About Tinkering for Grown-Ups:

Almost from the day we started Tinker Camp, parents have said, "I wish you would do this for adults."

And so we did.

We had to put a pause on Tinkering for Grown-Ups because of the pandemic. Now that we have our own family-friendly maker space, we are rebooting TFG in out new space. Our goal is to offer a similar building/making/tinkering experience as we offer the kids at our summer camps.... albeit more compressed and with beer. Of course we are doing this to have fun, but also to demonstrate how our narrative-based, open tinkering system works. We hope that you will expand your understanding of narrative based, open tinkering, and maybe you can share this idea with the kids in your life, whether your own or the kids in your classroom.
 
Season 2 to Tinkering for Grown-ups has not been announced yet. Bookmark this page or add our Google Calendar to yours to get the latest update. You can also sign up for our mailing list and get announcements deliveded to your door.

Season 1 of Tinkering For Grown-Ups (2019)
Episode Date Narrative  
1 January 16th Intergalactic Mayflower Imagine if it was your responsibility to save humanity. In this episode, we will be doing just that by creating a spacecraft capable of carrying a select crew into the furthest reaches of space. Using motors, tape, lights and anything in our mad collection of materials and tools we will undertake a number of tinkering challenges designed to get us all into space.
2 February 13th The Carnival! Everyone loves a carnival. There are exhilarating rides, unusual characters and animals and challenging games. In this episode, we will put on a carnival that you design, build and run. Want to invent mini-carnival rides from used toys? Have you ever dreamed of making hand cranked mechanical toys? Then join us for an evening of carnival fun. You may get a chance to try out juggling, tight-rope and stilt walking, and you'll participate in a variety of theatrical and artistic experiences all based on the fascinating world of The Carnival. Come one, Come all!
3 March 13th Cities in Your Future Calling all engineers, builders, entrepreneurs and civic-leaders. Help your community and design a city of the future. Use your engineering skills, creativity and knowledge about the place you live to plan, build and 'tinker' the kind of city you want to see in the future - and all to scale. Light the streets, create public and residential zones, designate eco-spaces, prepare for natural disasters and build all the places you need to help your community thrive.
4 April 10th Characters & Costumes We have dedicated a lot of building time with kids and at faires creating costumes, armor, belts, masks and so on, all out of cardboard. In this episode, we set the stage for a improvised creation event -- ala exquisite corpse -- where we build the narrative first using a game. We draw a place, time and event from a deck of cards and then we will create costumes and characters to fit that story. A medieval faire set in the future? A masquerade in 18th century Central Park? It could happen!
5 May 8th The Beautiful Machine Episode five will turn the idea of narrative upside down. Instead of building to fit a narrative, it is your difficult task to build a machine that tells a story. Is it an automata that tells the story of a great tragedy? Will you design a diorama that displays plot events using LED lights? Can you create a marble run that depicts the events of your favorite teen novel? Does it shimmer?
6 June 12th A World of Light and Color The world has descended into darkness. The minds and hearts of the people and creatures have been focused on fear and anger. A group of hopeful artists, dreamers and builders have banded together with a dream to bring light, color, and joy back to the world. They have visions of whimsical creations that will inspire those around them to laugh and smile. Join us for an evening where we explore and create with light, color and movement.