Sensory

Everything our kids learn is filtered through their senses, and each child has a unique sensory system. Our curriculum is designed to help each child strengthen and balance their senses in the great outdoors.

In this Tinkergarten Anywhere series:

  • 9 video lessons to learn at your child’s pace

  • Designed for ages 2 to 8 years old

  • Additional activities to keep learning all week long

  • Parent tips to help you support your child.

  • Lesson map & badge to celebrate progress.

The Importance of

Sensory

Spend time around young kids, and you see that most are drawn to activities that engage their senses. And yet, how each sense works and how our brains process and integrate all of the information gathered by our senses is rather complicated stuff. In a world filled with stimulation, we can’t afford to cut kids off from the chances to foster and coordinate each of these essential senses. All kids need opportunities to learn to gather, prioritize, process, and manage a variety of sensory inputs.

At Tinkergarten, we focus on 7 senses—the five we learned about in kindergarten and two “hidden senses” that kids need to feel ready to learn, ready to thrive and ready for anything. We're thrilled to offer a series about sensory development to guide your child’s development and you as you support your child's learning through outdoor play!

What you get in this series

LESSON
1

Mud Sensation

Exploration
Creativity
Imagination
We’ll kick off our season of live sessions by awakening our most famous five senses, starting with our sense of touch and our favorite messy play material—mud! After kids watch, they’ll be inspired to create different mud “recipes” and identify which mud recipe is right for them today. As they play, they’ll discover new textures and sensations and get creative juices flowing!
LESSON
2

Follow Your Nose

Imagination
Teamwork
Creativity
In Lesson 2, we will activate our sense of smell! We’ll learn about bears’ powerful noses and inspire kids to get out to discover and create using the scented “ingredients” in their homes and outdoor spaces.
LESSON
3

Summer Symphony

Teamwork
Creativity
Imagination
Next, we’ll tune our ears into the many sounds of summer. Taking inspiration from the musical critters around us, we'll also use our bodies and various objects to make our own summer symphony.
LESSON
4

Exploring Color

Creativity
Independence
Exploration
The natural world is full of color, and today we'll stimulate our visual sense (perhaps smell and touch, too) as we extract pigments from plants, fruits, and other natural objects to create natural paints.
LESSON
5

What Color is the Wind?

Imagination
Cultivating Calm
Exploration
This time, we'll playfully wonder, "What color is the wind?" Then, we'll offer explorers the chance to use several different senses, various materials and their imaginations to explore and experience the summer breeze.
LESSON
6

Heavy Work

Movement
Teamwork
Taking Risks
In this lesson, we'll activate our big muscles with some heavy work! As we push, pull and move objects, we'll engage the proprioceptive sense, one of the hidden senses that has a big impact on how kids learn.
LESSON
7

Over, Under, All Around

Movement
Creativity
Imagination
In this lesson, Next we'll embark on an animal-inspired obstacle course designed to strengthen our vestibular system, one of the two hidden senses we use to balance and focus every day.
LESSON
8

Keep Your Cool

Cultivating Calm
Independence
Exploration
This lesson is designed to make late summer play super cool. We’ll help kids develop strategies to stay comfortable and enjoy being outdoors, even when the heat cranks up. Teaching kids to keep their cool not only helps kids stay outside longer, it teaches them resilience and problem solving, too.
LESSON
9

Bubble Joy

Movement
Creativity
Gratitude
In our final lesson in our Sensory series, we activate multiple senses and explore the power of joy using a most playful play material—bubbles! We’ll also earn our Sensory badges and celebrate a whole season of sensational play together.

Get all video lessons to watch anytime, anywhere and learn at your child's pace. Plus get a lesson map, skill badge and additional activities to keep outdoor learning fun and easy.

Browse other Tinkergarten Anywhere series

At Tinkergarten we help your child develop a foundation of vital life skills. When kids complete a class they earn a one-of-a-kind, iron-on skill badge.

Wellness

Wellness is the combination of physical and emotional health that kids need to thrive. Kids will move their bodies, cultivate calm and connect with nature—all tools to be and stay well.
In this series, kids will explore:
  • Focusing awareness on the present moment
  • Taking risks
  • Embracing change
  • Creating a sense of belonging
  • Practicing gratitude, kindness and joy

Problem Solving

Playful problem solving now can help kids adjust to a changing environment, navigate key relationships, and contribute to their family, local and broader communities.
In this series, kids will explore:
  • Slowing down and observing
  • Using inquiry while playing
  • Letting explorers take the lead
  • Teaming up when struggles becomes frustrations
  • Enjoying the process of problem solving