STEM, STEAM, STREAM, tinkering, and the maker movement… you can’t go too far these days without hearing these terms, can you?

In my opinion, it’s with good reason.

STEM activities and tinkering provide for hands-on learning and problem-solving opportunities. These activities allow children the chance to create and to think outside of that proverbial box.

I recently read an article, and I wish I remembered where I stumbled upon it, about how our society used to tinker all the time. Back in the day, if the TV broke or the sink started to leak, someone in the home would try to fix it. Nowadays, people tend to call a repairman or replace the item entirely. Unless, of course, you live with an engineer and, in that case, he’ll fix that leaky fridge come hell or high water!

A few months back, the {Virtual} Family Book Club at My Little Poppies enjoyed a STEAM-filled month of books. At that time, I promised my book clubbers that I was going to create a tinker kit for my kiddos and then write a post about it. We had heaps of random objects left over from our winter of home renovation and I had been saving them for our tinker kit.

I don’t know why it took me so long to put this kit together. It’s kind of pathetic when you think about it. I had everything lying around and just needed to find a container and a place to store it. 

Our Five Dollar Tinker Kit

Finally, one afternoon, right around Schizz’s birthday, I decided to go for it. I went up to our attic and found this old, empty container. Years ago, before children, I had used it to store my scrapbooking materials but it has been in our attic collecting dust for the last decade.

Then, while the kids were selecting Dollar Store birthday gifts for Daddy, I snuck a few objects into our cart. I spent a whopping $5 on a level, some screwdrivers, a measuring tape, tongs, and a wrench.

Then, I emptied our junk drawer of all those random broken pieces to God-knows-what, added the random objects left over from our winter of construction, added in some craft materials, a ruler, a pipette, and the remains of a nut and bolt shark craft that Leo had made earlier in the spring. Voila: tinkering materials!

And then it was time for the crème de la crème: a broken Roomba and busted rainbow maker.

You see, back in my pre-kid, working full-time, scrapbooking days, I treated myself to a Woot! deal on a refurbished Roomba. And, you guys, it was magical to come home to a carpet that looked like a showroom. And then I had kids and a big ol’ furry dog and – surprise! – the Roomba broke. Schizz tried to fix it but it never really worked properly again and has been sitting in our basement all these years.

And then, our poor rainbow maker! It was a gift from a friend and it brought us so much joy! When construction started, I had a fleeting thought (in a brain overwrought with construction-related thoughts) that I should remove it from the window before it broke. Well, about a day later, during a crazy-loud crash-filled construction day, it fell off the window and shattered. I saved the pieces that could be salvaged – again, knowing I’d make this kit- and then went on Amazon to buy it again!

Then, I loaded all of the above materials into my old scrapbooking container.

I must say, I was proud of the way all that junk looked when I put it in the container!

Finally, I simply turned the container around and wrote Tinker Kit on the other side.

To make it more fun for my little STEM-ists, I made mini-notebooks so that they could record their scientific observations.

Surprising the kids with the $5 Tinker Kit

And then I waited. I felt like a kid at Christmas! Two of my three actually napped this day- naturally- so the waiting was especially challenging! But, let me tell you, the look on their little faces when they saw this surprise was one that I’ll not soon forget. And, I managed to capture it on film!!

Immediately, they got to work. They had very important business to attend to. Schizz and I pulled up chairs and watched the magic and creativity and inventing unfold. It was mesmerizing!

The Tinker Kit inspired so much learning and exploration!

I should have used the quiet time to be productive, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of the kids as they explored and invented.

It was adorable and amazing, and the whole time I was thinking to myself:

It took me fifteen minutes and five bucks to create this magic. WHY DIDN’T I DO IT MONTHS AGO?!?!

Make your own tinker kit!

Parents, I’m telling you: Make a tinker kit. Round up your broken bits and busted appliances and let your kids have at it. Not sure what to include? Truly, you could include anything– children are so creative! You need only raid your cabinets and recycling bin, honestly! Still having trouble? Here are some ideas to get you started:

Twine

Wire

Tape

Glue

Scissors

Scrap wood

Popsicle sticks

Extra tools

Old sewing spools

Measuring tape, ruler

Magnifying glass

Pipette

Crayons, markers, pencils

Elastics

Pipe cleaners

Plastic cups

Cardboard boxes

Bottle caps

Broken toys

Magnets

Paper, notepads

Safety goggles

Old jars and containers

Clothespins

Shoelaces

Velcro

Tweezers

Fasteners

Straws

Toothpicks

Paper clips, binder clips

Want to see our tinker kit in action?

Here is some video footage of the kids’ exploration and learning. Be sure to watch the very last one, you guys. Leo disassembled the entire Roomba over a series of days and then reassembled it… and it worked better than it has in TEN YEARS! 

Our Roomba cleans again… sort of!

I mentioned that it took me ages to create the kit. Well, it took even longer to publish this post! We have been enjoying our tinker kit regularly since July! It’s now almost winter and it is just as exciting as it was months ago. Plus, Grandparents have donated additional broken bits to add to the fun! The tinker kit never fails to inspire creativity. My children work well together when using the kit and they are often QUIET. That alone is priceless!!

Are you looking for more fantastic hands-on STEAM activities?

STEAM Kids

This beautifully-illustrated book is filled with 52 hands-on STEAM projects for children ages 4-10. Activity chapters are broken up into five areas of inspiration: Build, Color, Play, Sense, and Grow and each is identified by its STEAM category (science, technology, engineering, art, and/or mathematics).

Each activity explains the STEAM behind it, detailed instructions and illustrations, materials required, difficulty level, time required, and several extension activities to take the learning to the next level.

One thing I really love about STEAM Kids is the fact that it includes an activity planner at the end. This is akin to a meal planner, but for STEAM activities. The planner includes five activities per week (one from each category) and materials required for over 10 weeks. The activity planner also includes fantastic field trip ideas and links to over fifty additional STEAM extension activities.

STEAM Kids was created by a team of amazing moms and bloggers. You’ll recognize many of these names: Anne Carey (Left Brain Craft Brain), Ana Dziengel (Babble Dabble Do), Amber Scardino (Wee Warhols), Chelsey Marashian, (Buggy and Buddy), Dayna Abraham (Lemon Lime Adventures), Erica Clark (What Do We Do All Day?), Jamie Hand (Handmade Kids Art), Karyn Tripp (Teach Beside Me), Leslie Manlapig (Pink Stripey Socks), Malia Hallowell (Playdough to Plato), and Shelley Brewer (STEAM Powered Family). These women are a group of engineers, teachers, math nerds, art lovers and writers who all believe that STEAM is important for children to experience and learn.

Tell me… when was the last time you tinkered? Do your children love to build, create, and invent? Have you made a tinker kit? Share your stories here. I love hearing from you!