Marymount of Santa Barbara will host “Tinker Time” for students 2-10 years of age from 10-11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 16, on Marymount’s Riviera Campus.
Educators and researchers have long known that play is important to children’s learning and brain development. One of the most important areas of beneficial play is tinkering, a process through which children lay the groundwork for future problem solving skills, exercise their creativity and learn by doing.
In an interview with KQED’s Katrina Schwarz, educator Gary Stager explained, “(I) would like to see formal schooling be influenced by the maker movement, which has inspired young learners to tinker… and to take agency for their learning.”
Continuing to talk about the benefits of giving children opportunities to tinker, Stager added, “Allowing kids to deeply engage with a project they are passionate about also helps produce positive memories of education.”
Marymount’s STEAM expert teachers have seen this inspired learning at the maker fairs Marymount hosts in the fall and in the excitement behind the school’s new Center for Creativity and Design.
The Aug. 16 Tinker Time event will have opportunities for children to have fun while learning and tinkering through playing with Legos and robots as well as participating in such activities as building catapults, creating 3D objects and interacting in an imagination playground with large-scale foam building blocks.
“Marymount’s Maker Fair will take place this fall on Oct. 16 and will be sure to draw a large crowd to Marymount’s Middle School campus. The Aug. 16 Tinker Time event gives younger students a chance to jump in, have fun and get creative,” said Molly Seguel, Marymount’s director of admission.
“There will be activities for every kind of student. Quiet or shy students might like to wade in by listening to STEAM-inspired stories in the story corner or sitting at the craft table. Other students may go straight for the massive foam building blocks,” she said. “One thing for sure, they’ll all have fun while learning.”
— Molly Seguel represents Marymount of Santa Barbara.