We’ve created an activity guide on prototyping transportation vessels! This project was inspired by Rosie Revere, Engineer, written by Andrea Beaty, and illustrated by David Roberts. Rosie Revere, Engineer is a story of a young girl who dreams of becoming an engineer. We can all take a lesson from Rosie to realize that dreams, professions,...
Category: Creativity
Make a Plastic Bottle Soaker
We’ve created an activity guide on making a fun, recycled Super-Soaker to get you through the heat this summer! This project was inspired by Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson's Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions, written by Chris Barton and illustrated by Don Tate. This book is full of engaging images as we journey with Lonnie from learning how...
Make a Sensory Enhancing Gadget
We’ve created an activity guide on making a gadget to help your senses! This project was inspired by Ada Twist Scientist, written by Andrea Beaty and illustrated by David Roberts. Ada Twist is like many young tinkerers we know: inventive, resilient, and very, very curious. She may get herself into trouble sometimes, from drawing diagrams...
Make a Spinning Selfie
We’ve created an activity guide on Spinning Selfies inspired by The Girl who Thought in Pictures: The Story of Dr. Temple Grandin, written by Julia Finley Mosca and illustrated by Daniel Rieley. Dr. Grandin is an incredible scientist, animal rights advocate, and spokesperson on autism and neurodiversity. We’ve added this book to the Chill Zone...
I met him on Portabello Road in London
I met him on Portabello road. From the outside he looked quite contemporary. Then I had a peek beyond the shiny plastic facade. A Woolworth’s, 16″ tool box circa 1990. Inside I spotted some telltale old tin containers and a hand-worn awl. I shook a couple tins and felt their heft. I knew he had...
Why Art is important to Tinkering
S.T.E.M. requires imagination and creative thought. The Arts afford easy access to creativity. That place where fragile ideas are born and cultivated, where we form connections between disparate ideas. Creating a safe harbor where chances and innovation reside is a crucial step in any Design Engineering process. Most every venture into Tinkering starts with a...