Creative experiments for curious kids from the creator of www.Tinkerlab.com-50 hands-on activities that explore art, science, and more. For children up to six years old.
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
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.
“I highly recommend Tinkerlab to any parent with young children! I
read the book in one sitting (it was that well written) but know I
will be referring back to it for years as I encourage my own
daughters’ tinkering, experimenting, and creative
development.”—Jean V’ant Hul, author of The Artful Parent
“I love Tinkerlab! This book is a glorious invitation for wonder
and delight. The teacher in me respects the approach to creativity,
process, and self-directed exploration. The mom in me is charmed by
the easy-access of materials and projects. Fun! Fun! Fun!”—Lynn
Brunelle, author of Pop Bottle Science
“Being playful and creative is such a vital necessity in today’s
world! As an arts educator and parent of a curious
four-year-old, I greatly value and embrace the ‘tinkering mindset’
at the core of Doorley’s Tinkerlab. What an exceptional
resource for all ages as we work to include more creative
experiences and explorations in our lives.”—Michael Murawski, PhD,
Director of Education & Public Programs at the Portland Art Museum
and Founder and Editor at ArtMuseumTeaching.com
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