Little hands make stone soup.
Parents and educators may be familiar with the term “nature deficit disorder.” Coined by Richard Louv in his 2005 book Last Child in the Woods, it focuses on a key issue in our society: We’re all spending less time outdoors, especially children.
Tinkergarten was founded in 2012 by a New York couple, Brian and Meghan Fitzgerald, aiming to change that pattern for their own daughter. It’s a series of outdoor classes for kids and their families “to connect and learn through play,” as the company’s website puts it. Kids “explore, problem-solve, communicate, collaborate, and create together.”
Tinkergarten now holds classes in 48 states including Wisconsin. The first Madison-area classes launched this fall at Westmorland and Tenney parks.
Lee Alliet, former owner of the now-defunct Huckleberry and Persimmon (which also offered enrichment classes and playgroups for families with young children) facilitates the Westmorland Tinkergarten classes. As a mom of two children under five, Alliet says the Tinkergarten business model is the “perfect fit” for her because she gets to do what she loves while the company handles things like registration and finances.
Alliet contacted her friend Kristine Zadrazil to collaborate. Zadrazil now teaches all the Tenney Park sessions.
Classes meet once a week for eight weeks. There are currently sessions for children aged 18 months to 5 years of age. Themes include “mud making” and “petal potions”; others riff off popular children’s stories like Stone Soup and We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.
Children are referred to as “explorers” and their accompanying adults are “guides.” Every class starts with a simple opening activity, like collecting nature treasures in pails, so families can comfortably settle into the environment. Often a circle time will follow, but it’s okay if your explorer is hesitant. Guides are encouraged to join in with the group activity in the hopes that explorers will follow.
Then the real work of “play” begins, with the instructor leading an activity based on the week’s theme, using natural elements around them. Clean-up and snack time close out the class. A follow-up email is sent to parents with ideas — like how to make “un-paint” — to continue the lesson at home.
In a recent class, mud-making led to everything from putting mud-meatballs in a “soup” to playing the “mud drums” (one little boy was covered head-to-toe in mud) to discovering earthworms. Alliet says 11 out of the 12 explorers had never seen an earthworm up close.
“Lots of the lessons sound very, very simple, and they are,” says Alliet, “but they’re lessons that we’re moving away from as a culture, [that] parents may have done as kids, but we’re doing less and less of as we have kids.”
Families can still register online for some of the current fall session of classes for a prorated fee. There is a discount for multiple siblings. The next official session begins in mid-January, with trial classes offered mid-December through early January. Alliet and Zadrazil are hoping to launch sessions in Sun Prairie and Windsor, as well.
Tinkergarten
tinkergarten.com; 413-397-2800
