Coming Soon: The Tinkering Workshop by Ryan Jenkins
Over the past few years I’ve been working on a giant project that I’m so excited to finally reveal. This October, Storey Publishing (a division of Hachette Book Group) will be releasing my first book called The Tinkering Workshop. This book will support kids and adults to get started messing about with everyday materials, build personally meaningful projects and explore ideas related to art, science and technology. Whether your tinkering station is a kitchen table, a corner of the library or a high-tech school makerspace, I hope that you will find new ideas and inspirations in the pages and have a lot of fun along the way.
One thing that I’m really excited about the book is that the topics for tinkering show what Mitchel Resnick calls “wide walls” or many different pathways through the activities. While each of the projects has a few ways to “get started”, there are no set outcomes and what learners make should all look different at the end. I wanted to present prompts that spark curiosity and invite discovery by allowing each reader to do things their own way.
During a week-long photoshoot with Hesh Photography, the in-house design team and the amazing kid tinkerers at the Storey headquarters in North Adams, Massachusetts, we were able to capture many moments that show a balance between clear prompts and open-ended possibilities. For each of the project we facilitated the models to learn how to use tools and build examples. During the onsite tinkering sessions we focused our attention on the process, taking photos of hands using tools, puzzled expressions and surprising results.
Additionally, I’m really happy to feature many tinkerers and artists who I have collaborated with over the years as inspirations for taking each of the projects deeper. Jie Qi shares about adding programming to paper circuits, Liam Nilsen shows examples of outdoor marble machines, Jode Roberts takes us eye-bombing and Lianna Kali offers ideas for organizing a makerspace. I feel fortunate to be a part of a community of practice who have helped me in so many different ways during the process of putting together the book and I’m thrilled to highlight ideas and inspirations from the group.
We’re still about five months away from the launch of the book but there are a few really helpful ways that you can support the project right now.
Pre-order The Tinkering Workshop at amazon, bookshop.org or at the bookseller of your choice.
Follow us on social media and subscribe to our mailing list to get the latest updates, behind-the-scenes stories, sneak peaks and news about upcoming events.
Chat with your local library, community museum or a favorite children’s bookstore about stocking the book.
Add The Tinkering Workshop to your goodreads profile (want to read) and while you’re there, go to the author page to ask a question about the book and check out the list of tinkering books that inspired the writing process.
Stay tuned here as well for more updates as we move closer to the publication date of the book. I feel so lucky to be connected to so many inspiring artists, makers, parents and teachers through this blog and I’m excited to share the next steps in the process with you all.