In society we have many heroes. Some of the best known heroes are our inventors and discoverers. Many of our modern conveniences are because of another’s ability to think outside of the box and create inventions. Today’s lesson, for use for youth ministries, home devotionals or family home evenings is to illustrate some examples of thinking outside of the box.
Some of my most popular outside-the-boxers are Benjamin Franklin, the Write Brothers, Edison, and the engineers working for Steve Jobs.
We can thank Benjamin Franklin’s science experiments for giving us more information about electricity and his creation of the Franklin stove. The Write brothers helped us better understand the principals of flight. Edison provided multiple avenues of technology such as the phone, telegraph and the phonograph. Jobs and his engineers provided a whole new line of tech devices that makes accessing data and communication convenient.
Parents, ministers and teachers, feel free to provided examples of ingenuity of people you know personally who have come up with solutions. Also give specific examples ingenuity from various family members or students that you have observed.
Lesson: Chop sticks
Objects for this lesson: chopsticks, a cup, a picture of water, an empty and cleaned mustard bottle, Dorito or cheese covered chips and a screw.
For some, a solution may seem obvious which to others is a mark of genius. There are several things I hadn’t considered to use chopsticks for until different people pointed them out to me. Here are some examples.
Have you ever tried to pour a liquid into a bottle that has a small opening and it ends up going everywhere but into the bottle? Well, hold a chopstick up in the middle of the mustard bottle. Slowly pour the picture of water against the chopstick. The stick will help direct the liquid into the bottle.
Second, let’s say you’re enjoying a nice bag of Doritos or cheese chips. The challenge of these types of chips is that they can often leave your fingers messy. How about using the chopsticks to pick them up and eat them without messing up your fingers?
A third use for chopsticks is to reach something that your hands can’t reach. Drop the screw into a tall cup of water. Use the chopstick to pull it out.
These ideas may be obvious to some but they were new to me. These are small examples of thinking outside the box. When we encourage ingenuity who knows what new discovers will make our lives easier.
