Since San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum
temporarily closed on March 13th, our team has ramped up efforts to provide online resources parents and children can use at home—making sure that the museum’s hands-on learning experience lives on.
Each day, the museum posts videos, at-home crafts, and live storytimes to its blog, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube accounts, with tens of thousands of users tuning in from across the country—from New York to Georgia, to Arizona and San Diego.
These activities—suitable for children ages 3 and up—mirror what visitors would traditionally enjoy at the museum, and reflect our vision and mission. STEM, art, and world culture are the predominant themes.
A large focus of the museum’s curriculum revolves around tinkering. At a time when it may be difficult to find the right materials to create hands-on activities at home, tinkering promotes resourcefulness and sustainability, by encouraging children to use everyday items they find around the house to solve problems. “Tinker Time” is a great way to creatively approach a problem—and thereby introduce children to engineering.
At the museum, we love Tinker Time, because it helps to develop:
- Language skills, as children discuss their problem-solving strategy or solution;
- Social-emotional skills, as they work to solve a problem independently (with no right or wrong answer!);
- Critical thinking and analytic skills (how to approach a problem, try to solve, then improve your solution);
- Fine motor skills for the youngest learners.
We recently encouraged children to create their own flying machine.
Here’s another idea of a Tinker Challenge you can recreate at home:
Invent a tool for chores
What you’ll need:
Any and all recycled materials work for this activity. Bonus: You can take apart your final creations, save the materials, and utilize them again for your next challenge.
- Water bottles
- Cardboard pieces
- Toilet paper and/or paper towel tubes
- Paper
- Foil
- Coffee Filters
- Tape
- Scissors (with adult supervision)
Tinker Challenge:
Use the materials to create a tool that would help you with one of your chores at home. (For example: a Shower Washer? Automatic Dog Walking Machine? Folding Clothes Robot? Super Sweeper?)
About the author:
Whitney Raser, Director of Education at San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum
Whitney Raser, or “Ms. Whitney,” grew up in Virginia and North Carolina. She received her Bachelor’s Degree at the University of Virginia and her Master’s Degree at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Ms. Whitney has worked in education for over 10 years as an elementary teacher, literacy coach, and curriculum director. During the day, Ms. Whitney enjoys exploring and imagining at the Museum, but by night, she loves playing with her daughter, baking, and reading. Learn more about her here.
