By Kids For Kids 2007 Invent-A-Toy World Games

Invent-A-Toy World Games is an annual event held by the organization By Kids For Kids, and sponsored by Mattel, Inc. It is exactly what the name suggests - a children's competition for inventing the best toy. Young inventors are encouraged to come out with their best ideas and toy inventions. A grand prize is awarded to the winner. This competition is such a great idea - who can be better than kids at deciding what they want to play with?

Edsel Boler, Brooke Rogers and Russell Moore are the winners of the Invent-A-Toy World Games for 2007. Edsel is an 8 year old whiz kid from Richardson, TX, who came up with the idea of Xoomball, a game using air pumps, ping pong balls and a game board with holes. The aim of the game is to use the air pumps to blow the ping pong balls so that they land right into the holes. Brooke Rogers, the youngest winner, is a kindergartner from Wilton, CA. She came up with the idea for Kipsy's Campfire Campout, which is a pretend battery operated campfire complete with sound effects and props like toy marshmallows and sticks. Russell Moore is a 13 year old from Trumbull, CT. Russell came up with a fantastic toy invention using water. Pipes, tubes and connections can be joined together to create a unique structure through which water can flow. Russell also landed a prize in last year's Invent-A-Toy games.

A question which pops up immediately is what happens to the kids' inventions once they've won the competition. Well, as we can see from last year's winners, lots of potential toy licencees display an interest in the toy inventions. Taylor Hernandez, the inventor of "Magic Sponge Blocks" is actually going to see her invention go into production later this year. Ana Ligenfield, another 2006 winner, is seeing considerable interest in her "Hands On Hand Clap" invention.

In addition to the possibility of the toy invention seeing the light of day, the Grand Prize winners of the games are awarded with a licensing contract from BKFK, legal support to patent the invention in the winner’s name (if patentable), professional expertise to bring the product to market, and a $5,000 US savings bond. Also, each winner's supportive teacher recieved a $1,000 US savings bond, courtesy of BKFK.