TinkerStories

Our Story

TinkerStories are stories for helping parents take charge of teaching children how to read. Parents are the most invested in teaching their children, and Children instinctively want to learn from their parents. Our storytelling apps are designed to help parents bond with their children through the magic of storytelling. We enable parents to become better reading teachers, better storytellers, and support their efforts to develop rapport with their children.
Our innovation, called tinkerability, allows parents to teach reading dynamically.

The app was developed as part of an MIT research project. The best practices for teaching reading were studied and distilled into the app. Results from testing showed that parents and children were more efficient at performing literacy teaching behaviors. With tinkerstories, children became active learners and parents became better storytellers. The biggest finding, however, was that parents and children developed a better relationship with each other because of their interactions through shared storytelling.

After graduation and publishing the thesis, the research seemed forgotten. It went through a business accelerator but life happened. These dream to help parents, grandparents, siblings, and caregivers make the most of teachable moments continued. Seven years and 2 children later, we decided that it is time to share the innovation with the world.