Skip to main content
  • Main menu
Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation
  • Home
  • Tags
  • Play

Play

Filter By
  • All
  • Video & Interactive
  • Text
  • Audio
  • Activity
Found 10 Stories
Detail of Print ad for the Traver Circle Swing, “The Best Park Attraction,” includes a photo of the swing tower in operation in Rockford, Illinois.
Blog

A Swinging Amusement

The Traver Circle Swing Company, builders of the world's greatest amusement, brought thrills to the masses.

Figure 1 from John Lloyd Wright’s US Patent 1,351,086 for “Toy Cabin Construction,” dated August 31, 1920. The pen-and-ink figure shows a log cabin with a door and two windows.
Blog

Lincoln Logs Inventor John Lloyd Wright

Yes, this popular childhood toy was designed by none other than the son of architect Frank Lloyd Wright!

9 figures from US Patent 50,359, awarded to John Wesley Hyatt, Jr., in 1865. Figures 1 through 7 and 9 are circular, detailing different parts of the composition of the ball. Figure 8 shows the plug that runs through the core of the ball.
Blog

Imitation Ivory and the Power of Play

How nineteenth-century Americans' love of billiards paved the way for synthetic plastics . . .

An array of parts from which a creature can be made; includes blue polyester fur, hinged aluminum rods, miscellaneous Lego bits and 3D-printed parts, and small balls made into eyes.
Blog

Blue Fur, Aluminum, 3D-Printed Parts, and Some Legos

Prototyping an easy method for creating Muppet-like characters in Spark!Lab

Detail of a photo of Elaine Ostroff, on left, with two other women, looking at a model of a play space. The words Play Room are on the door behind Ostroff.
Blog

Creating and Shaping Learning Environments

“It can happen anywhere—a learning environment can happen anywhere.” (Elaine Ostroff, Wheaton College interview, undated)

Lonnie Johnson with Super Soaker and Nerf toys
Blog

Meet Lonnie Johnson, the Man Behind the Super Soaker

Get to know engineer Lonnie Johnson, founder and president of Johnson Research and Development Co., who invented the wildly-popular Super Soaker water gun, worked on high-performance Nerf dart guns, and focuses today on inventions related to clean energy.

Encouraging Innovative Thinking

Invention at Play Educators' Manual

An activity guide to help students learn to foster creativity through play.

Encouraging Innovative Thinking

Does Play Matter?

Play in American culture

Elmer Gates's daughter Phoebe demonstrating sorting box.
Places of Invention

Sorting It Out

The story of psychologist and inventor Elmer Gates, who was known at the turn of the 20th century for his original ideas about experimental psychology and educating children.

Logo for the Modern Inventors Documentation database, showing a stylized head with words like creativity and innovation written on different parts of the brain
Archives

Chariot Roller Skates Records, ca. 1874-1880

Inventor Name Chariot Roller Skates Records Repository Boston Public Library700 Boylston StreetCopley Square, Boston, MA 02116617-536-5400, ext. 4236 Physical Description 1 box

VIEW 2705 Matching Results

Found 2705 Stories

  • Agriculture and horticulture (Relevance: 5.2125693160813%)
  • Air and space (Relevance: 6.8022181146026%)
  • Archives@NMAH (Relevance: 8.2809611829945%)
  • Chemistry (Relevance: 3.0683918669131%)
  • Food and drink (Relevance: 3.1792975970425%)
  • Industry and manufacturing (Relevance: 7.5415896487985%)
  • Medicine, health, and life sciences (Relevance: 4.547134935305%)
  • Military technology (Relevance: 3.3271719038817%)
  • Mining and drilling (Relevance: 3.4380776340111%)
  • Patents and trademarks (Relevance: 11.460258780037%)
  • Photography, film, television, and video (Relevance: 3.8077634011091%)
  • Power generation, motors, and engines (Relevance: 3.4750462107209%)
  • Spark!Lab (Relevance: 3.4750462107209%)
  • Textiles and clothing (Relevance: 3.4011090573013%)
  • Transportation (Relevance: 5.9889094269871%)
  • Women inventors (Relevance: 3.1423290203327%)
❯
Go to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History website

About Menu

▼
Open menu
▲
Close menu
  • Explore
    • Blog
    • Invention Stories
    • Places of Invention
    • Beyond Words
  • Study
    • Research Opportunities
    • Archives
    • Lemelson Center Books
    • Lemelson Center Research
    • Symposia & Conferences
  • Try
    • DO Try This at Home!
    • Spark!Lab
    • Spark!Lab Network
    • Encouraging Innovative Thinking
  • About
    • Events
    • Exhibitions
    • News
    • Who We Are
    • FAQ
    • Donate
  • Multimedia
  • Tags
  • Surprise Me
  • Search
  • Open Drawer
Copyright 2021, Smithsonian Institution, All Rights Reserved
  • DONATE
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
Twitter Facebook Tumblr Email Print