What a fun day to spend with your students, children, or anyone who’s into making new things! If you think inventing is boring, think again—from slime to bouncy balls to paper airplanes to rockets, you can go far beyond the traditional (but still fun, in my opinion!) erupting volcano.

Spend January 17 inventing something new. You could probably think of a thousand things on your own; how about some of these to get you started?

Get a kit to make anything from bouncy balls to car race kits to grown crystals. These kits are amazing and always make my birthday list. (No, not my kid’s, my own!)

Invent something to make your life easier. Come up with a cool way to keep your keys always available, a new way to shave in the shower, an all-in-one carrier bag for everything, a device for containing all of your important papers or medical records, etc.

Create your own organization system for things like CDs, DVDs, etc. Sick of alphabetized organizing? Put them together by genre, mood, decade, etc.

Your own flavored drink, alcoholic drink, punch, etc. Let your kiddo experiment with different kool-aid flavors, fruit slices, grenadine, and club soda. Name it after yourself, or if it’s nonalcoholic, name it after your child.

Invent a new recipe or flavor for a current recipe. Show your children how just one or two added herbs can alter the taste of food.

Make a classic invention, like a soapbox car, popsicle stick boat, spaghetti bridge or tin can telephone. Explain to your children how you used to make these things as a child (or how your parents did, at least!). It may turn out to be the most fun you’ve had yet this year.

Study famous inventors and what they’ve created, then see if you can create something similar. How about your own printing press? Your own paper? Have your kiddos pick out a favorite inventor to research, draw, write a journal entry about, or pretend to be.

Find out if there is an invention fair or contest near you and register to enter or to attend. Visit your city’s museums and find inventions to mull over.

Watch Meet the Robinsons or Flubber and talk about what it means to be an inventor. What happens when your invention goes wrong or simply doesn’t work? What would have happened if these inventors—or any real inventors—gave up on their dreams? What does it mean to keep moving forward?