Hi John,

How are you? This weekend's open studios was gorgeous, with so many friends, old and new, visiting and making open-ended art with me. The room was electric and it was heartwarming to spend time with so many people who value process-focussed art. I've also been spending some time in Club TinkerLab, the TinkerLab Facebook group just for friends of this newsletter. This is a great spot to ask and answer any questions about creativity, maker education, and preschool art. Join Club TinkerLab.​

On to this week's ideas!

1. 50 Winter Family Activities. There's a chill in the air, fireplaces are cozying up houses, and winter is on its way. Here are 50 easy ideas to help you celebrate the season with kids.Download the winter checklist (pdf) here.
2. Activity Advent Calendar. If you keep an advent calendar, you can use the winter activity list (above) for this DIY Activity Advent Calendar.​
3. Seven ways to spark your creativity. So many good ideas on this list! I'm a big fan of changing my routine and traveling, both list here. Click here for the other five ideas. (Thrive Global)
4. Give the gift of making. If you're looking for a thoughtful creativity-boosting gift for new parents this season, consider pairing my book, TinkerLab: A Hands-on Guide for Little Inventors with a handful of basic art supplies such as watercolors and construction paper.
5. Sci-fi inspired cardboard sculptures. The ultimate in art-meets-tinkering, you'll be inspired by these sculptures with fully articulated limbs and motors from Greg Olijnyk. (Colossal)
6. Funny parent tweets. Just for fun, you'll get a good laugh from the funniest tweets from parents. (Huffington Post). For example, this one from SpacedMom: The Forrest Gump shrimp scene, but it’s my daughter listing the various types of slime: “There's unicorn slime, butter slime, glow in the dark slime, galaxy slime, jelly slime, metallic slime, magnetic slime, glitter slime, rainbow slime, snow slime, fluffy slime…”
7. Girls in STEM! Five girls won all 5 top prizes in national STEM contest for middle schoolers. Although women are still underrepresented in the STEM field, 60% of finalists in the Broadcom MASTERS were girls.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoy the newsletter, 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/​

Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tinkerlab/​