Tinker – Educator Guide
Interested in incorporating playful, STEAM learning experiences into your program? Explore Tinker to learn how to make hands-on, exploratory STEAM education work in your early childhood or elementary setting.
- Audience
- Educator
- Subject
- STEAM
- Age
- ElementaryKindergartenPre-KPreschool
- Languages
- English
Tinker is a set of resources designed to support educators and caregivers in engaging young children with hands-on STEAM learning. Encouraging children to tinker gives them the skills to be creative problem solvers out in the world. Tinkerers make great discoveries, small and large. Children who are encouraged from an early age to tinker and solve their own problems develop
a different way of thinking about the world. They understand experimentation, testing, and failing. And a child who tinkers:
- Does not give up easily when a challenge gets difficult
- Thinks creatively
- Is self-sufficient
- Can fix things that have broken
- Is a creative problem solver across a range of issues
In the Tinker Educator Guide you can explore 12 engaging activities that build from exploring materials and tools, to building craftsmanship skills, to making unique artifacts. Activities are designed for use with children ages 3 to 7 years old and have been tested across a variety of settings, including elementary classrooms, early learning centers, and afterschool programs. Each activity also includes suggestions for books to read, additional extensions, and connections to local learning standards.
Related Resources
EducatorGuideTinker – Playgroup Guide
You can use or adapt this playgroup structure to maximize playful learning about STEAM concepts during your playgroup. Be sure to also visit the Tinker collection to download the accompanying Family Activity Sheets. This playgroup guide includes:
CaregiverActivityWind Races
The Wind Races activity is especially good for children to practice staying focused and deepen their curiosity.
CaregiverActivityExploring Ice
The Exploring Ice activity is especially good for children to deepen their curiosity and practice doing things their own way.
CaregiverActivityCup Creations
The Cup Creations activity is especially good for children to develop persistence and practice finding multiple solutions to a challenge.
CaregiverActivityCardboard Worlds
The Cardboard Worlds activity is especially good for children to develop their independent thinking skills and explore their creativity.
CaregiverActivityBoats Afloat
Make a simple boat by changing the shape of a material and see how much your boat can carry.
CaregiverActivityBalls and Ramps
Tinkering is about exploring and problem solving using materials and tools. Tinkering often starts with simple questions, like “What can I do with this?” or “How does this work?” The Balls and Ramps activity is especially good for children to practice using materials in creative ways and experiment with different ways of solving problems. Getting […]
EducatorGuideEngineering and Empathy for PreK & K
In these hands-on design challenges, engineering and empathy come together as an integrated whole. Elements of empathy are specifically drawn out to encourage students to consider the needs and feelings of the various stakeholders in the challenge in order to design successful solutions.