55 playful experiments that encourage tinkering, curiosity, and creative thinking—hands-on activities that explore art, science, and more.
The creator of the highly popular creativity site for kids, Tinkerlab.com, now delivers dozens of engaging, kid-tested, and easy-to-implement projects that will help parents and teachers bring out the natural tinkerer in every kid—even babies, toddlers, and preschoolers.
The creative experiments shared in this book foster curiosity, promote creative and critical thinking, and encourage tinkering—mindsets that are important to children growing up in a world that values independent thinking.
In addition to offering a host of activities that parents and teachers can put to use right away, this book also includes a buffet of recipes (magic potions, different kinds of play dough, silly putty, and homemade butter) and a detailed list of materials to include in the art pantry.
ISBN-13: 9781611800654
Media Type: Paperback
Publisher: Shambhala
Publication Date: 06-10-2014
Pages: 224
Product Dimensions: 7.00(w) x 9.40(h) x 0.60(d)
RACHELLE DOORLEY is an arts educator, community builder, and founder of the popular creativity blog Tinkerlab. She studied costume design at the University of California, Los Angeles, and worked on Hollywood films before finding her true calling as an arts educator. After teaching art in Los Angeles schools, Rachelle earned a master’s in arts education from Harvard, and then oversaw docent and education programs at the San Jose Museum of Art. Rachelle lives with her husband and her two curious daughters in the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area, where she leads workshops on visual thinking and hands-on creativity. Rachelle believes in finding fun and meaningful ways to make every day creative, and can often be found experimenting in her sketchbook, taking her kids on adventures, and asking lots of open-ended questions. Rachelle enjoys chai tea, hand-drawn letters, train travel, hikes in the woods, artist studios, and ocean air.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Prepare
1. Creating Your Tinkerlab
Tips for Clearing Children’s Clutter by Jillian Maxim
What Nursery Schools Can Teach Us about Creative Invitations: An Interview with Nancy Howe
2. Tools for Tinkering
3. Ten Tinkerlab Habits of Mind
Experience
4. Design
Oh No, That’s Not Creative! by Jessica Hoffmann Davis
Experience #1: Circle Games
Experience #2: Peel and Stick
Experience #3: Glue, Glue, Glue
Experience #4: Mark Outside the Box
Experience #5: Watercolor Exploration
Experience #6: Yes, You Can Paint on That!
Experience #7: Monoprints
Experience #8: Bubble Prints
Experience #9: Drawing Games
Experience #10: Draw What You See
Experience #11: Art Dice
Experience #12: Paint Experiments
Experience #13: Paste Paper
10 Lessons the Arts Teach by Elliot Eisner
Experience #14: Marbleized Paper with Paint and Oil
Experience #15: Plexiglas Painting
Experience #16: Foam Plate Relief Prints
Experience #17: Collage Painting
Finding Your Five-Year-Old Self in the Art Museum by Margie Maynard
5. Build
The Value of Loose Parts: An Interview with Susan Harris MacKay
Project #1: Gumdrop Structures
Project #2: Hanging Structures
Project #3: Straw Rockets
Project #4: Marble Runs: Ramps and Gravity
Project #5: Paper Houses
Project #6: Scrap Building
Project #7: Ropes and Pulleys
Project #8: CD Spinner
Project #9: Does It Float?
Project #10: Pounding Nails
Project #11: Take Things Apart
Project #12: Drawing Machine
Project #13: DIY Robot
DIY Kids: Building Tomorrow’s Innovators through Hands-on Making by Grace Hawthorne
6. Concoct
Yes, and . . . How to Improvise with Children: An Interview with Dan Klein
Experiment #1: Potion Station
Experiment #2: Goop
Experiment #3: Marker Explosions
Experiment #4: Make Your Own (Semiedible) Paint
Experiment #5: Slime
Experiment #6: Ice and Salt Exploration
Experiment #7: Ice Cream in a Jar: An Edible Investigation
Experiment #8: Frozen Carbon Dioxide
Experiment #9: Yeast and Sugar Expansion
Experiment #10: Naked Egg Experiment
Experiment #11: G-Ma’s Butter: An Edible Investigation
Experiment #12: Lemon Invisible Ink
Experiment #13: Glittery Egg Geodes
Experiment #14: Natural Dyes
Experiment #15: Kitchen Challenge: An Edible Investigation
Concoctions in a Michelin-Starred Kitchen: An Interview with Bruno Chemel
7. Discover
How to Set Up a Discovery Area that Honors the Child: An Interview with Parul Chandra
Exploration #1: Playdough Building
Exploration #2: Cloud Dough
Exploration #3: Pounding Flowers
Exploration #4: Scavenger Hunts
Exploration #5: DIY Light Box
Exploration #6: Photograms
Exploration #7: Ephemeral Installation
Exploration #8: Shadow Investigations
Exploration #9: DIY Lava Lamp
Exploration #10: Mystery Bag
The Benefits of Basic Materials by Jennifer Winters
Acknowledgments
The Busy Parent’s Planner
References
About the Contributors About the Author
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