Welcome to the exciting world of Inventive Thinking ! Ever wonder where the ideas for inventions come from? Narrated by: Brandon Funk, Grade 7 Student General John Stricker Middle School

A good example of how inventive thinking works is the story of how the SKATEBOARD was invented. Source: Scholastic NewsScholastic News

Once upon a time, there was no such thing as a skateboard. Seriously! So, you’re probably wondering, “When and where was the skateboard invented, who invented it, and how did they get their ideas?”

Well, it all started in ancient Hawaii with an earlier invention: the SURFBOARD. The Hawaiians had been surfing in the ocean waves on long wooden boards for centuries. Source: Bishop MuseumBishop Museum

Visitors from the “mainland” brought the surfboard and surfing from Hawaii to Southern California in the 1930’s.

Surfing quickly became a TOTALLY popular pastime at Southern California beaches.

Surfers did have one problem, though: sometimes the ocean was flat and there were NO WAVES to surf on. Bummer

In the 1950’s, a group of young surfers in Southern California had an idea for what to do when there were no waves. They figured out a way to go “sidewalk surfing” !

Surfers created the first skateboards by modifying two existing inventions. They made their “sidewalk surfboards” by removing the wheels from roller skates and nailing them to planks of wood, or by removing the handlebars from scooters.

Thus, the SKATEBOARD was invented. But the inventing didn’t stop there! Over the years, different inventors have thought of many AWESOME ways to make skateboards safer, faster, and easier to maneuver.

For example, the first skateboards had steel wheels, which dented easily. These were replaced with baked clay wheels, which did not dent but had poor traction.

Clay wheels came to a dead stop when rolling over even small pebbles, and sent skaters FLYING off their boards. Skateboarding almost died out in 1965 because there were SO many injuries! YIKES!

Luckily, in 1973 a surfer named Frank Nasworthy developed a skateboard wheel made of polyurethane, a type of plastic that gripped concrete really well and made skateboards WAY easier to ride. Frank’s invention made skateboarding popular again!

Skateboard decks were also improved in the 1970’s. A dude named Larry Stevenson introduced a concave deck with slightly curved sides, and an upward curve at the ends called a kicktail. Both of these improvements made skateboards a lot easier to control and enabled skaters to do GNARLY tricks.

Inventors will probably keep thinking of new ways to improve the skateboard, just like skaters keep thinking of new tricks to do. Come to think of it, I have an idea for an invention myself, so that’s the end of my story. How about YOU? Are you ready to GET INVENTIVE?

References Brooke, Michael. The Concrete Wave: The History of Skateboarding. Toronto, Ont.: Warwick Pub., Siljeg, Sky and Scott Starr. The History of Skateboarding. Scholastic, Inc. 12 January ding/articles/index.asp?article=history&topic=0. ding/articles/index.asp?article=history&topic=0 Created by: Kelly Ray, Library Media Specialist Copyright 2007, Baltimore County Public Schools, MD, all rights reserved. Narrated by: Brandon Funk, Grade 7 Student General John Stricker Middle School Baltimore County Public Schools Images and media clips not from Microsoft Office are used by royalty-free licensed download or subscription unless otherwise noted.