This document provides guidance for teachers on running a lesson about inventions for the Doodle 4 Google art competition. It includes suggestions for discussing the positive and negative impacts of inventions, looking at artistic depictions of inventions, brainstorming original invention ideas, creating doodles incorporating the Google logo theme of "My Invention", displaying and critiquing student work, writing supporting statements, and extensions such as photographing everyday inventions as art. The lesson aims to enable students to experiment with art materials and response to prompts for the Doodle 4 Google competition.

1. Doodle 4 Google ROI
‘My Invention’
Lesson 3 – Inventions: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
1st, 2nd, 3rd Year
The aim of this guide is to support the • se and understand the art and design elements
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teacher in delivering one or more lessons to • se a variety of materials, media, tools
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enable the students to enter the Doodle 4 and equipment
Google art and design competition on the • se an appropriate working vocabulary
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theme of ‘My Invention’. • nderstand relative scientific, mathematical and
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technological aspects of art, craft and design
Doodle 4 Google in the curriculum • ustain projects from conception to realisation
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The Doodle 4 Google competition is • ppraise and evaluate his/her own work in progress
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and on completion
strongly linked to the Art, Craft and Design
curriculum, enabling students to experiment • evelop an awareness of the historical, social and
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economic role and value of art, craft and design and
with different drawing tools and to look at
aspects of contemporary culture and mass-media
and respond to their own work and the work
of others.
Materials and equipment
• nteractive whiteboard (optional) to enable students
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Curriculum links to view the Google logo and other familiar logos
Subject: Art, Craft and Design • oogle logo templates available from
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Objectives: www.google.ie/doodle4google
Give a personal response to an idea, experience or
• • xamples of Google doodles for special events from
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other stimulus www.google.ie/logos and the Doodle Inspiration page
• ork from imagination, memory and direct
W at www.google.ie/doodle4google/doodler.html
observation • lain paper of different sizes
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• se drawing for observation, recording and analysis,
U • selection of tools and materials for graphic
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as a means of thinking and for communication activities, such as colouring pencils, felt tips
and expression and paints
• se the core two-dimensional process in making,
U • collection of images showing artists’ depictions
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manipulating and developing images, using lettering of inventions (optional)
and combining lettering with image, in expressive
and communicative modes • omputer drawing packages (optional)
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www.google.ie/doodle4google

2. ‘My Invention’
Ask students to come up with a list of inventions that have changed the world (e.g. mobile phone, laptop,
penicillin, nuclear power, space shuttle). For each invention, students should debate the positive and negative
impact on people and on the planet (e.g. nuclear power has given us a ‘clean’ source of energy that is not
reliant on fossil fuels, however nuclear plant accidents have cost lives and led to the destruction of surrounding
countryside and the environment). Do they wish any of them could be ‘un-invented’?
Show students a selection of images in which artists have depicted inventions (e.g. Da Vinci’s helicopter,
crossbow machine or tank; Dali’s Lobster Telephone; Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans; Joseph Wright of Derby’s
An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump; astronaut-artist Alan Bean’s paintings of lunar vehicles). In each case,
students should talk about the media used, the colour, tone and composition of the piece, as well as what the
artist is trying to ‘say’ to the viewer about his or her subject matter.
Ask students to turn their attention to an invention of their own. Remind them that inventions should be
thought of as problem-solving and needn’t be complicated (the paper-clip is a great example – simple,
elegant, functional).
You could either give students free rein to come up with their own ideas, or allocate each a specific character
(e.g. a businessman in a wheelchair, a teacher who has to carry lots of heavy books, a single mother with twins,
a teenager starting his or her first job, a pet dog) for whom they have to use as the focus for their invention.
What would this person or animal need? What would make his or her life easier?
Start doodling
If you have not already done so, explain about the Doodle 4 Google competition. The theme this year is ‘My
invention…’. We’d love to see doodles inspired by inventions, whether it’s a unique or novel device, their
favourite existing invention, a new method of doing something or changing an existing process. For example, a
time travel machine, a new or existing sport or toy, a medical creation or simply a new way to do something old.
When thinking about the theme, your students could consider the following:
• ays to help the world, such as saving endangered animals or ending global warming
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• ooking at new and inspiring ways to do everyday tasks or use everyday appliances
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• eveloping new machines, toys or gadgets they wish existed
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• edical marvels they can create to cure diseases or help people with disabilities
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Show the ‘Google’ logo and explain that Google is a search engine that helps us to find the information we want.
Talk about the fact that doodles are a way of playing with lines, letters and shapes to create something
interesting or to experiment.
Look at some past Google doodles at www.google.ie/logos. Read through the tips for doodlers on the Doodle
Inspiration page www.google.ie/doodle4google/doodler.html. You could also look at the video on the same page
in which the doodle team shares their advice for young artists.
Ask students to create doodles of their invention ideas and then experiment with incorporating them into the
Google template. These can either depict an existing invention to which they wish to pay tribute, or one of their
own imagining. Encourage them to try different media. They could also try doodling using a computer-drawing
package and experimenting with colour, tone and texture changes.
www.google.ie/doodle4google

3. Doodle gallery
Display the doodles and sketches around the room. You could divide the display area into different types of
inventions (e.g. inventions for health and medicine; inventions for entertainment; inventions that ease chores).
How successful have the artists been in incorporating the Google logo, as well as interpreting the ‘My Invention’
theme? Which images stand out most and why? How do the artworks make the viewer feel? What works well and
what could be improved?
Ask students to critically evaluate the works and describe how they might make changes or try a different idea
for their actual competition entry. Allow them time to review and develop their work.
Supporting statement
When students are happy with their doodle, they should give it a title. They need to write a short statement of no
more than 50 words about how their work represents ‘My invention’. They could describe what their invention is,
how it works, how it helps people, why they have chosen it, or perhaps how it has made an impact on their life or
that of someone they know.
Extension ideas
Challenge students to photograph or sketch other examples of ‘everyday’ inventions that could be viewed as
works of art (or having aesthetic appeal), and discuss what makes this so. While capturing the image, they
should think about composition. Is it necessary to show the whole object or could they capture a section of
it in detail?
www.google.ie/doodle4google