Tinker box

Homemade Inventor's Box/Tinker Kit. Great STEM gift for elementary-aged kids…

How to Put Together a Portable Tinker Box for Creative Play

My boys were busy creating and inventing for the past four years! Amazing hands on play, creative thinking inspiration in a Tinker Box for Kid Inventor's Day!

My boys and I had fun pulling together Loose Parts Robot Tinkering Kits for a swap at The Seasonal Classroom earlier in 2016. Each person made 3-5 Loose Parts kits (with some regulations) and another kit of the host. We each shipped them to a central spot where they were divvied out (listening to our preferences) and received different sets back. To make our kit, we recycled some pieces from a friend (eyeballs!), went to our local ReStore shop for odds and ends, and then rounded out our kit…

Forget buying kids expensive toys…instead, create a no-cost inventor box (AKA - tinker box) that will inspire endless hours of creative play.

Give your toddler a fun head start by making cute and colorful tinker boxes for them! They are great for encouraging STEM learning and sensory play even at a young age. PLEASE USE YOUR BEST JUDGEMENT WITH REGARDS TO MATERIALS BEING A CHOKING HAZARD. ALWAYS BE FULLY PRESENT FOR PLAY AND AVOID SMALL MATERIALS IF YOUR CHILD STILL LIKES TO PUT THINGS IN THEIR MOUTH. NEVER LEAVE UNATTENDED AND STORE OUT OF REACH. I came up with this idea when my daughter was 18 months. She was constantly getting…

Tinker trays are a simple, creative and engaging way to give children some options with their play. Allow their imaginations to soar.

Gever Tulley recently created this fabulous resource: The Tinkerer's Toolbox , a list on Amazon that has all the "basic tools are selected for their compatibility with children's hands, their general durability, and successful history of use at Tinkering School." Of course I think it's a brilliant list, but it also made me want to offer up this gift suggestion for parents/friends/relations that might want to encourage a child's inner tinkerer, but aren't quite ready to let them have at it…

Summer is here, and with it comes endless opportunities for kids to explore, learn, and create. While structured activities are great, there’s something uniquely wonderful about giving children the freedom to use their imagination. Enter the tinker box: a treasure trove of random items designed to inspire creativity, problem-solving, and independent play. Here’s how to create a tinker box that will keep your kids engaged and imaginative all summer long.