Have you tried a Tinker Tub™ yet?
We have had so much fun with our first Tinker Tub™ and then again with our winter Tinker Tubs™… of course, we had to make one for Valentine’s Day.
Use the materials you have to fill your tub, box or bag and let your students build their own valentine creations.
Preschool STEAM Tinker Tubs™
Tinker tubs make it easy to start encouraging students to persevere with open-ended play and exploration.
What is a Tinker Tub™?
A Tinker Tub™ is a container with provided materials that encourage children to build, create and design.
Tinker tubs give students the opportunity to learn:
- how to persevere
- how to learn from failure and still try again
- how to re-evaluate, redesign and re-think a problem to create a unique and inventive solution.
How to Get Started with Tinker Tubs™:
Step 1: Choose your tub (or box, or bin)
The best thing is you can use boxes, bins, tubs, even a plastic bag or shoebox works.
Step 2: Choose your building materials
Building Materials Ideas:
- Plastic Hearts
- Paper Hearts
- Pipe cleaners
- Craft Sticks
- Small Plastic Cups
- Candy Hearts
- Wooden Blocks
- Pattern Blocks
Step 3: Let your students tinker.
Tinker tubs may be used individually or as a small group.
You may have to model how to get out the tinker tubs and how to clean up the tub but let your children do their own exploring with the materials.
Challenge cards may be added as a creative prompt to challenge deeper thinking.
“It’s a Valentine’s Day Robot!”
“It’s a mailbox that can hold big hearts”.
Get the free Valentine Tinker Tub™ Guide! Plus a FREE set of Challenge Cards!
Find more Tinker Tub™ inspiration here:
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