Inventions Facts for Kids

The safety pin was invented in just three hours in 1849 by Walter Hunt, who needed to pay off a $15 debt.

Silly Putty was a failed experiment to create synthetic rubber during World War II, but kids loved playing with it.

Barbed wire, invented in 1874, changed the American West forever by allowing farmers to fence off the open range.

The first flushing toilet was invented in 1596 by Sir John Harington for Queen Elizabeth I.

Pencils and erasers existed separately for centuries until Hyman Lipman patented the pencil with a built-in eraser in 1858.

Tea bags were invented by accident in 1908 when a merchant sent tea samples in small silk bags and people dunked the whole bag.

The first traffic light was installed in London in 1868 — it was gas-powered and exploded after just one month.

Wi-Fi technology was developed by Australian scientists in the 1990s while they were studying black holes.

Roller coasters evolved from giant ice slides built in Russia in the 1600s.

The first microchip, invented in 1958, was smaller than a fingernail but started the entire computer revolution.