November 2024 Blog: Everyday Tinkering

Tinkering is KCM’s engineering program. We offer a different Tinkering activity each month, including design challenges. A design challenge at KCM involves asking the children to build different tools or structures to help solve a given problem. One example of this is our Bridge Engineers lesson where children must build a tool to help the toy animals cross the river. My favorite part of facilitating these design challenges is seeing children’s creative minds at work! For the Bridge Engineers lesson, children have built ziplines, bridges and life jackets for the animals.

Examples of tools children built to help the animals during Bridge Engineers.

 

During other Tinkering activities, we offer opportunities for children to tinker around with materials that they may not have much experience with. This includes circuit toys and tools such as hammers and screwdrivers.

A child using a screwdriver to take apart a toy car.

 

During Tinkering we strive to promote curiosity, celebrate children’s abilities to creatively problem solve and encourage children to take appropriate risks in a safe environment.

Here are some ways to continue to promote these ideas for children:

  1. Promote curiosity: “How does this work?“ “I wonder what would happen if we…?“ “Can I create something that could…?“ These questions and many more are what we ask during Tinkering. Children should be encouraged to ask these questions and with guidance, work to discover the answers for themselves. For example, if a child is playing with a car and begins asking about how it moves, with adult supervision and the use of safety goggles and a screwdriver, they can take apart a nonelectronic toy car. This can help them better understand how the car’s parts work together.
  2. Encourage problem solving: When working to develop problem solving skills during Tinkering, we strive to promote 2 main ideas. First, we want children to know that there is more than one right way to solve a given problem. They should use their creative thinking and pick the solution they think will work best! With this in mind, we also want children to know that it’s okay if their solution doesn’t work right away. Children should be encouraged to try their ideas out and then go back and make improvements to their solutions.
  3. Let children explore tools: If children are interested, it’s important to create a safe environment where children can explore different tools. Using child-friendly tools such as hammers and screwdrivers can teach children about safety, improve their fine motor skills and allow them to understand how and why these tools are used. It is important to note, when using these tools, children must follow appropriate safety protocol. At KCM, before allowing children to use these tools themselves, we demonstrate how to safely use each one. We also require close adult supervision and the use of safety goggles. There are also a variety of construction toys that teach these same ideas.

Here are some links to toys and tools we have used in the past:

  • Hammering Toy
  • Screwdriver Toy
  • Tweezers
  • Stubby Tools– If you are looking to use real tools, we recommend stubby tools for children’s small hands. When first beginning to hammer, at KCM, we recommend placing the wood on a no slip placement and pre-starting the nails for the child. They can then focus on the motion of hammering as they try to hit the nail further into the wood.
An example of pre-started nails on a no slip placemat ready for children to practice hammering.

 

We hope to see you at Tinkering soon! Tinkering is offered on select Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:00 – 3:00 PM.

–Emily Van Dam, Assistant Manager of Education

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