Exploratorium Magazine (The)

As tinkerers, we often find ourselves revisiting activities from our past with fresh eyes and different materials and sometimes expanded possibilities. Recently, Celeste Moreno gave us the chance to tinker again with "light & shadow" during her artist residency. She invited us to engage in this […]

When we're facilitating a workshop, we're able to communicate our team's values around learning in a hundred little ways: from how we welcome people into a workshop and the questions we ask to deepen their explorations to the materials we choose and how we set up the space. How do we do the same […]

an ongoing and collaborative investigation For the last few months I’ve been playing with remixes and variations on the Tinkering Studio’s classic Light Blocks. What started as a project to play with the physical form of the blocks, has developed into a broader investigation into moving […]

Discovering New Possibilities in Familiar Materials In the process of developing new activities at the Tinkering Studio, a common theme is that we frequently repurpose everyday materials for innovative uses. We call this one of the Tinkering Tenets: "Use familiar materials in unfamiliar ways." For […]

Recently our friend and fellow tinkerer, Celeste Moreno, introduced us to a cool new material - Photochromic Powder. This powder reacts to UV light and it can be used in a bunch of different ways. Celeste mixed the powder with glue and painted the mixture on some paper. Assisted by a handy UV […]

Over the last few weeks I’ve been sharing my experience from the Art of Tinkering Workshop (check out Week 1 and Week 2). In order to write these posts I’ve been reflecting a lot and it’s through these reflections that I’m starting to realise the learning that I experienced. […]

Varied and valuable reflections occurred throughout the Art of Tinkering Workshop. Over the last few weeks I’ve been sharing my experience from the Art of Tinkering Workshop (check out Week 1 and Week 2). In order to write these posts I’ve been reflecting a lot and it’s through […]

Last week I shared some of my experiences participating in the Art of Tinkering Workshop. This week I’m still reflecting on my experience, focusing on the amazing participants of the workshop. As always, feel free to reach out if you have any questions or comments - mwong@exploratorium.edu. […]

Participants in the Art of Tinkering Workshop explore light and shadows. Hi everyone, I’m Michael, the newest member of the Exploratorium’s Tinkering Studio. I’m from Australia and I have a background in silversmithing, jewellery manufacturing, and education. I just finished up a […]

Hey everyone! This year is my first time getting into the Halloween spirit. Growing up in Australia, I never got to experience the joys of pumpkin carving, trick or treating, or dressing up in my most horrible garb. So, to learn about this hallowed day, the Tinkering team and I embarked on a […]

The Art of Tinkering Show took place at the Exploratorium from June 18 – September 5, 2022! We hope that you were able to visit in person, but one of the things we value about tinkering is that it can happen in all different places and spaces. We invited makers and tinkerers from all over the […]

Guest post written by Michael Wong, a masters student in Learning Design and Technology and a Graduate Fellow in the Tinkering Studio. Michael is a former jeweler and a current maker, studying how to enhance learning experiences through making and tinkering. Given the experiments and experiences […]

This spring, Deanna and I co-designed and facilitated a hybrid spinning tops workshop with our collaborators at Right to Play in Rwanda through the Tech & Play project. This workshop was for educators in Rwanda who have an interest in playful ways to engage with making, tinkering, and […]

We’re experimenting with cardboard! In collaboration with our partners in the Brazilian Creative Learning Network as part of the LEGO Tech & Play project, we’re exploring cardboard as a material to build paths for marbles to travel down. Cardboard is an amazing material that […]

This is one in a series of blog posts about our current Tinkering Studio projects and initiatives shared at the Exploratorium's 2022 Trade Show. Tinkering values community building, because we recognize that learning is relational, and one of the most important roles we can have is to change the […]

This is one in a series of blog posts about our current Tinkering Studio projects and initiatives shared at the Exploratorium's 2022 Trade Show. Tinkering in Early Childhood Tinkering is more than a collection of activities. It is a constructivist approach to learning based on the premise that all […]

This is one in a series of blog posts about our current Tinkering Studio projects and initiatives shared at the Exploratorium's 2022 Trade Show. What does it mean to learn through play? We've been exploring what playful learning looks like in different settings, from the kitchen table to the museum […]

This is one in a series of blog posts about our current Tinkering Studio projects and initiatives shared at the Exploratorium's 2022 Trade Show. Facilitating Computational Tinkering Project Facilitating Computational Tinkering (FCT) is an Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) NSF project focusing […]

This is one in a series of blog posts about our current Tinkering Studio projects and initiatives shared at the Exploratorium's 2022 Trade Show. Tech & Play The Tech & Play initiative is an international network of partners that develop and practice playful approaches to learning. The […]

This is the first in a series of blog posts about our current Tinkering Studio projects and initiatives shared at the Exploratorium's 2022 Trade Show. You can read more in followup posts about Tinkering in the Community, Everyone Belongs in Tinkering, Designing for Connection, Creating Far-reaching […]

Building on our Tinkering At Home balance activities and online workshops, our team has been engaging in creating a playful balance tinkering experience for the Tinkering Studio. Visitors get to try their hand at creating their own precarious, whimsical, and surprising balancing sculptures while […]

I was so inspired by Casey's experiments with combining tin cans and Magnatiles into a construction set that I wanted to try it out too! I like the idea of looking around your space and incorporating materials (or even toys) that you already happen to have into construction sets. In this case, I […]

Students try out a prototype during the EDGE refurbishment of Stripped-Down Motor, a classic exhibit that allows you to play with a simple motor. The team added open-endedness and homemade objects. Photo: Amy Snyder/Exploratorium Mind the Gap “EDGE is there to help me justify and support my […]

Guest post written by Ryan Jenkins, co-founder and managing director of Wonderful Idea Co, an experimental studio that explores art, science and technology through making and tinkering. Ryan was a core member of the Tinkering Studio from 2009 to 2017 and is excited to return for a new project with […]

We are excited to share Tinkering Together! A virtual early childhood ideas festival! We hope you enjoy the on-demand digital programming by listening to the podcast series hosted by author and NPR correspondent Anya Kamentz and watching a miniseries featuring visual stories of educators practicing […]

Guest post written by Ryan Jenkins, co-founder and managing director of Wonderful Idea Co, an experimental studio that explores art, science and technology through making and tinkering. Ryan was a core member of the Tinkering Studio from 2009 to 2017 and is excited to return for a new project with […]

Guest post written by Ryan Jenkins, co-founder and managing director of Wonderful Idea Co, an experimental studio that explores art, science and technology through making and tinkering. Ryan was a core member of the Tinkering Studio from 2009 to 2017 and is excited to return for a new project with […]

Guest post written by Ryan Jenkins, co-founder and managing director of Wonderful Idea Co, an experimental studio that explores art, science and technology through making and tinkering. Ryan was a core member of the Tinkering Studio from 2009 to 2017 and is excited to return for a new project with […]

Guest post by Casey Federico, an early childhood educator based in San Francisco. Her passions include supporting Bilingual and Bicultural families, teacher-led professional development, fighting for equity in early childhood, and tinkering for all ages. Over the first months or shelter-in-place I […]

The Tinkering Afterschool program was invited by the organizers of the recent virtual State of the Exploratorium gala event (shoutout to the wonderful folks of the Institutional Advancement team) to share some insights and information about the program, its values, and how our practices have […]

Guest post written by Ryan Jenkins, co-founder and managing director of Wonderful Idea Co, an experimental studio that explores art, science and technology through making and tinkering. Ryan was a core member of the Tinkering Studio from 2009 to 2017 and is excited to return for a new project with […]

Encourage people to make their own observations and experiment. And never give them all the answers. —Peter Sargent, Meet Dr. Peter Sargent, neuroscientist by training, retired professor, Exploratorium volunteer, and Oppenheimer Circle Member (named in honor of Exploratorium Founder Frank […]

Post escrito pelo convidado Nathan Rabinovitch, residente tinkering da Rede Brasileira de Aprendizagem Criativa, pesquisador e parceiro do LSITec da faculdade de engenharia elétrica da POLI-USP e professor de Ensino Fundamental e Médio. Desde pequeno, Nathan pesquisa e explora as […]

Guest post written by Nathan Rabinovitch, tinkering resident with the Brazilian Creative Learning Network. Nathan is a researcher and partner of LSITec at POLI-USP's electrical engineering State University and a practicing teacher at Elementary High School. From an early age, Nathan researches and […]

Guest post written by Ronni Hayden, who is a second year PhD student studying Creative Technology and Design in the ATLAS Institute at the University of Colorado, Boulder. As part of the Creative Communities research group at CU Boulder, she is excited to continue researching how to design learning […]

We love seeing how makers and educators pick up tinkering projects and riff on them in playful ways! Claire Pillsbury from the Bay Area Discovery Museum shared a few photos of kids making their own ghosts and testing them out in wind tubes for Halloween. She said "there was a lot of excitement when […]

Ryoko and I had the pleasure of collaborating with the Scratch Education Collaborative, a group of educators from 41 different organizations committed to supporting learners from historically marginalized communities in their development of confidence in creative computing. Our goal was to provide […]

Something incredibly wonderful happens when you combine children's literature with tinkering activities. As children engage with materials and stories, math moments start to reveal themselves in surprising ways. In this session for the 2021 Early Math Symposium, Karen and I partnered with educators […]

Over the past year and a half, we've been in many Zoom meetings. A LOT of Zoom meetings. This got us wondering: how can we infuse more joy into these virtual meeting spaces? Steph, Celeste, and I teamed up to take on this challenge last summer and came up with an experience we're calling virtual […]

This is Part 3 of a series of blog posts. If you haven’t already, read Part 1 here and Part 2 here! Engage as educators to reflect on the experience: After the hands-on exploration period, we did not forget about the educator’s hat that we had set aside. The following are excerpts from […]