The Tinkering Studio at the Exploratorium

The Exploratorium (interactive science museum in San Francisco) has moved into a new space on the wharf. I have been there twice since their move – once with my toddler, and once with a group of adults all interested in museum design. The two experiences gave me completely different views into the experience.

With my daughter, one surprise was that she was fascinated by one of the simplest exhibits – a large magnet with washers. She would have stayed here for hours if I hadn’t insisted we see other exhibits. I was surprised by this (though in retrospect I should not have been). The exhibit is not as flashy or complex as most of the other exhibit. In fact, nothing moves or lights up. But my daughter was simply fascinated by it. In part, I think this was because it was easy for her to engage with (she could reach it and grasp the washers) and there was no right or wrong way to explore. She could build things!



Personally, I was most impressed with the new Tinkering Studio (http://tinkering.exploratorium.edu/) - a place where children and adults can tinker with everyday and not-so-everyday materials.


More exhibits in the Tinkering Studio. The first is a pin ball machine that can be altered just by moving around the cylinders, bells, and blocks of wood. The other is an assortment of circuit components that can be connected to make buzzers sound, run motors and light lights.





  

Let the Children Make: Talk by AnneMarie Thomas

A talk by AnneMarie Thomas on children and making.

My go-to birthday box for 2013 - a box

This is birthday party season for us. My daughter's 3rd birthday is coming up which means most of the children she is good friends with also have birthdays coming up. Last year (when all her friends were turning 2), my daughter was in a stage where she loved to paint herself. Her favorite book was "I Ain't Gonna Paint No More" a story about a little boy who paints all over everything. So we gave many of her friends that book, lots of paints and some paper.

This year, she loves to play in boxes. They are boats, rockets, beds for her animals, houses, whatever she things of. So this year, all her friends are getting a big cardboard box, the book "Not A Box," MakeDo kits and Rolobox. "Not A Box" is a story about a bunny rabbit who imagines a box is a mountain, a robot, and all sorts of things. MakeDo kits include hinges, connectors to make box creations just a little bit better. Rolobox are wheels to add to cardboard boxes.

http://mymakedo.com/creative-play
http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/books/Not-Box/
http://www.rolobox.com/

Halloween costume - the Neighborhood Trolley

Halloween is an excellent opportunity for making things. When my pre-schooler asked if we could make a costume for the Neighborhood Trolley (from Daniel Tiger's neighborhood), how could I say no?

We started with a cardboard box. Mom cut out the window and printed out characters from Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood (from pbskids.org). 

 She colored the characters and taped them in the windows.

We added some paper and some extra cardboard behind the characters for support.

 Finally, we used LittleBits to make a working headlight.

Now we just need to put the wheels back on and we'll be ready to roll around the neighborhood.

Moving drawings

This week, my pre-schooler folded the edges of a piece of paper toward the center and colored the pieces folded in and the center area. I had no idea what she was doing. When she was done, she told me that it was a butterfly and demonstrated its flapping wings. I am ridiculously proud of this paper butterfly. She came up with the idea of constructing a "moving" drawing all on her own and figured out how to fold the paper to accomplish her goals. Or perhaps she folded her paper and accidentally discovered that it resembled a butterfly.

A month or so ago, we were at a children's museum where my daughter saw (and tried) origami. The instructions (and example) provided were of a bird with flapping wings (see below). Perhaps this experience planted the seed that led her to experimenting with folding paper this week.

Toys that encourage "making"

I interact with toys in three primary roles: a mom, an educator, and a person who likes to play with toys. I find that I'm drawn to similar types of toys in all three roles. I like toys that don't tell you how you should play - toys that allow and encourage different forms of play. In short, I like toys that let you "Make" things or experiences.

As a mom, I like my child to play with building toys, art toys, and toys that encourage make believe. Blocks, Legos, magnetic building shapes, tinker toys, crayons, paints, playdoh are some of our favorite building and art supplies. For make believe, some of the same toys - especially Legos encourage stories and make-believe, but also hats, a kid-size kitchen and household items like brooms and dishes.

As a STEM educator, I want my students to engage with toys that help then engage in science and engineering practices. I want them to design things, build things, and try to explain. This means I like materials for building robots, simple CAD-type software and programming interfaces like Scratch (yes I consider software toys), and things like magnets and oobleck that create opportunities to make sometimes surprising observations.

As a person who likes to play with toys, I like these same kinds of toys --  Legos and robotics -- things I can put together and manipulate on my own - and arts and craft supplies and tools.

What I tend not to like are toys that want you to "push a button" to make something specific happen. This is often a "feature" of electronic toys and electronic aspects added to other toys (a farm that neighs when you push the right spot) or otherwise invite play in only one specific "right" way.

Blocks

Blocks are wonderful. My daughter creates tall towers, small towers, wide towers, and narrow towers, and she calls them cities, hotels, houses, or the names of stores that we regularly shop at. Sometimes it is just about the process of building (and "knocking") and sometimes her Lego people or stuffed animals inhabit her structures for stories and make-believe. Sometimes she sorts colors and sizes and shapes of blocks. Sometimes she makes patterns. Sometimes it's a solitary activity and other times she engages Mom and Dad. The same pieces knocked down, repurposed, and reorganized become new structures, new toys. Toys of her design and imagination.