Tinker Labs

About us

Our story begins in 2012 when our founder Alan and his wife moved from New York to Croatia with their 3-year-old daughter to start a business as franchisees. After four years of successfully running their business, and years of planning and research, they decided to create their own franchise system to fill a giant hole in the market. In 2016 Tinker Labs opened its first Learning Center in Osijek, Croatia.

After years of extensive research into various global systems of education, we noticed that there is one common factor that can be found in all institutional systems of learning: they all separate knowledge into different categories which are then taught as self-enclosed subjects. We also noticed that children’s natural aptitude for questioning the world around them would much better be served if they had a free space where they could go to examine, explore, and ask questions about the phenomena that interest them most. We realize the importance and necessity of a bottom-up approach to learning (you need to learn math and physics if you are going to build a bridge), but we also recognize a need on the part of our children that can be filled by setting their innate curiosity free (imagine allowing a child to build a real bridge and learning along the way, through trial and error, about concepts in math and physics). It is with this goal in mind that we designed a set of programs that are meant to act as a metaphoric bridge between a child’s natural affinity for play and the structured demands of traditional systems of learning.

Tinker Methodology

Tinker Labs is designed to break free from the traditional classroom structure. We emphasize the importance of learning through trial and error, encouraging individuals to engage in a process of exploration and problem-solving.

Faced with the challenge of the education system that still does not meet the needs of modern teaching, we have designed programs that introduce students to the world of science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics.

STEM and STEAM education have become the contemporary catch phrases that promise to remedy this challenge of teaching the new skills required for the changing future. But what exactly is STEM and/or STEAM, and what is it promising?

The STEM spectrum comprises of 4 subjects and all of their sub-categories. However, we believe that the inclusion of Arts into the STEM model is an indispensable necessity. The Arts are a crucial element in the innovative thought processes that happens holistically in the mind. When it comes to this kind of thinking, children are born geniuses because they have not yet begun to separate phenomena into distinct disciplines. So, why separate an integral part of how we experience the world (artistically) from a learning approach that is meant to be the meta-disciple that pushes the boundaries of creativity.

From play to passion to purpose!