Alex is 12. This is his design process.

On the left: a pencil sketch in Alex's own hand.On the right: the finished product.

That's the whole journey we teach at GYEP — and Alex just walked it.

It started with a real problem he noticed: used tissues make a mess, and there's nowhere tidy to put them. So he sketched a fix — a tissue box with a spot for the used ones. Basic design.

Then his classmates tried it and told him the truth: the opening was awkward, tissues got stuck. Most kids would take that personally. Alex took it as information — and redrew it with a pull-out mini drawer. Version two.

Then the final layer, the one we call "delight": he added little messages to the box so it doesn't just work, it makes you smile. Final design.

Look at those two images again. A pencil drawing became a real, thought-through product — not because Alex got it perfect first time, but because he did the thing most people never learn to do:

See a problem. Build a rough answer. Listen to feedback. Make it better.

That's problem-solving. It's the core skill behind every business, every invention, every job worth having. And a 12-year-old just did it start to finish.

We don't hand children theory and hope. We give them a real problem and walk them through turning it into something real. This is what that looks like.

Parents — what problem does your child complain about most? That complaint might be their first design.