Meet Emily, part of the team behind Kids Invent Stuff, the YouTube channel where kids aged 4–11 submit their wildest invention ideas and watch real engineers bring them to life. With over 75,000 subscribers and features on BBC News and The One Show, they've built everything from a robot shopping trolley to a sneeze-activated flamethrower. Beyond the channel, Emily and her team run hands-on workshops for primary-aged children all across the UK. We asked Emily to share why cardboard is such a powerful tool for young inventors and why they use Makedo and cardboard to teach the invention process.

At Kids Invent Stuff, everything starts with an idea. Whether it’s the world's largest electric toothbrush, a crocodile lawn mower, or something completely unexpected, we believe every child has the potential to be an inventor. A big part of bringing those ideas to life is giving children the tools and confidence to start building – and that’s where Makedo has become a firm favourite in our workshops.

We regularly deliver workshops to primary school children and at events across the UK, and our cardboard prototyping sessions are always some of the most popular. In these workshops, children are challenged to come up with their own invention ideas and then have a go at building them using cardboard. These sessions are all about turning imagination into something real. There’s something incredibly powerful about watching a child go from a drawing on paper to a physical prototype they can hold, test and improve.

Image credit: Kids Invent Stuff, UK

Cardboard is the perfect starting point for invention. It’s accessible, flexible, and encourages experimentation. When combined with Makedo tools, it becomes even more exciting. The ability to safely cut, connect, and add moving parts opens up a whole new level of creativity. Suddenly, children aren’t just building static models – they’re creating inventions that spin, flap, and react.

This hands-on approach mirrors exactly what we do on the Kids Invent Stuff YouTube channel. Every invention we build starts as a prototype. We test ideas, refine them, and regularly fail along the way before getting to a final working version. Sharing this process with children helps them understand that invention isn’t about getting it perfect the first time – it’s about trying, learning and improving.

Alongside building, we also introduce children to the basics of intellectual property. We talk about how ideas belong to them, why it’s important to share them safely, and how inventors in the real world protect and develop their creations. It’s a brilliant way to show that their ideas have value and could become something much bigger. Prototyping is a key stage in this process.

Most importantly, these workshops give children permission to be creative. There’s no right or wrong answer, no single way to build something. With Makedo, they can experiment freely, adapt their designs, and take ownership of their inventions from start to finish.

Libby, our Educational Engagement Lead, sees the impact of this first-hand:

“Using Makedo in our workshops has been a game-changer. The tools are safe and easy for children to use independently, which builds confidence straight away. What’s really exciting is how it allows them to add movement to their ideas - suddenly, their inventions feel real. You can see their faces light up when something they’ve imagined actually works.”

We love working with tools that genuinely support creativity, and Makedo does exactly that. It helps us create an environment where ideas can grow, where children feel empowered, and where invention feels accessible to everyone.

If you’ve got a brilliant invention idea, we’d love to see it. Children can submit their invention ideas over on the Kids Invent Stuff website, and you never know - we might build yours next!

Thanks to Emily from Kids Invent Stuff for this guest post on the Makedo Blog. To see these creative kids in action at the workshop session, watch this short clip from @kidsinventstuff.