Activity: Invent a new tool

  • Grade levels

    Any

  • Materials required

    Pencils, paper and imagination!

The pioneers who founded the salt making industry in West Virginia couldn’t just stop by the hardware store or browse Amazon for the tools they needed.

When they had a problem to solve or a task to do, they had to invent AND make the tools needed to get the job done. So many of the antique salt making tools in our collection were invented and made by the workers themselves. And the tools they made laid the foundation for the tools used to build West Virginia’s oil and gas industry.

Ask students to think about a problem they have, a task they often perform or something that would make their life easier. Then have them design plans for a tool to meet their needs.