Making
Exploratorium Tinkering Projects
Hands-on tinkering projects from the Exploratorium built around motion, balance and chain reactions.
The Tinkering Studio shares projects meant for homes, classrooms and other settings, grouped around motion, light, structures and cause and effect. Current examples include cardboard automata, balancing sculptures, rhythm-making mechanisms and chain reactions. The emphasis is on changing a build and watching what it does, and the outcome can be a surprising movement rather than a finished object.
- Ages
- Choose a project around materials and adult support available
- Works on
- Web browser
- Topics
- Making, Art, Science
- Languages
- English
- Listed
- 2026-10-11
What kids do
- Build a balancing sculpture
- Make a cardboard automaton
- Set up a chain reaction
- Invent a rhythm mechanism
Who it suits
No single age range is given. The projects are written for the kind of child who keeps asking what happens if one piece is moved or swapped.
Notes for parents
Each project lists its own materials, and some take a good deal more gathering and preparation than others. Simple materials and extra time for adjustments make for an easier first session.
What you need
- Materials listed for the project
- Adult preparation
Visit Exploratorium Tinkering Projects
In these guides
- Screen-free learning activities that start on a website and end at the kitchen table: Seven websites that describe screen-free activities: bedtime math stories, table games, drawing prompts, paper puppets and unplugged coding.
More Making
- LEGO Education Lesson Plans: Classroom lesson plans built around design challenges with specific LEGO Education sets.
- LEGO Builder: Kids follow LEGO building steps as 3D models they can spin and zoom, sometimes sharing one set with family.
- Makey Makey: Kids clip wires to bananas, play-dough or pencil drawings and turn them into keys for computer games and music.
- KiwiCo DIY Projects: Kids build, tinker and experiment through step-by-step projects that mostly use materials found around the house.
- BlocksCAD: Kids snap together code blocks that build 3D shapes and objects, ready to send to a 3D printer.
- Poly Bridge 3: Kids design bridges from wood, steel, rope and hydraulics, then send cars and trucks across to see if they hold.
- Brick Car 2: Kids build cars, trucks and buses out of colorful bricks, then take them out to drive and race.
- Tinkercad: Kids stack and cut simple shapes into 3D models, wire up virtual circuits and build designs from code blocks.