Kids' Question of the Month
Each month we ask one class a burning environmental question and showcase their responses.
Describe what you would invent to help our environment.
Mr. Harrell’s Fourth Grade Class
St. Mary of the Mills Elementary School
"I will make an invention that will collect carbon dioxide from 10 miles in the DMV area. My machine will be like trees: it takes in carbon dioxide and it makes air ." -Evan
"I will build a power plant with four engines. It will solve problems with salt and fresh water by turning it from salt to fresh. It will be better and taste like water too." -William
"I could build a remote control vacuum and make it clean up trash. The tube will be connected to the closest dump. " -Molly
"Trash Re-user" by Izu, St. Mary of the Mills Elementary
"I would create a giant windmill to filter clean air." -Noel
"[My] machine will replant the woods by carrying dirt and water and seeds. It will help animals by making food for them." -Sanaa
"I want to make an invention that will pick up all the trash. It would be a small machine and the color would be black and it would have pictures of different animals. Because I love animals, but it could hurt them if this continues." -Scarlett
"My plan to help the environment: A Trash Sucker. It will be made out of metal and pipes. It will be black and blue. The security has an alarm loud enough to wake anybody, so please do not turn security mode on if Santa comes." -Orlando
"The Seed Tripler: The Seed Tripler will triple any seed by three. Which can make more trees and less carbon dioxide (CO2)." -Alexander
"My idea is to create a platform that collects trash from the side of the road. There are two paddles on each side. The paddles are like snow shovels with claws, but stronger than rakes." -Anya
"I can help the environment by building a big trash re-user. The problem is we dump trash in the ocean. This will stop water pollution and trash pollution. It will have a claw, a conveyor belt, and a heater. The heater will melt the trash and the claw will put the trash in a different form." -Izu
"I could make a seed machine! What it does is we could make dirt holes, the I put plant seeds in the machine. Then it SHOOTS OUT SEEDS in the holes of dirt! I could do this daily and then the tree population would grow!" -Olivia
"I will invent a camera that will track fingerprints so you can keep track of people who are littering and you can see their ID. Then you can see other places they littered and then you tap the red button and alert the cops." -Elijah
"I would make a group or “company” called “Reserves.com” that works together to save money to reserve land for plants and animals. We could do this by fundraisers, bake sales, and many other things. Reserving land can help by stopping people from making houses and destroying animals’ homes." -Adele
"Since the trash is all over the world, I decided to build a trash picker-upper. I will build it out of a trash can, I will put it on wheels and robot arms. I will control this project with a controller. This trash picker-upper will go all over the community." -Michelle
"My plan to help the environment is to stop deforestation. I will invent a machine that has a portable mini shovel in it and the machine shoots water and seeds to grow trees. It will stop carbon dioxide as well with the trees clearing the air." -Alex
"My machine will depollute the environment. My machine will eat garbage and make them into beautiful things. My machine will look like a garbage can. When a person throws trash in it, it will go to a park and make something." -Gregory
"We can make an invention to block the smoke form the car. The pipe goes on the car and it stops pollution from coming out of it." -Blake
"My plan to help the environment is the “Tree-a-nator 2000”. It will make trees grow faster and stronger. It will make things you make out of wood to be made without it being hurt. You don’t have to fix it, it can fix itself. And it only costs $5! It looks like a metal box with a claw on it, and it has a child detector so the child does not become a tree." -Seke