Try one, Try two, Try Green, Try Blue The world’s greatest
inventions were not made overnight. Cars, planes and even the
telephone took inventors a lot of time to create. I learned this
during my many failed attempts to create a “dinosaur” footprint
and a sand artwork for the kids’ section of the Zoological
Society of Milwaukee’s Alive magazine. It all started with a
brainstorming session. The goal was to come up with dinosaur
activities that teach kids about paleontology. The original idea
was to have kids and parents make a cast of a dinosaur footprint
in a sandbox. Then they would make plaster out of some household
items and let the sun bake the plaster in the sand. It sounded
so easy. This large footprint was an early version. I pressed it
into 50 pounds of sand prior to the first failed plaster
mixture. This is how many inventors come up with ideas. They
begin with a brainstorming session to think of something that
will fill a need or improve upon another object. Once the
inventor has an inclination, he