Tinkering is a concept that came out of the Exploratorium in San Francisco. It is an idea that was developed to help children and adults to learn through play, to value the process not the end result and to learn from their mistakes. Looking at the 5 Rs of effective learning: Resilience, Resourcefulness, Risk Taking, Relationship and Reflection.
I was employed at the Centre for Life when they were part of a project called Tinkering EU, working with 5 different museums and schools in Europe to develop Tinkering projects, trialling them and completing CPD with teachers in the Northeast. During this time I took part in a series of training around how to facilitate these types of activities, training others in how to facilitate the activities and ran many of the activities with school groups around the North East.
Tinkering workshops and Parties
Scribble Bots
A Scribble Bot is a motorized contraption that moves in unusual ways and leaves a mark to trace its path. It’s made from simple materials and demonstrates the erratic motion created by an offset motor. Particpants can experiment by changing the length and weight of the eccentric motors, testing various drawing tools, and experimenting with materials used for the base. You will be amazed at the different motions and patterns you can create.
Age Suitablility: 9 years +
Group size 6-24 people
Sewn Circuits
Use a battery, conductive thread, and an LED to construct a working and wearable circuit. Experiment with a battery, conductive thread, and an LED to learn how to connect a circuit, and then design a way for it to work on a wrist cuff or a badge. Tools such as pliers, scissors and sewing needles will help you affix the necessary components together, and a metal snap will attach the cuff around your wrist while connecting the circuit, or turn your badge on.
Age Suitablility: 9 years +
Group size 6-18 people
Bridge Building
Use paper straws and masking tape to explore the engineering behind how bridges are made and how we can make them as strong as possible, looking at the way that different shapes give us strength and learn about different styles of Bridges. Participants work in pairs or small groups with a set amount of supplies and time to build the strongest bridge they can to span a set distance, once the time is up the groups show off their creations then test them to desctruction.
Age Suitablility: 9 years +
Group size 6-18 people
Crooked Halo Crafts and Design 