Falmouth-based engineer Shawn Brown and fellow inventor Ruth Amos tested a five-year-old’s snow-firing invention in the middle of town at the weekend.

The pair run Kids Invent Stuff a YouTube channel where kids can get their invention ideas brought to life, and this month’s contraption left Falmouth feeling festive. They started the channel to show the exciting, innovative nature of engineering and to highlight that engineers don’t just build cars and fix washing machines; they solve creative problems every day.

For their recent challenge Rhett, aged five, asked them to build his ‘Snowy Blaster’ – a device that shoots out snow so that everyone can have a white Christmas.

Ruth and Shawn built his invention in their workshop, combining a petrol leaf blower, 3D printed components and electronics to create a portable, artificial snow cannon that they tested across Falmouth.

"We loved testing Rhett’s invention," they said. "There were loads of smiles and quite a few people did seem to think it was actually snowing until they saw our crazy costumes and the leaf blower."

Some individuals were worried about the environmental impacts of the foamy fake snow the device was firing, but Shawn and Ruth explained how a tiny amount of natural, eco-friendly washing-up liquid was the secret ingredient for their snow effects.

The pair launched their YouTube channel in February and have built a different kids’ invention idea every month since then. “We love bringing kids’ ideas to life and are very excited to be building more mad ideas in 2018,” they said.