Illinois · Family field notes
Chicago Science Museum with Kids: Illinois Invention Detectives
Make a Griffin Museum of Science and Industry visit a small design challenge: spot a problem, notice a solution and invent your own improvement later.
Look for a problem someone tried to solve
Before the visit, ask everyone to name a small problem from ordinary life: keeping an object upright, moving something heavy, remembering where a thing belongs. Carry one of those questions into the museum. It gives your group a way to talk about design without needing technical expertise.
Choose one or two stops from the current museum information. This is an observation game for your family, not an instruction to take apart, test or operate anything beyond the venue’s posted directions.
Try a problem-material-change note
On a folded card, write three headings: problem, material and change. At a permitted stopping place, describe what you think a display shows. Check the label before presenting a guess as fact. Then imagine one change and discuss what another person might like or dislike about it.
Give younger children a drawing role. An invented solution can be fanciful, and it does not need to outperform the real object. Taking turns explaining a sketch is often more engaging than filling every space on a worksheet.
Design a better glasses-case routine
Use the trip as inspiration for a tiny design problem at home: where should the glasses case live so the right person can find it? Think about the pocket, the opening and the way other items press against it. Test the storage idea with an empty case first.
The actual pair should be appropriate for its wearer and prescribed task. Check comfort before leaving and follow supplied care instructions. A frame that looks industrial is not automatically safety eyewear; specific protection claims require the correct product and configuration.
Keep the invention challenge inexpensive
After the visit, build a paper model of one imaginary improvement. Give it a name and let someone else ask a practical question about it. Reused cardboard and a pencil are enough; the point is explaining a choice, not buying a kit.
If another prescription pair would be useful, compare its fit and complete configured price before adding it to the cart. Fast Eyeglasses ships eligible orders to Illinois. Our COUPON20 pricing guide separates the discount on one eligible pair from the total price of the entire order.
Your before-you-go checklist
Check items as you prepare, or print this guide.
Put this guide to work
Compare the relevant frames and ordering details before choosing your pair.