Sixth-graders win Bubble Wrap contest

Usually kids are interested in Bubble Wrap for the popping sound it makes when they squeeze the bubbles. But when Massapequa science teacher Brian Mulcahy told his sixth-grade classes they'd get extra credit for entering a contest to create an invention using Bubble Wrap, they started to think of the packing material in a different way.

Two 11-year-old girls from the Birch Lane Elementary School were chosen as top 10 finalists nationwide in the Fifth Annual Bubble Wrap Competition for Young Inventors, a contest for sixth- through eighth-grade students with more than 400 entrants. And one of them, Mackenzie Conkling, won third place, receiving a $3,000 savings bond at a ceremony in Manhattan on Saturday.

"I think it's amazing that two from Birch Lane were tops in the country," says Linda Fasano, whose daughter, Emily, was the other top-10 finalist.

Mackenzie invented the "Uber Bubble Glove" -- a glove insulated by two layers of Bubble Wrap and covered by a larger glove to keep the hands of people affected by Raynaud's disease warm in cold weather.

Emily Fasano invented "Slipper/Sock Inserts" -- a foot-shaped piece of Bubble Wrap that goes inside slippers or socks, created for people who sleepwalk. The popping noise will wake the person, which, in turn, prevents injury.

The contest is run in conjunction with Scholastic; visit bubblewrapcompetition.com.