Little Inventors

15/09/2026

Our Chief Inventor Dominic Wilcox, cardboard-making expert Lottie Smith, and one of our brilliant winning JOY LAB inventors, Marie-Claire, headed into the BBC Newcastle studio last week to chat about JOY LAB - our challenge to invent ideas that bring a little more joy into people’s lives - and the exhibition now on show at the brand-new Culture House in Sunderland.

👂 Listen to it from around 1 hour 25 minutes:

Stories, Music, Life, including The Rewind from 1pm to 2pm with Anna.

11/09/2026

Come to see us at our JOY LAB exhibition in the brand new and brilliant culturehousesunderland tomorrow (Saturday 12th September).

Say hi, check out the fantastic inventions that have been brought to life and even have a go at dreaming up your own invention that will bring a moment of happiness to someone’s day.

Picture courtesy of Dominic Wilcox

Cultural Spring Sunderland Culture Sunderland Echo South Tyneside Council Sunderland, UK Sunderland Libraries University of Sunderland Atlas Theatre Company CIC

👉 https://www.littleinventors.org/events/joy-lab-exhibition-at-culture-house/info

10/06/2026

Our Joy Lab challenge has come to an end but it has been bringing us so much happiness going through all of your joyful idea submissions!

There have been some amazing entries to Joy Lab already!

Don't forget - you can still upload your own idea for an invention that brightens someone's day before the deadline on the 17th May.

You could be in with a chance of having your invention created in prototype - feel free to go wild and submit ideas from the furthest reaches of your imagination!

Learn more and enter your invention here: https://joylab.littleinventors.org/

Little Inventors

09/06/2026

Check out this incredible video put together by PTI Engineered Plastics showing the journey of bringing Jacksons invention the Suction Saver to life!

Handcrafted, made to fit Jackson perfectly, and finished off to a professional standard. Working with makers like PTI to support our mission at Little Inventors is such a pleasure and we are eternally grateful for the time and effort these makers put in to empower young people and champion creativity!

Jackson was a winner of the MISD Wild Ideas challenge, to see more amazing inventions head to: https://misd.littleinventors.org/challenges/wild-ideas/brought-to-life

https://youtu.be/BjtQbRHNL0s

To find out more head to: https://misd.littleinventors.org/challeng...

05/05/2026

Hey thanks so much for everything you are doing for JOY LAB Atlas Theatre Company CIC. Nothing better than seeing a class with faces full of concentration and smiles 😁

05/05/2026

Well that's just wonderful to see SJBYear2 - thank you for taking part in our JOY LAB project 🥰

05/05/2026

Thank you for taking part in JOY LAB guys! There's lot of creative cogs spinning fast behind those smiles for sure.

😍 Big love to Atlas Theatre Company CIC for your wonderful role in this project.

04/05/2026

Our Wild Ideas challenge is has got kids all over Michigan jumping for joy! We can't wait to see how these ideas are going to be brought to life by our professional makers 🦒🦔🦥

28/04/2026

Dominic recently appeared on BBC Newcastle Radio to chat about his life, inspiration and the road that led to our current JOY LAB challenge.

👉 https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002tnyc
⏱️ Go to around 1 hour 19 minutes into the show to listen

Stories, Music, Life, including The Rewind from 1pm to 2pm with Anna.

23/04/2026

🤩 Introducing JOY LAB: Inventing for Happiness 🤩

What could you invent to brighten someone’s day?

To celebrate 10 years of Little Inventors, we’re inviting people of ALL AGES to dream up something playful, kind, or wonderfully unexpected - an invention designed to spark a moment of joy.

✨ 10 winning ideas will be brought to life and featured in special exhibitions. Yours could be one of them.

👀 Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xgY2vKma2w

👉 Find out more + download free resources at joylab.org.uk

JOY LAB: Inventing for Happiness Challenge 2026