About
Tinkering School Camps and Programs gives kids real tools to solve real problems. Tinkerers work with wood, metal, cardboard, and sometimes paint, and they team-design and team-create projects with one another and with the program’s staff. Tinkering School offers chances to tinker after school, during the summer, and on weekends.
• Ages: 6–17 years old
Tinkering School Camps and Programs is a project of the Institute for Applied Tinkering. It was founded in 2005 by Gever Tulley. Tinkering School states that kids are more capable than they know, and that to prove it, the program gives them real tools to solve real problems, with an emphasis on learning through doing, making mistakes and learning from them, collaborating and making friends, and trying harder than usual. Tinkering School is a project of the Institute for Applied Tinkering, a 501c3 non-profit organization, and Tinkering School is a trademark of Tinkering Unlimited registered in the US Patent and Trademark Office. NPR visited Tinkering School Session 1 in 2008 and described it in a segment on All Things Considered titled “Camp Offers Kids A Chance To Play With Fire.” In 2009, founder Gever Tulley was on the main stage at TED to introduce Tinkering School. The 2009 Tinkering School Seniors’ hang gliding project was written up in Volume 22 of Make Magazine in an article titled “Under a Blue Tarp.” The inspiration for the 2010 Tinkering School projects was published in Volume 20 of Make Magazine in an article titled “The Lost Art of Lashing,” and “Kid Safety Labels We Want to See” appeared in Volume 7 of Make Magazine.
Last updated May 13, 2026.
• Ages: 6–17 years old
Tinkering School Camps and Programs is a project of the Institute for Applied Tinkering. It was founded in 2005 by Gever Tulley. Tinkering School states that kids are more capable than they know, and that to prove it, the program gives them real tools to solve real problems, with an emphasis on learning through doing, making mistakes and learning from them, collaborating and making friends, and trying harder than usual. Tinkering School is a project of the Institute for Applied Tinkering, a 501c3 non-profit organization, and Tinkering School is a trademark of Tinkering Unlimited registered in the US Patent and Trademark Office. NPR visited Tinkering School Session 1 in 2008 and described it in a segment on All Things Considered titled “Camp Offers Kids A Chance To Play With Fire.” In 2009, founder Gever Tulley was on the main stage at TED to introduce Tinkering School. The 2009 Tinkering School Seniors’ hang gliding project was written up in Volume 22 of Make Magazine in an article titled “Under a Blue Tarp.” The inspiration for the 2010 Tinkering School projects was published in Volume 20 of Make Magazine in an article titled “The Lost Art of Lashing,” and “Kid Safety Labels We Want to See” appeared in Volume 7 of Make Magazine.
Last updated May 13, 2026.
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