WELCOME TO TINKERS & TRIBE!

We are a unique, Ofsted registered daycare setting providing a learning and play experience for children aged 0-5.

Our three warm, home-like settings, located in Sevenoaks Weald, Dunton Green, and Shipbourne, provide exceptional care tailored to each child.

With favorable child-to-adult ratios, our calm and nurturing environments ensure that every child receives attentive care from their dedicated caregiver.

~ Our Approach ~

Our approach at Tinkers and Tribe is unique and is one of the many elements that make our practice and settings extra special.

At Tinkers and Tribe, our children are at the centre of their play and learning, and our experienced Educators empower them to direct their own play experience. The role of the Educator at Tinkers and Tribe is to facilitate the child’s next steps by supporting and extending the activity but the play itself is self-directed by the child.

The science of self-directed learning is called Heutogogy. By embracing this practice, the children are motivated and engrossed in the play they love; and it’s only when a child is engaged and happy, can they begin to learn. We are so passionate about self-directed play at Tinkers and Tribe that we have our very own Director of Heutogogy, who supports our Educators and ensures that their practice and play spaces truly reflect each child’s personal interests and developmental next steps.

When we think about what great play looks like we must look at our environment, our surroundings, and our resources. If we want children to be engaged and motivated to learn we must calm their senses, ignite their curiosity, and create imaginative play spaces. That is why, at Tinkers and Tribe, we are proud to be known as the ‘nursery without toys’. When we replace toys with open ended resources, natural materials and authentic objects, the children’s imaginations are stimulated, and their creativity is sparked. This wholesome and quirky approach to learning is called the curiosity approach. It replaces conventional play with ideas based on traditional theorists such as Steiner and Montessori and like everything at Tinkers and Tribe we have added our own twist: eco sustainability.

The final arrow to our Tribal bow harnesses our vision for all children at Tinkers and Tribe to care for themselves and their environments. A large part of our vision is to embed eco sustainable values and practices into our children’s development. We start this journey by supporting our Tribe to fall in love with nature. We spend huge amounts of time outdoors, being awed by the wonders of the natural world. Our experienced Forest School teacher even takes the children off site weekly for extra special woodland play sessions! It is our hope that when our Tribe leave us, they have an appreciation for their environment and an understanding of the important role that they hold in the world.

~ The Tribe's Vision For Our Tinker's ~

Independent thinkers who enjoy adventures; they are inquisitive individuals who ask questions and have creative imaginations

Determined and resilient learners who are persistent

Motivated and curious individuals who are engaged in learning opportunities

Passionate and enthusiastic about exploring and taking risks

Considerate and caring of their environment

Engaged in curious play and open-ended invitations to learning

Sociable and caring towards others

~ Our Unique Play Experience ~

At Tinkers & Tribe, the children are in charge of play!

We observe the children’s interests closely and we love to hear all about the fun they have at home. Our environment is full of provocations to play. These provocations to play are the resources and objects we deliberately place in the setting. These provocations are based on each individual children’s personal interests and their own cultural capital (what they experience outside of Tinkers & Tribe).

The children are drawn to these provocations and take the first step in initiating their own play experience. Their play is further extended and stretched by the wonderful work of each child’s caregiver. A vital part of the caregiver’s role at Tinkers & Tribe is to create exciting play invitations. These invitations to play combine the child’s interests with their next steps, providing each child with stimulating, challenging and purposeful play.