Arts Benicia & The Benicia Unified School District present
Tinkering: a STEAM Wheel class
with Emily Thompson

Arts Benicia provides visiting artists to Benicia’s four public elementary schools as part of the STEAM Wheel rotations for students in grades 3-5. The STEAM Wheel provides learning opportunities in science, technology, engineering, math, critical thinking and the visual and performing arts, and involves community partners as presenters. Fifth graders want to learn the skills necessary to make realistic drawings, but often there is no one who can teach them. Arts Benicia’s STEAM program works to close that gap with instruction in basic techniques like light logic, perspective, close observation, and composition.”

View the Video: Self Portraiture Possibilities

View the Video: Portraiture Basics

View the Video: Using Prismacolors

Tinker Time is a fun and creative program offered to 3rd-grade students. The Exploratorium defines Tinkering as “fooling around directly with phenomena, tools, and materials. It’s thinking with your hands and learning through doing. It’s slowing down and getting curious about the mechanics and mysteries of the everyday stuff around you.” In the first video, artist Emily Thompson introduces the concepts, requirements for safety, possibilities, and potential materials for this hands-on, trial-and-error-based building process that rewards persistence, resourcefulness, and problem-solving. In the second video, Emily demonstrates several tinkering projects that students can try at home with everyday objects and their imagination.

Tinkering can involve tools such as hammers, nails, hot glue guns, etc. Children should have adult supervision at all times. Make tinkering a fun family art project!

View the Video: Tinkering: A Steam Wheel Class

View the Video: Create With Tinkering

Arts Benicia thanks the California Arts Council and the Benicia Education Foundation for their support of the STEAM program.