal removable wheels and a
strap for
pulling the backpack. The wheels adhere to the bottom of any backpack
with Velcro and provide easy locker storage. That way, the backpack
could be wheeled when it was too heavy and worn when the cool factor
was a consideration.
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At the age of 14,
Mitchell was a student of high academic standing and needed to organize
his backpack. Most kids use backpacks to transport books and homework
between school and home and between classes. Many times, loose papers
are thrown into the packs and before long, locating that history paper
that is due tomorrow in the mess is next to impossible. Mitchell has
developed a solution to the “messy backpack”
syndrome. He made a device that slips into your backpack that has
different color-coded sections for each subject. Each brightly colored
zipper represents a separate subject. Mitchell’s File-A-Pack
helps kids have the ultimate super-organized backpack!
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At age 11, Cassidy
invented her Crayon Holder, which is now patented and commercialized.
The original Crayon Holder, inspired by the plastic tubes used to keep
roses fresh, gave her the tool(s) that she needed to complete a drawing
project when her art supplies were down to broken crayons. The Crayon
Holder is a device that holds various sized, partial or whole crayons
to extend their use and reduce waste. Additionally, the wider
circumference of the hard plastic holder makes the coloring and drawing
experience more precise and essentially more comfortable. She realized
all kids, parents and educators encounter broken crayons and could see
the value of her holder. Cassidy has received a U.S. Patent for her
invention: # 6,402,407 and also has one patent pending.
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At age 7, Caitlyn
was frustrated that she never had an eraser when she needed one. She
had just finished making two friendship bracelets, one for her friend
and one for her, and then came up with the idea to put an eraser on the
bracelet. Caitlyn ran an elastic band through a pink eraser and added
beads that spelled out Eraselet. The Eraselet looks cute and
fashionable, and now kids will always have an eraser with them.
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At the age of 8,
Emily noticed that students often lose their pencils and cannot find
them when they need them in class. Sometimes their desks are too messy
to find a pencil, and students are still digging around in their desks
when the lesson begins. Emily decided to develop a way that kids would
always know where their pencils were. Emily invented the School for
Pencils. When a teacher hangs the School for Pencils near the classroom
entrance, students can take a pencil when they come into the classroom
in the morning and put it back into School for Pencils when they leave.
Emily’s School for Pencils is a school-shaped house made out
of pencils that hangs on the wall of the classroom and stores pencils.
This, way students will no longer have to dig around in their desks for
pencils - they are housed near the classroom entrance.
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At the age of 7,
Eric found that his best friend would call him almost every day to find
out what the homework assignment was because he forgot his planner at
school. Eric realized this was a common problem for kids. His brother
had recently brought home a light switch that had a recording device
built in that enabled you to record messages in the light switch. This
gave Eric an idea. Eric developed the Recording Folder, a folder that
has a built-in recording device that can be used to record a message.
With his brother’s help, he built a working prototype. Now
all kids have to do is record their homework on the folder’s
recorder and just press play when they get home. No more forgotten
planners.
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At the age of 11,
Brenda was inspired by a classmate who is blind and invented Eye Paper
to help her friend space her letters when writing and to help keep her
writing straight. Her classmate needed someone to write her assignments
for her, and Brenda wanted to help change that. She wanted to find a
way to help the blind, like her classmate, to write. The Eye Paper
helps the visually impaired feel the lines on the papers and spaces
between letters and words so they can write. Brenda created raised
lines on the paper in columns and rows to create a box for each letter.
The user can feel the space in which to write each letter. She also
thought of adding smell to the paper to make it more fun for the
student using it.
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