By Michael Couse and Marisa Nelson

Solving problems leads to Bright Ideas. Michael Couse and Marisa Nelson, two participants in the Marketplace for Kids Bright Ideas Showcase and Contest, took problem solving seriously.

Hi. My name is Michael Couse. I’m 10 years old and live in Minot, North Dakota. My favorite things to do are mowing the grass, doing any kind of yard work, and playing with tractors and trains. Believe it or not, these things helped me to win first place in the Marketplace for Kids Bright Ideas Showcase and Contest in the Invention Category.

One day while working in the yard, I was thinking of a different or easier way to water the yard and flowerbeds where my garden hose couldn’t reach. I thought up this invention of WATER ON WHEELS. It eliminates the need to carry a watering can.

With some help from my family, I took an empty water jug then drilled 2 holes in it. One hole is on the top for filling the water in the jug. The other hole is on the bottom so the water can come out of it. I put the water jug in my wagon so it has wheels.

I glued pipes together to form a “T” so they would not come apart. Then I drilled 8 holes in the longer pipe for the water to flow out. I put the “T” pipe in the hole on the jug so the water can flow through it and out the smaller holes. I also put in a turn off valve so that I could turn the water on and off when I needed to. The jug is a simple way to transport the water to where ever you would need it.

By using the WATER ON WHEELS you do not have to carry water in buckets anymore it also saves you more time.

I am Marisa Nelson and I am also 10 years old. I have one brother, one sister and my dog Zoe! Plus, of course my mom and dad. I live in Minot, North Dakota and I love to go bike riding. I really like to fish and I get so excited when the State Fair is here. I also LOVE to read books, dancing and basketball. I am proud of a couple of accomplishments I have made. One of those accomplishments is the first place award I received in the Business Idea Category at the Marketplace for Kids Bright Ideas Showcase and Contest! Another was when I was participating on a basketball team we won one of the games when I scored two hoops at the end of the game. I was also a representative for my fourth grade class for Character Counts. I have gone on two trips in two years. The first was Oregon with my grandpa. We had a nice time visiting family and going to the beach. The next trip was to Idaho with my grandma. We spent time with family and my uncle and grandma took me panning for GOLD!! It was so much fun!

The invention of The Cupholder 4000 started with my friend Nicole. We discussed how it would be useful to have an insulated cup holder that actually prevents your drink from spilling. We started playing around with some ideas and the next thing you know we started putting our project together. We molded a cup holder out of some clay, allowed room on the bottom for a small hole (for a suction cup) and baked it. When the cup holder came out of the oven and cooled we painted it, and attached the suction cup to the bottom.

We did have some troubles along the way. The clay we were going to use in the beginning did not work, so Nicole's grandma took us to get some clay we could shape better. Also, at first the cup holder did not allow enough room for a variety of cans and bottles. We also thought we could improve the cup holder in a couple of different ways. We could cut a slit in the side of it so it could hold coffee mugs and we would also individualize the cup holder to different colors and designs a customer might like.

The future for the cup holder could possibly be that we sell it at a store where a variety of things can be purchased for about $5.00. Nicole and I decided on the name The Cupholder 4000 because it's a cup holder and the year 4000 is in the future and no one has built it yet. And finally, that's my invention---The Cupholder 4000.

Marketplace for Kids encourages youth to explore entrepreneurship and self-employment through recognition and development of their inventive, creative thinking, and problem solving skills. Nine Educational Days highlighting the successes of participants’ projects, are held throughout the state. These Education Days provide a forum to present and explain their projects which are demonstrating entrepreneurship, innovation, and creativity.

This is the final chapter highlighting the winners from the first Marketplace for Kids Bright Ideas Showcase and Contest held at the 2009 ND State Fair. This statewide competition encourages students who participated in the Marketplace for Kids Education Days throughout the school year to bring their Bright Ideas forward to compete against other students their age for prizes in a business idea category or invention category. Winners received cash prizes for first, second, and third place, certificates, and savings banks. All participants received a Marketplace for Kids Bright Ideas Showcase and Contest Medallion for their participation.