OK, please experience parents.... how do I possibly guide my child to create, make and put together an invention ? This is a bit over my head. She wants to invent a device that locates cats in our home. I think it would be great to have it set up like an alarm key pad where it locates a sensor of some sort to state on the key pad what room the cat is in. Something has to be on their collar of coarse to attrack the device. Is this making anyone 's light bulb turn on ........any scientists ????
Condition the cats to come every time you open a can of cat food (the wet can kind). There ya go! It not only locates them, it brings them to where you are!
Ha - all joking aside, I'm sure you can buy sensors. Or buy one of those keyrings that have a locator on them .... not quite an invention, but a 'reinvention' of an idea.
If this isn't a fantasy craft project that she makes up for fun, but something she actually has to design and execute using scientific prinicpals, this sounds like an electronics project to me.
I'd get a science kit that utilizes simple electrical circuits. Snap Circuits is a popular brand. http://www.snapcircuits.net/products/product_details/snap...
There are also plenty of simple sensor kits on the market. They come packaged as room/burglar alarm. If you have a Hobby Lobby or Hobby Hub in your area, you can find such things...or at the very least the materials you'll need.
Otherwise check out these sites:
www.discoverthis.com
www.fatbraintoys.com
www.homesciencetools.com
Or these books for project ideas and how to do them:
http://www.amazon.com/Make-Electronics-Discovery-Charles-...
http://www.amazon.com/Electronic-Circuits-Projects-Engine...
By the way, there are a couple of real products out there that do this. There are actual pet GPS lojacks (like the kind you put in a car) that the pet wears on their collar. It sends out a signal so you can find your lost pet using your cell, computer, or with the help of a rescue service, and there are actual room sensors you can buy that can sense when a pet is getting into the trash or climbing onto countertops and furniture and will sound an alarm. Perhaps she can contact the manufacturers and get the science behind how the things work and do a low-tech modified version of her own.
See:
http://www.spotlightgps.com/spotlight-gps-pet-locator.aspx
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=...
Does your child have to actually make a working invention? Or just show an idea? How old is the child?
We've always used a tinkle bell on the cats collar.
Sounds expensive. Can't you just buy a sensor alarm kind of thingy. Go to Radio Shack.
sorry couldn't help more
Although I haven't gone through this personally (yet - our school does do this so I'm sure I'll have the same problem in a few years), keeping it simple is probably the key. First have your daughter brainstorm possible inventions or everyday issues that could use an invention. Then cross off all inventions that have either already been invented or are too complex/unreal. If your child has to present the invention, the simpler is the better. Our neighbor (4th grade) created a box that keeps bread from getting squished at the grocery store. Basically he made something that would fit in most reusable shopping bags and rigged the box so it could fold flat until you have bread to put into it. Obviously not the most earth shattering invention, but something he could create and something that people could theoretically use. Who hasn't come home from the grocery store with their bread already smooshed?
