Exploration/Tinkering

Exploratory play is about asking questions: “What happens when I do this?” “What if I did it this way?” Experimenting with materials and pushing their limits encourages us to consider a wide range of possibilities when problem-solving. Playing around with objects and ideas helps us see that there may be more than one solution.

Some inventors have a goal in mind and work persistently toward it. Others stumble across solutions to problems they weren’t trying to solve.