The Search for Sea Monsters - Day 3 - Week 4 (Mark Day School)

Back in 2017 when we started our Summer Tinkering Camp at Mark Day School, we formed a partnership with Tinkering School in San Francisco. In addition to Gever Tulley, who founded Tinkering School and Brightworks, one of the people who was instrumental in helping us get off the ground was Brendon. He helped with training and also joined us as a collaborator that year. Brendon has been a mentor to us in terms of the unique approach to tinkering that Tinkering School offers — and that we whole-heartedly embrace — a child-centered, social and emotional lens that helps kids (and frankly adults, too) to value and practice things like teamwork and communication and vulnerability (“make mistakes and learn from them” is a common refrain and it’s especially powerful when that learning is shared with the group during our circle meetings) while working with tools to “build something bigger than ourselves” (literally and metaphorically). It was great to have Brendon there with us, observing and helping kids alongside the other collaborators. And Brendon ended the day for us on a high note, leading everyone in a game of “Gratitude Jenga” (ask your kids about it!):

During our morning circle, Jayson educated us about how best to reinforce structures. He asked questions like “Which shape is the strongest?” (A triangle!) and “What’s the best number of screws to connect two pieces of wood with (Hint: it’s not 1 or 10). And because hands-on demos are always a more lasting way of sharing information, Jayson applied force to an L-shaped structure until it gave way. And then we discussed how our senses help us understand what is happening with the materials we’re building with. Tinkerers used works like “creaking” and “cracking.” Yes! We listen to the wood and the screws and it helps us determine where weak points are that might need additional cross-bracing.

Jayson explains that too many screws in a piece of wood separates the naturally-strong wood fibers and weakens the wood.

After that, we had a busy morning and an equally busy afternoon of building. The sea monster got longer and started to have a more-defined shape as small teams of kids worked to design a hinged mouth for the serpent. And many tinkerers tried harder than usual as they drilled screws very low to the ground or above their heads (sometimes, a “partner push” is needed and a collaborator assists with the task).

We can do a lot as individuals but where we really shine is collaboration. We practice finding ways we can team up by asking “How can I help?” It’s a common phrase you’ll hear if you hang around our camp. Because it invites an answer that isn’t just “yes” or “no.”