Tinkergarten Review

Back in April, we did a free trial of a Tinkergarten class. I've been interested in taking the kids to one for awhile, but didn't want to go into Austin for it. When I saw there was a class in Bastrop, I jumped on it. The classes are nature based and allow kids the freedom to learn as they play using different sensory experiences. It was around an hour and the time flew by. It starts around 18mo and depending on the class, goes up to 8. Classes seem to range between 6-10 sessions and run around $20/class. There is a sibling discount that gives 30% off the additional kids.

When we arrived, we were given buckets and little tong things and told to go explore and find treasures. Wyatt loved carrying his little bucket around. 

Josh took Ethan and Emma up on the hill and into the trees to explore. Ethan showing off a shell he found. We've been to the park a bunch of times and had never even noticed shells before so it was fun to really look around on the ground and check out our surroundings. 

Emma adding treasures to her bucket. 

One of my favorite parts of the class was seeing the looks of wonder on their faces. They really loved finding different things in nature. 

After about 20min, we came back to the blanket and showed off our finds. Here's Emma sharing with our teacher for the day, Erin. She was so great with them!

We sang a song about nature and animals. 

Then dumped out our buckets to take inventory of what everyone found and talk about the different colors and textures.

The next step was making magic potions with our finds. The teacher brought some fresh herbs and spices to add more color, scent, and texture. The kids loved smelling all the different herbs. 

Wyatt mixing up his potion. 

Mimi helping Ethan with his. 

So many fun sensory moments during the class. 

Having everyone smell his potion. 

At the end, we picked a tree to water with the potion. 

The kids had so much fun running around and finding cool things. They have since asked to make potions at home so we've gathered flowers in the yard and various spices and made our own here. Overall, it was a super fun and interactive class for them. We didn't sign up at the time because the hours/days didn't work for us, but I'd be interested in doing it in the future if we can make the time slot and our budget allows. It is on the higher end for us, which is always a bit of an issue with 3 kids though.

Here's a link to the leader, Erin, that we had. https://www.tinkergarten.com/leaders/erin.holley I'm not seeing the Bastrop location on the site right now, but keep an eye out in case it opens up for Fall. 

Wyatt's Dinosaur Nursery

So...yeah...this post is super delayed. We finally finished Wyatt's room back in January after he was already a year. Whoops. Sorry 3rd child, a move definitely delayed your nursery completion. Some of the things we had purchased for his old room in Ga didn't quite fit in the new room so we had to move things around a bit. 

Anyway, on to the room. I couldn't find any dinosaur fabric I loved so I decided to do a mix of navy, bright green, and dark grey and accent with dinosaurs. My mom, as usual, made the amazing bedding. I love how the mix of colors and prints turned out. After I'd already purchased the fabric, I found the most amazing curtains that could not have been more perfect. I still can't believe I managed to find dinosaur curtains in the exact colors I'd chosen. Thank you Home Goods! They make such a fun statement in the room. 

View coming into the room. The wood dinosaurs on the right wall are from Hobby Lobby. I originally planned to paint the orange to match, but decided I liked the pop of orange. How perfect are those curtains though?! 

Wall to the left of the door. The LOVE canvas was made during our gender reveal. I taped off the letters and then we had squirt guns filled with paint to squirt at it to reveal the gender. So fun! Dino heads and lamp are from Target. I added blue ribbon trim to the lamp shade because it was a bit too boring for me. Wall decor and little dinos are a mix of Target, Home Goods, and Hobby Lobby. 

My mom made another set of slipcovers for the glider and the accent pillows in the room. The green table was originally pink in Emma's nursery and we just spray painted it.

My mom made the changing table cover and the diaper holder. I snagged the dino frame in the Target clearance aisle and we made the other dino hangings. 

I got the decal from Wall Decal World. It was only 1 color online and no name, but they were really great to work with on customizing it for me. I think it was only around $10 more to add the name and change it to 3 colors. This sweet boy has the biggest hugs so it ended up being perfect for him. 

I planned to make a dino head coat rack, but there wasn't room in this house. So we settled for 2  hooks. But then they looked so cool once we finished them that I didn't want to cover them with anything hanging. I love them!

Closet storage. Top bins are from Ikea and hold his next 2 sizes. He has a ton of hand me downs from Ethan. The bin on the shelf holds Ethan's old shoes labeled by size. The shelf holds a couple of wraps/carries, extra bedding, and boppies. 

Hats and shoes. Ridiculous amount from Ethan and garage sale finds. 

This is probably my favorite thing in the whole room. It turned out exactly how I wanted. Josh did such a good job on this and the hooks. 

Closeup of the shelf decor. His little hat from his birthday was perfect. 

The adorable quilt my mom made. She made the dinosaurs to match the dinos in the curtains. Nana quilts are the best!

How adorable is the mobile she made?! Again, she made the dinos to match the style of dinos in the curtains. I LOVE this so much.

And that's it! Nurseries are by far my favorite rooms. They're so much fun and I love each theme our kiddos had. He loves pointing at all the dinosaurs hanging around. The furniture was almost all re-used from the other kiddos so we didn't spend too much on this room.