You Are Innovation Nation
Challenge
Do you have what it takes to innovate the world’s next great idea? By the end of the summer, we bet you will!
Team up with the rest of your family to tackle a series of hands-on, brains-on weekly challenges from the inspired minds and experts at The Henry Ford.
Each week, we’ll share the secrets behind how some of the greatest innovators of all time achieved success. Then we’ll give you a fun-filled challenge to put your new STEAM, invention and entrepreneurial skills to work. Submit your solution for a weekly chance to win prizes. Who knows — your work might even go on to inspire future generations!
Prizes:
Weekly: Two (2) winners* receive a Family Membership to The Henry Ford, plus a $25 Buddy’s gift card and $25 Amazon gift card. (Retail value: $235)
Prize Sponsors:
*Only one (1) prize per household for the contest.
Who Can Participate:
Participants and winner(s) must be U.S. residents with students in grades K-12.
A parent or guardian of any participant must register on behalf of the minor; registration serves as consent for participation.
How to Participate:
- Register via Zoom.
- Weekly Challenge Announcement will be available ondemand on Zoom every Monday starting at 11:00 a.m. EDT. To be eligible for prizes, participants must register on Zoom.
- Complete the Innovation Challenge.
- Submit a one-sentence description and photo or 60-second video, including each week’s challenge hashtag and your registered Zoom name by 1 p.m. EDT each Thursday, via The Henry Ford Facebook or Instagram pages or by email via education2@thehenryford.org.
- Winners will be announced on The Henry Ford’s social media at 1 p.m. EDT each Friday.
How The Henry Ford will select the winners:
The winning submissions will be innovative, creative and resourceful ideas that activate The Henry Ford's Model i Innovation Learning Framework.
Weekly Challenge Announcement will be available ondemand on Zoom every Monday starting at 11:00 a.m. EDT. Must register on Zoom to be eligible to win a prize.
Weekly Challenges:
July 6: #THFTakeRisks with the Wright Brothers
- Get Inspired: Let your imagination soar inside the Wright Brothers Cycle Shop in Greenfield Village, where the pair first experimented with flight.
- Get Inspired: Inventor and designer Buckminster Fuller wanted to fill the need for mass-produced, affordable and easily transportable housing after World War II. The circular Dymaxion House in Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation failed to catch on but succeeded in inspiring thousands to think outside the box.
- This weeks challenge sponsor: AAA Auto Club Group
- Get Inspired: The first controller to be designed from the ground up by and for gamers with disabilities and mobility challenges was the Microsoft Xbox Adaptive Controller, part of The Henry Ford Archive of American Innovation.
- Get Inspired: The Model T was built through the assembly line process, which was a game changer in the manufacturing world and is part of the Ford Rouge Factory Tour experience.
- Get Inspired: Comic books can expand your world and encourage a love of reading, writing and illustrating.
- Get Inspired: Explore Menlo Park Lab in Greenfield Village, an original research and development lab, where Thomas Edison’s tireless experimentation led to a viable way to light the world.
- This weeks challenge sponsor: F. Ross and Laura Jean Birkhill Family Foundation
- Get Inspired: With over 300 pieces of modern studio glass in The Henry Ford’s collections, this creative medium blends art, science and technological innovation.
- Get Inspired: The “living roof” rests on top of the Ford Dearborn Truck Plant final assembly building, part of the Ford Rouge Factory Tour experience. Planted with a drought-resistant ground cover called sedum, the living roof spans 454,000 square feet (or 10.4 acres) and is one of the largest living roofs in the world.
Innovation Learning
Virtual Series
Our experts will guide you through series of lessons, activities and content built around The Henry Ford's collection.
