RS Components teams up with ‘Kids Invent Stuff’ supporting engagement of young children in invention and engineering

RS Components (RS), the trading brand of Electrocomponents plc (LSE:ECM), the global distributor for engineers, has announced it is sponsoring the vlog channel, ‘Kids Invent Stuff’. Kids Invent Stuff is a YouTube channel where children, aged from five to eleven years old, get the chance to have their ideas or inventions actually made real by engineers.

The objective of the channel is to provide primary school aged children with the chance to engage with real engineering projects. Each month, children submit their ideas for inventions to solve a different challenge. One idea is then chosen, built and tested on camera, often with hilarious consequences.

“If we are going to succeed in encouraging more children into careers in engineering, we need to inspire them at an early age and introduce them to the wealth of possibilities that engineering opens up,” said Lindsley Ruth, CEO of RS. “We need to do this in an engaging way and before they make selective choices about the subjects that they will study at school.”

“The enthusiasm that we get from the children and the unbridled creativity of their ideas is brilliant. When we transform these ideas into reality we are showing children, that through the power of engineering, anything is possible,” said Ruth Amos, Presenter and Inventor at Kids Invent Stuff. “Our theme for August is an invention to entertain kids on a long car journey. The challenge-setting episode https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/kids-invention-ideas-built-by-real-engineers was released on 8 July and all children are welcome to submit their ideas.”

Previous challenges include:

• Dinner Dan, our household Robot designed by Izzy (age 6) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBsfTOjKcQe8HTnZpSgsIrvF37nmX1Bwa
• A water crossing inflatable suit designed by Ruby (age 7) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBsfTOjKcQe–Ld76EmnkOSgMeuFFqQww
• A custard firing superhero suit designed by Lucy (age 7) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBsfTOjKcQe8wpD3wc5ujmNxBlqWlfUFJ

The ‘Kids Invent Stuff’ channel was created by Ruth Amos and Shawn Brown. Amos is a British entrepreneur, STEM ambassador, and the inventor of the ‘StairSteady’. Designed as part of her GCSE project, ‘StairSteady’ is an aid that enables people with limited mobility to use their stairs confidently and safely. The invention also gained Amos the 2006 Young Engineer of the Year award in Britain.

Shawn Brown is a British inventor and engineer. Shawn was UK Young Engineer of the Year 2010 and is a design technologist and renewable energy engineer.