The League of Young Inventors

Today marks the close of National Summer Learning Week (July 6–10), a nationwide effort to keep kids engaged, safe, and learning through the summer months. At LYI, we believe the most effective summer learning happens hands-on. When kids build something, watch it fail, and try again, they're developing problem-solving skills and the kind of original thinking that can't be outsourced to AI or handed to them pre-made. As this year's Summer Learning Week spotlighted STEM and community learning, we're grateful to the educators and program leaders keeping kids building, testing, and creating all summer long. #SummerLearningWeek #STEM #HandsOnLearning

We're thrilled to introduce the newest member of the LYI team: Christina Karahisarlidis, our School Partnerships Manager! Christina joined us this spring with nearly a decade of experience spanning NYC public school classrooms and education nonprofit work. She began her career as a secondary ELA teacher in the NYC DOE, and holds a B.S. in English Education from NYU and an M.A. in Creative Writing from Southern New Hampshire University. As LYI deepens literacy connections, having an English teacher in-house feels like a secret weapon. And Christina's background includes partnership work at a civics education nonprofit, so stay tuned for more on our connections to civics and social studies.   Beyond her multi-disciplinary expertise and classroom and partnership experience, we love that Christina is driven by a passion for supporting teachers as they open up opportunities for students to create, collaborate, and solve real-world problems. She’s a true LYI-er at heart! When Christina is not visiting schools or fostering partnerships, she is at home on Long Island with her husband and their energetic toddler, where she enjoys reading, watching reality TV, and tracking down new sweet treats. Welcome to the team, Christina! We're so glad you’re here. #STEMEducation #EducationNonprofit #NYCSchools #K8Education #SchoolPartnerships

That's a wrap on the school year — and what a year it has been for #younginventors! Across classrooms, students spent the year doing the real work of #engineering: dreaming up an idea, building it, watching it fail, and figuring out how to make it better. They wound up rubber band paddle boats, reinforced bridges until they held the weight, and redesigned parachutes until they landed softly. Behind every finished project were a handful of versions that didn't work yet... and the patience to try again. That's the part we're proudest of. The persistence: kids learning that a first try is only a starting point, and that figuring it out is its own kind of win. As #JalenBrunson so aptly said, “𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲...𝐧𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞; 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞.” To every student who built, tested, and tried again this year, you amazed us. Have an incredible summer! Our latest newsletter looks back on the year and shares what's coming next. Read it: https://hubs.la/Q04mQfrB0 Subscribe to follow along this summer: https://hubs.la/Q04mP_Jr0

𝐁𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 "𝐥𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐭." This Teacher Appreciation Week, we're thinking about the educators who turn classrooms into invention labs, who model the engineering design process by being curious learners themselves, who let kids fail-and-fix in real time, and who send us photos of bridges that actually held weight. They're the reason "Did you learn anything at school today?" gets answered with a 20-minute story about how they and their partner kept tinkering, redesigning, and retesting until their boat stopped sinking and could hold the weight of 50 steel washers. To every teacher we've built with along the way: Thank you for letting us into your classrooms! #ThankATeacher #TeacherAppreciationWeek #STEMEducation #EngineeringEducation #ElementaryEducation

Hole punchers. Pipe cleaners. Engineering challenges. Turns out, they're occupational therapy in disguise! "I've learned so much about the fine motor skills involved in the units... This actually is something that's helping them." That's Amber MacDonald, engineering teacher at PS 145 in Brooklyn — reflecting on months of teaching LYI engineering design units. School OT Shavone Walker broke it down: hole punchers build hand strength and bilateral coordination. Twisting pipe cleaners refines motor planning. And the motivation to finish an engineering challenge pushes kids to persist through tasks they'd normally quit. This side of making doesn't get talked about enough. Is fine motor development on your radar as an educator? Drop your experience below. #HandsOnLearning #STEAMeducation #InclusiveEducation #OccupationalTherapy #FineMotorSkills #MakerEducation

The Brookings Institution just released one of the most sweeping studies on AI in education to date, and a quote from its #1 recommendation hits close to home. "Shift education experiences away from the transactional task completion that characterizes learning in so many schools worldwide." The report, drawing on focus groups and interviews across 50 countries, found that AI use in schools can "undermine children's foundational development" — but that the damage is fixable. At LYI, we've long believed that the antidote is learning that can't be outsourced: building, testing, failing, and creating with your own hands. It's all hands on deck. Read the full report summary at the link below — and tell us: what shifts are you making in your practice? 🔗 https://hubs.la/Q043MLGg0 #AIinEducation #HandsOnLearning #FutureOfEducation #STEAMeducation

Last month, our Director of Content and Media India Williams attended Bett Global UK 2026 in London – one of the world's largest education technology conferences, with 37,000 attendees from over 130 countries. One theme came up again and again across sessions: now that AI can generate polished work for students, final products can no longer be the measure of learning. The focus has to shift to the process: the thinking, the testing, the failing, and trying again. That's exactly where hands-on engineering design lives. When a student's structure collapses or their parachute drops too fast, the next move has to come from them – their hands, their thinking, their redesign. In an era where everything is automated, physical making isn't just nice to have. It's essential. What are you seeing in your classrooms or programs when it comes to AI and student agency? We'd love to hear your perspective. Comment Below!👇 #BettUK #HandsOnLearning #STEAMeducation #EngineeringDesign

𝗪𝗲'𝗿𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴: 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿 | 𝗡𝗬𝗖 We're looking for a School Partnership Manager to lead our growth in New York City. Are you an educator looking for your next challenge? Are you excited to roll up your sleeves and dive into the detailed work of bringing hands-on STEM to NYC schools? We want to hear from you! LYI brings hands-on invention curriculum to K-8 classrooms. We've reached over 40,000 students across seventeen states and are now investing strategically in NYC – deepening school partnerships and expanding our reach in the nation's largest school system. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗼𝗹𝗲: Build relationships with school partners, manage the partnership pipeline from outreach to implementation, visit schools across NYC, and help teachers deliver engaging STEM experiences to their students. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝘁: Educators (especially with elementary classroom experience) who excel at managing details, building relationships, and thriving in a mission-driven startup environment. 𝗛𝘆𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗡𝗬𝗖 | 𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝟭𝟭, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 📄 View the full job description and application instructions: https://lnkd.in/ej_chE6N Know someone who'd be great for this role? Share this post! #EdJobs #NYCJobs #STEMEducation #NonprofitCareers #HiringNow

Happy Kid Inventors Day! Today we're celebrating the young inventors who prove that world-changing ideas don't come with an age requirement. Every kid is an inventor waiting to unlock their potential—and some have already created solutions we rely on every day. From classrooms to kitchens, backyards to science fairs, kids are inventing by building ideas with their hands, learning from failure, and discovering capabilities that surprise even themselves. The best part: many of their "experiments" have become inventions that changed the world. Kid-made inventions that we love: 🧊 Popsicles – Frank Epperson, age 11, accidentally left a cup of flavored soda water with a stirring stick outside on a freezing night in 1905. The next morning, he pulled out the stick and tasted his creation. A summertime staple was born! 💧 Lead detection technology (Tethys) – At just 10 years old, Gitanjali Rao developed a device that detects lead contamination in drinking water faster and more affordably than existing methods—earning her the title of America's Top Young Scientist and later, TIME's first-ever Kid of the Year. ❄️ Earmuffs – Tired of cold ears while ice skating, 15-year-old Chester Greenwood created the first thermal earmuffs in 1873. He later patented his design and built a factory that produced them for decades.