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.