My 9-year-old loves inventing and building things.  Sometimes he sees an idea somewhere and decides to build or make something similar of his own.  Sometimes he sees an object, figures out a way to improve upon the design, and sets about creating his own improved version.  And, sometimes, he sees a need for something and comes up with a way to meet that need through something he imagines and then makes.

Today was one of the latter days.

We have an apple tree in our yard.  For as long as we’ve been familiar with this tree, it has never produced more than a couple of apples.  Two years ago, my husband did a massive pruning and removed about 2/3 of the tree’s branches.  He cut so much, we actually feared the tree might die.  Last year the tree produced nothing.  But this year, it produced some apples.  It’s not exactly an abundant harvest, but it was enough for us to pick and do something with.

So I tasked my boys with picking the apples.  I told them if they picked them, we could make applesauce.  (The apples are extremely tart, so they aren’t great for plain eating.)  So my boys went outside and picked all the apples they could reach from the ground or by climbing.

Once the low-hanging fruit had been plucked, my 9-year-old declared that he was going to use a pole to knock down more apples.  After thinking about it a bit more, he came up with the idea of bending an old wire coat hanger to create a funnel[ish]-shaped implement to add to the top of his pole to create an “apple harvester.”

I suggested he might want to think about a way to catch the apples, so the fruit wouldn’t bruise as it fell to the ground.  Inspired, he set about making a bag out of pipe cleaners which he attached to the pole in order to catch the fruit as he picked it.  My husband helped him to bend the wire hanger.  And together they assembled all of the pieces.

My boys then took the apple harvester outside and used it to pick all of the apples they could reach.

When my son suggested he wanted to build an apple harvester, there are a few different ways we could have responded.  We could have said, “I bet someone has already invented one,” and looked something up online.  This would have deprived him of the creativity of designing his tool as well as the joy of the building process.

We could have told him, “Great idea!” and my husband, a talented engineer, could have built something himself.  This would have taken the work away from him.  As such, he wouldn’t have had the satisfaction of designing and making something useful on his own.

Or we could respond by encouraging him to build his vision, helping him only as he needed it.  This is the route we endeavor to choose.  It was his project, and he had full responsibility for it.  Then, once it was finished, he could take full credit when he then used it to harvest our fruit.

My 9-year-old was proud that he made something to help our family.  Harvesting the apples allowed us to take advantage of a free food source (which helps our grocery budget).  His invention and subsequent utilization of it, made it so the apples wouldn’t fall in our yard and attract animals (like bears INSERT LINK) who will come and eat them.  Thus, he helped to make our yard a safer place.

Importantly, not only was this task useful, it was also fun.  As such, it provided first-hand experience with something I want very much to teach my children: that work and fun can be one in the same.  Life does not have to be separated into fulfilling excitement on the one hand and drudgery on the other.

We give our boys the opportunity to create and design and innovate and experiment and try.  And when their projects fail, which often happens, we make sure they have time and materials to re-design and then modify or improve their projects.  To them, it’s all a game.  And this playfulness helps them to solidify the notion that work and play can be one.  Tinkering is fun and useful all at once.  And all great inventions start as a small idea.