Tinkering@Home #1

The Whats and Whys of Tinkering at Home What exactly is tinkering? Tinkering is more than just making things. It’s experimenting, letting your creativity loose, letting yourself fail and learning from the experience. Tinkering is a way of expanding your mind and your conceptions about what can be done, and more importantly, what you can...

Tinkering@Home 2

Young minds have a distinct advantage: their minds are flexible in a way that adult minds aren't. They have great capacity for imagining wild combinations, they're open to learning new things (it is their full-time job, after all), and they are capable of extremely inventive solutions. With this in mind, have your young tinkerers help...

tinkerer with drill

Introduction to Tool Use

Grades 2-8 120 minutes This 90-120 minute workshop introduces 2nd-8th graders and their teachers to the Safety Mindset and teaches the safe operation of various saws and drills to cut and fasten wood. The workshop provides a Tool Safety Orientation using lecture, small group instruction, and lots of hands-on practice to ensure all students can...

ReDiscover Yourself: Making a 3D Selfie

Part of the magic of reDiscover Center is that you never know exactly what materials might be waiting for you to explore! Facilitator Caitlin Dobbin found an empty coffee canister, tongue depressor, bottle caps, beads, yarn, lanyard, twine, burlap, straws, film negatives, moveable sign letters, puzzle pieces, metal clips and cardboard rings and, with some...

Tinkering@Home

What exactly is tinkering? A question we often get asked at reDiscover Center. Our response? Tinkering is more than just making things. It?s experimenting, letting your creativity loose, letting yourself fail and learning from the experience. Tinkering is a way of expanding your mind and your conceptions about what can be done, and more importantly,...

Upcycled Helmet Mask

This is the second installment of mask-making here at reDiscover Center! Today we are looking at helmet masks: a simple way of wearing a mask that keeps whatever you have created securely attached to your head. The base material to work with is cardboard (a personal favorite). Start by cutting out the shape of the...

Reindeer

The holidays are here! Now is a great time to make a gift for someone on your list. Here at reDiscover Center we have created some very cute reindeer for the season with simple tinkering skills. The reindeer?s body and head are both made from cylinder-shaped pieces of wood that were cut down to size...

Fantastical Car

Have you ever dreamed of a car that is also a house? A car that can fly? A car that is also a boat? Well look no further! At reDiscover Center this can become a reality. The basic principle of making a toy car is simple. As long as you have two axles underneath the...

Wood Scrap Turkey

Wood Scrap Turkey

Turkey Time is upon us all! Regardless of your food preferences around Thanksgiving, a turkey centerpiece is a great, festive way to add some fun flair to your celebration. Our own holiday centerpiece was made almost entirely from wood scraps?another great tinkering project to come make at reDiscover Center. The neck of the turkey is...

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