Science Sub Option 1: Inventor’s Fair – Clay Creations and Imagination

K-5 Science Class: Inventor’s Fair – Clay Creations and Imagination
Objective: By the end of this lesson, students will work in pairs to use clay to create an imaginary invention and use paper to describe its function. The inventions will be displayed and voted on by the class to decide the most creative and useful one.

Materials Required:

Clay (enough for each pair of students to mold their invention)
Paper (one sheet per pair for the description)
Pencils or markers for writing
Small stickers or tokens for voting
1. Introduction and Explanation (10 minutes)
Teacher Dialogue: "Hello, scientists! Today, we’re going to have our very own Inventor’s Fair. You’ll work in pairs to create an imaginary invention using clay, and then describe what your invention does on paper. Once you’ve finished, we’ll display your inventions around the room, and at the end, we’ll vote on which invention we think is the coolest!

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Let’s get started by splitting into pairs. Each team will get some clay and a piece of paper to work with. Use your imagination to create something brand new!"

2. Setting Up and Gathering Materials (5 minutes)
Teacher Instructions: "Before we begin, we need to gather all of our materials. Each pair will need some clay and a piece of paper.

Nominate Students: Each table has thirty seconds to decide who will come up and collect your materials. Ready? Go!

Gathering Materials: The chosen students from each table will come up, collect enough clay for their pair, and take one sheet of paper and a pencil or marker. Once everyone has their materials, we’ll begin creating our inventions."

3. Main Activity: Creating the Invention and Writing the Description (25 minutes)
Step 1: Designing the Invention (15 minutes)

Teacher Demonstration: "Watch as I take some clay and start shaping it into something. You can create any kind of invention—a machine, a tool, or something completely new that no one has ever seen before. Think about what your invention does and how it works. Then, work together with your partner to mold it from the clay."

Teacher Dialogue: "Now it’s your turn! You have 15 minutes to create your invention. Work together with your partner to shape your clay into whatever idea you come up with. Don’t forget to think about what it does and how it works!"

[Allow students time to create their clay inventions and check in.]

"Remember, the more creative you are, the more interesting your invention will be!"

Step 2: Writing the Description (10 minutes)

Teacher Demonstration: "Once you’ve created your invention, the next step is to write a description. On your piece of paper, write the name of your invention and a few sentences describing what it does and why it’s useful. For example, ‘This is the Super Sweeper 3000! It’s a robot that cleans your whole house while you sleep.’ You can use as much detail as you want!"

Teacher Dialogue: "Now it’s time to write! By the end of this step, each pair should have a piece of paper with the name of your invention and a description of what it does. Remember to keep your writing neat so others can read it!"

4. Presentation and Display (10 minutes)
Teacher Instructions: "Now that your inventions are ready, it’s time to display them! Each pair will lay out their invention on their paper, but be careful not to cover the description. Spread the inventions around the room so that everyone can see all the amazing ideas you’ve come up with."

[Students display their inventions on the tables or floor around the classroom.]

5. Voting and Class Discussion (10 minutes)
Teacher Instructions: "Now we’re going to have a class vote to decide which invention is the coolest! You’ll walk around the room and look at each invention, read the descriptions, and think about which one you like the best. But remember, you can’t vote for your own invention!

Voting: Once you’ve decided on your favorite invention, you’ll place a small sticker or token next to it.
Rules: No voting for your own invention. Look carefully at all the inventions and think about which one you find the most creative or useful.
Once everyone has voted, we’ll count the stickers and see which invention gets the most votes!"

Teacher Dialogue: "Let’s see who created the most popular invention! What do you think made that invention stand out? Did any other inventions inspire new ideas? Great job, everyone! Your creativity is amazing."

6. Wrapping Up and Review (5 minutes)
Teacher Dialogue: "Fantastic work, inventors! Today, you created something brand new and shared your ideas with the class. Let’s review what we did:

What was the name of your invention?
How did you come up with the idea?
Why is it important to describe what your invention does?
You all did an amazing job thinking outside the box and working together. Who knows, maybe one day you’ll invent something real that changes the world!"