Inventive Creations Students Show Off Problem-Solving Skills At Invention Convention

Kayla Rising got her idea for the Diggity Dog Cage Dryer after her dog, Slider, jumped on her after a bath and soaked her.

The 9-year-old from Hayden Meadows Elementary School asked her father if he had dried the dog off.

“He said he dried her, but she was still wet,” Rising said.

So the young inventor grabbed some PVC pipes, drilled holes in them and hooked them up to an electric mattress pump that blows air through the pipes, assembled in the shape of a box to hold the dog inside.

Voila. No more wet dog.

Rising joined 158 other children from North Idaho on Sunday in a regional invention convention at Silver Lake Mall.

The annual event, sponsored by North Idaho Facilitators of Talented Youth, brings young inventors from as far as Bonners Ferry, Wallace and Plummer. Children in first through eighth grades entered their inventions in one of six categories.

Winners will take their inventions to the state contest in Boise next month.

Children get involved in the program through school. Some teachers use the event as part of the curriculum.

Essex Prescott of Dalton Elementary School saw a problem when his dog, Lucky, couldn’t go skiing with the family while it was vacationing at Kalispell, Mont.

As the family was skiing to the hill, the 6-year-old turned around and saw Lucky at the window.

“She looked out the window and was really sad,” Prescott said.

So Prescott invented dog skis.

He grabbed an old pair of skis and screwed four baby boots into them. The hardest part now is convincing Lucky to stay in them, he said.

From doggy skis to microwave lunch boxes, children were tackling as many complex problems as they could, sponsors and parents said.

Those with working inventions auditioned for the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno” via videotape.

The show has a regular segment featuring child inventors. Talent scouts look for outgoing children with wacky, off-beat inventions.