Happy Thursday!

Students are back on campus, our dorm is buzzing with electric energy, and I started back to teaching. Needless to say, sleep and coffee are my friends this week ;)

I have a fun assortment of sketchbook inspiration, parenting articles, education wisdom, and maker projects for you today.

1. Since we're coming up on October, an inspiring month to hunker down and make things, you'll want to print the much anticipated ;) October #tinkersketch art challenge list. New this month is a printable cut-apart list to paste into your sketchbook.
2. Explore the autumn season with these fun and simple LEAF-inspired art projects: paint critters on leaves, make leaf-shaped coffee filter sun catchers, make negative leaf impressions with a spray bottle and little ink.
3. If you could use some maker space inspiration for your home or school, head over to our ongoing series: Tinkering Spaces: Makerspace Tours and Interviews. Related, if you'd like to share your space with the TinkerLab community please fill out this form. 
4. In light of the important international climate change conversation, here are three earth-focussed activities you can try with your child: make your own recycled paper, make a fairy garden, build and then create in a mud kitchen 
5. If you love art history (or you're confused by it), and want a good laugh, someone created a funny guide on how to recognize famous painters and it's surprisingly accurate (that's the actual article title!).
6. Do you like funny cat memes? This is right up there with things I wish I thought of and made time for: Artist Amelia Rizky recreates the most famous funny cat memes in watercolor. Here's Amelia's Instagram feed if you'd like to make checking in a regular part of your routine.
7. For my teacher friends and parents who like a meaty education paper, How to Teach Critical Thinking (5/2019) is a worthwhile read. For the Cliff Notes version, read this article. 
8. What makes the Scandanavian school system so renowned? This article explores 3 secrets to Scandanavian Innovation in Education, and I promise you that you can start to integrate these core concepts into your home or school tomorrow.
9.  Three ways to raise empathetic kids so they become compassionate adults. Not a super long read, and worth checking out if it's a topic you're also interested in.
10. Want a fun way to motivate your family to do more acts of kindness. Good and Kind has a list of over 100 acts of kindness you can try. Search by time and type of activity, and earn badges along the way.

Coming soon: an invitation to join our next ArtStart Challenge, a giveaway of STEAM books from Quarto, and a giveaway of the Habbi Habbi language reading wand.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoy the newsletter, shoot me a line and tell me your thoughts, and feel free to forward it to a friend.

Your creative collaborator,

Rachelle Doorley

TinkerLab

Read my books: TinkerLab: A Hands-on Guide for Little Inventors + Creative Adventures in Cursive 

Join me in our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/clubtinkerlab/ 

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