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Inventors and Inventions
 Kid Inventors

Kid Inventors
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 4 to 6
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   5.1

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    jealousy, therapy, palsy, cerebral, provided, hardship, aquarium, supplied, easily, battery, jobs, beaver, perhaps, business, several, steel
     content words:    Robert Patch, Krysta Morlan, Duracell/NSTA Scholarship Competition, Chester Greenwood, Champion Ear Protectors, World War

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Kid Inventors
By Mary Lynn Bushong 		  
1     Caption: K.K. Gregory, inventor of Wristies.
 
2     How old do you have to be to invent something: ten, twenty, or thirty years old? How about older? Don't tell Robert Patch that. He was six when he invented a toy truck.
 
3     This wasn't just any toy. It was meant to be assembled by kids. It had several different parts. When kids put the parts together in different ways, they could change the kind of truck.
 
4     K.K. Gregory is another kid inventor. When she was ten (1994), she made her invention, called Wristies.
 
5     While playing out in the snow in Bedford, Massachusetts, her arms were starting to hurt because they were cold. She made a warm fingerless cover that kept her hands and arms warm. She could wear them under her coat and mittens and stay warmer. She shared her idea with a few other people, and they liked it.
 
6     She applied for a patent on her idea and also got the name trademarked. Perhaps Kathryn's biggest problem was that adults didn't take her seriously. They thought that the idea must have been her mother's.
 
7     Some people gave Kathryn some good advice. They told her to wear her Wristies so people would see them and ask what they were. By telling people the name of her invention, she was building a brand. Can you think of other brands? (Xerox, Levi's, Kleenex, etc.)
 
8     Starting her own business at age ten left Kathryn with some problems she did not see coming. Kids at school teased her and her family. Some even stopped being friends.

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