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Invention at Play Home Page

Invention Playhouse

Interactive: Cloud Dreamer
Interactive: Puzzle Blocks
Interactive: Tinker Ball
Interactive: Word Play

Inventors’ Stories

Keep Making it Better


Luis Alvarez


Mike Augspurger


Matt Capozzi and Nathan Connelly


Newman Darby


Gertrude Elion


Sally Fox


Marjorie Joyner


Garrett Morgan

Recognize the Unusual


Art Fry


Wilson Greatbatch


Stephanie Kwolek


Patsy Sherman


Percy Spencer

Jump the Tracks


John Fabel


Howard Head


Chuck Hoberman


James McLurkin


Samuel Morse
Borrow from Nature


Barbed Wire


Alexander Graham Bell


George de Mestral


Ruth Foster


Paul MacCready


Roman Szpur

Find Opportunities in Obstacles


Ashok Gadgil


Akhil Madhani


Ann Moore


Krysta Morlan


Lydia O'Leary

Many Heads are Better than One


Thomas Edison


Jerry Hirshberg


IDEO


Linus Torvalds

Does Play Matter?

Inventors’ Favorite Toys

Video: Play for Play's Sake
Video: All Work and No Play
Video: From Child Scientist to Playful Inventor
Video: Play to the Future


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About Invention at Play



Invention at Play is a highly interactive, engaging and surprising traveling exhibit that focuses on the similarities between the way children and adults play and the creative processes used by innovators in science and technology. It departs from traditional representations of inventors as extraordinary geniuses who are “not like us‚” to celebrate the creative skills and processes that are familiar and accessible to all people. Visitors of all ages will experience various playful habits of mind that underlie invention.






National Museum of American History, Behring Center Invention Playhouse Inventors’ Stories Does play Matter? Exhibit Info Resources Contact Us Site Map Site Credits Lemelson Center