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Tinkergarten
For Teachers
Teach Tinkergarten in Your Classroom or Community.
Curriculum—Teacher plans and printable resources for 10 lessons each season.
Teacher Training—On demand professional development videos and resources.
Promotion—Get listed in our directory so families can find your classes.
Marketing—Resources to help you grow your programs & marketing support from TG.
Community & Support—24x7 access to TG Teacher Forums and email-based support.
Flexibility—Structure programs and fees to match your community and personal goals.
Current Series
Empathy
This Spring, you’ll help kids build strong roots in empathy, our human superpower. Our training and support will help you to engage kids learning to recognize emotions in themselves and others, explore taking another's perspective and discover fun, new ways to care for each other and the planet.
How it works
Curriculum, training and more to teach Tinkergarten in your classroom or community
Lesson plans and printable resources to support your instruction
Tinkergarten supported outreach programs to help you expand your community
Vibrant teacher community with a shared purpose
Free Calendar for Teachers
Receive a free monthly calendar packed with notable nature happenings, holidays events, and DIY activities to inspire learning through outdoor play.
Teachers Across the Country
Love Tinkergarten
FAQs
What are the learning goals of the Tinkergarten program?
Tinkergarten’s core program is designed for learners age 1.5 to 8 years old. Our child-led, play-based approach is designed to support a wide range of learners in engaging in deep, meaningful learning.
The curriculum guides learners through play experiences designed to support the development of the following 8 essential skills—all while deepening children’s connection to the natural world we all share. The 8 skills include:
• Communication
• Creativity
• Empathy
• Focus
• Persistence
• Problem Solving
• Sensory Development
• Wellness
Each series of 10 lessons supports the development of one skill and is designed to be completed within a 10-13-week period at whatever frequency works for the teacher and learners.
Every two years, we repeat our 8-skill cycle, allowing learners to revisit core concepts at a more advanced developmental stage and adding new twists to the curriculum to delight teachers and children alike. Visit our How it Works page to learn more about the current and upcoming series of curricula.
Are Teachers paid to teach Tinkergarten?
Tinkergarten teachers are able to run programs in whichever way(s) works best for them, their family and their community. Teachers set the cost of classes, collect fees directly from families and can adjust their own costs and fees to reach their own, personal goals. Tinkergarten has always been a program designed to include and support teachers who have Tinkergarten-aged children in including the children they love.
Tinkergarten for Teachers includes resources and guidance to make it easy to manage the logistics surrounding running your own Tinkergarten programs, covering topics like finding a location, setting up a registration process and policies, collecting payment from families, and more. As a member of the community, you’ll also get to see the different ways teammates bring the program to life—but in truth, the sky’s the limit!
Do Tinkergarten lessons take place outdoors?
We strongly believe that quality outdoor learning can take place in a variety of locations! We can “tinker anywhere” and classes have taken place in local parks, community green spaces, local businesses, libraries, private residences, schools and more. The curriculum is designed to take place outdoors.
To reach all kids, we also design for flexibility, so Tinkergarten lessons can be adapted to use a hybrid indoor/outdoor environment as well. Your Tinkergarten for Teachers subscription will include resources to support you in choosing a location for classes, seeking permission, setting up your teaching area and more.
How do I sign up?
Tinkergarten for Teachers is a subscription service designed to support you in delivering the Tinkergarten curriculum on an ongoing basis. You can elect to be billed on a monthly basis or one year at a time (and save up to $89 per year!).
Our series curricula are designed to support kids in developing 8 critical skills, and each series highlights one as the “focus skill” through a 10-week learning plan.
Subscribers gain immediate access to resources for the current series including lesson plans, training, and more. Tinkergarten will deliver four, 10-week series and new accompanying resources per year. Please click here for more details about what’s included in a Tinkergarten for Teachers subscription.
Who can sign up?
Anyone who wants to teach the Tinkergarten program and share the transformative power of outdoor play with families in their community and/or with students in a learning setting like a classroom, forest school, homeschool coop, day care, etc.
Whether or not you have experience teaching in formal learning settings, if you have a passion for nature, feel play in your bones and want to help all children and the grown ups who love them thrive…you can be a wonderful Tinkergarten teacher!
Our community values our shared commitment to serving all families so deeply that we do ask all Tinkergarten Teachers to review, accept and uphold our TG Teacher Agreements in order to participate.
How can I get my own nature play classes and programs started?
Tinkergarten for Teachers includes resources and guidance to help you manage the logistics surrounding setting up and running your own Tinkergarten programs. This includes topics like finding a location, setting up a registration process and policies, collecting payment from families, getting insurance and more.
Subscribers can download a Getting Started Checklist to keep track and make the process easier.As a member of the community, you’ll also get to see the different ways teammates bring the program to life—but in truth, the sky’s the limit!
Have more questions?
Check out the full set of Tinkergarten for Teachers FAQs here.
