The David and Jean Wiley Foundation Invention Convention

Step into a workshop of gadgets and gizmos where kids create, concoct and construct contraptions and use their imagination to become inventors! Dream-up and design in a workshop filled with half-finished contraptions, bins of spare parts, project tables, schematics and various instruments from floor to ceiling. Experiment with LEGO® bricks, propellers, magnets, batteries, switches and buzzers through facilitated, hands-on experiments and mini-workshops.

What's In Invention Convention?

• Wind Towers – Construct devices using materials like plastic bags, water bottles and Styrofoam cups and use air blowing from fans to make the device hover in mid-air or blow out the top of large tubes.
• Bytes and Bots – Learn the basics of robotics and see how different types of sensors can activate different outputs such as lights, moving parts and sounds.
• Color and Light Studio – Create visual effects using lenses, colored gels and other objects to bend and change light.
• Cranks and Cams – Explore how cams and gears can be used to create many different motions. Use these motions to create a toy, tell a story, make a new tool or display kinetic sculpture.
• Inventors’ Gate – The main entry to the exhibit, this space provides stories about both famous and local inventors as well as display inventions from contests. Both the stories and the displays continue throughout the exhibit space.
• Inventor's Workshop – Make your own sodas, inventing glowing jewelry, creating newspaper towers, build motion machines and much more. The activities change weekly, so check our calendar.