The Inventor's Desk

The QR Code Is the Take-Home: Family Engagement Without Another Newsletter

NAEYC and California both name family engagement as a core practice. The series' answer is one question, one activity, and one MP3 per book, behind the QR code in the back.

A Book Plus a Grown-Up Beats a Tablet Alone: Screen Time, Co-Viewing, and the Free Read-Aloud Audio

The NAEYC and Fred Rogers Center position statement on technology draws one line that still holds: passive screen use alone is out, interactive use with an adult can help. Here is how to use our fr...

Reading Aloud at Bedtime: What More Than 20 Years With Inventors Taught Me About Curiosity

A patent attorney on the surprising overlap between bedtime story habits and adult inventor habits.

Stereotype Threat Is Real by Age 6. Here Is What We Read Before Then

By kindergarten, kids have already decided who is good at math, who builds things, and who reads. A preschool co-founder on what to read in the years before that door closes.

How to Read STEM Books With a Toddler Who Won't Sit Still

A preschool co-founder's three-rule playbook for read-aloud time with a child who treats sitting as optional.

Best STEM Books for Toddlers Who Ask Why About Everything

A working patent attorney and preschool co-founder on what to read to a toddler who has discovered the word "why" and is using it as a weapon.