Why Kit Puts His Mark on Everything He Makes

In Book 12, someone makes a cup that looks just like Kit's Steady Sippy. Nobody can tell which one is Kit's. So Kit does what every inventor I have ever worked with eventually does. He picks a mark, a small gear, and puts it on his work. His friend Josie picks a star. From then on, everyone knows.

That is the whole idea. Not trademark law. Not patents. The idea a toddler can hold is this one:

Credit belongs to the person who made the thing.

Our STEM books for toddlers are built to plant that idea years before a child hears any of the legal words for it.

The habit comes before the law

I am a patent attorney. I have spent more than 20 years watching adults wrestle with the question "is this thing mine?" For grown-ups the answer almost always comes down to three things. Did you write it down? Did you put your mark on it? Did you tell people about it before someone else did?

Those are not legal skills. They are habits of mind, and they are social and emotional habits before they are anything else. Pride in your own work. The nerve to say "I made that" out loud. The generosity to share it and the confidence that sharing does not cost you the credit. The window where those habits form most easily is ages 2 to 5.

When a four-year-old draws a gear on the side of a cardboard fort, they are not learning intellectual property. They are learning the habit of marking what they made. The legal version becomes available years later. The habit has to be there first.

The stack, one book at a time

Six books in Kit's Little Sparks carry this idea. None of them uses the word "patent," "trademark," or "copyright."

• Kit's Creation Has A Name (Book 9). Naming what you made. The toddler version of "what should we call this?" and the first step in claiming any creation.
• Kit Says "I Made That!" (Book 10). Saying it out loud, and being proud instead of shy.
• Kit Shares With A Friend (Book 11). Sharing the thing without losing the credit.
• Kit's Special Stamp (Book 12). Putting a maker's mark on your work so everyone can tell it is yours.
• Kit and the Copycat (Book 13). Handling a copycat with words, not a fight. Kit is mad. Elias flips an hourglass, Kit takes a breath, and then he says how he feels.
• Kit Gets Inspired (Book 15). Looking at one thing and thinking of another. The difference between copying and being inspired is teachable at four.

One question to ask at the dinner table

After you read any of these with your toddler, ask one question:

"What did you make today that you want everyone to know is yours?"

The answer will surprise you. And the next time someone at preschool says "you copied me," your toddler will have a softer, smarter answer ready. Something like, "Look. Mine has the gear on it."

Chris Kuczynski is an engineer turned registered patent attorney, a preschool co-founder, and a dad. He is the author of Kit's Little Sparks, a 20-book STEM series that gives children ages 2 to 4 the social and emotional foundations of the inventor's mindset. It is the first of four age-tiered series for readers ages 2 to 12.