Tinkerwren

Books for curious young minds

Little stories. Big discoveries.

Share a woodland adventure with Little Wren & Friends, or explore real machines and nature through hands-on books to color, solve, and discover.

Explore the books Meet Little Wren
An interior page from Discover Working Machines. A large line drawing of an excavator digging a trench sits under the heading Excavator and the instruction Color the machine doing its job.
A peek inside Discover Working Machines
Cover of Little Wren's Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving · November 26

Four friends. One little table. A mighty squeeze!

Meet Wren, Mouse, Rabbit and Squirrel at a wonderfully crowded woodland meal. A shared read-aloud for ages 3–5, with a grown-up.

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Three series · 13 books

Explore Tinkerwren Books

Woodland stories for ages 2–5 to share with a grown-up, and activity books for ages 4–6 to explore machines and nature. See each book for its recommended age.

Tinkerwren series

Little Wren & Friends

Small adventures. Good friends. Woodland stories for ages 2–5 to share with a grown-up. See each book for its recommended age.

Front cover of Little Wren's Thanksgiving

Little Wren & Friends

Little Wren's Thanksgiving

Four friends. One little table. A mighty squeeze! Wren, Mouse, Rabbit and Squirrel gather for a woodland Thanksgiving meal—but where will everyone fit?

Buy Paperback — $11.99 Buy Kindle — $3.99

Digital edition

Digital Download — $3.99

Digital download only: screen-reading PDF, fixed-layout EPUB 3 and reading guides. No physical book or device is included. EPUB reader compatibility varies; PDF alternative included.

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Front cover of Little Wren in the Leaves

Little Wren & Friends

Little Wren in the Leaves

Wren has a plan: she will hide, and Mouse will find her. But one little tail keeps giving her away. A playful woodland game of hide-and-seek, with a little hint between friends.

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Digital edition

Buy EPUB — $3.99

Digital download only. Requires a reader that supports fixed-layout EPUB 3. Illustrated spreads are arranged for landscape viewing. No printed book or shipping included.

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Front cover of Little Wren Can Help

Little Wren & Friends

Little Wren Can Help

Flip, flap! Mouse is ready for a picnic, but the blanket will not stay put. Wren is ready to help. Join the two friends for a flapping-blanket muddle and a warm patch of sun.

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Digital edition

Buy EPUB — $3.99

Digital download only. Requires a reader that supports fixed-layout EPUB 3. Tablet landscape viewing is recommended. No audio narration or printed book is included; reader support varies.

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Front cover of Little Wren's Christmas Tree

Little Wren & Friends

Little Wren's Christmas Tree

A woodland story to share at Christmas

A little fir tree is too wide for Mouse's doorway. Wren and Mouse try a few playful plans, then find a different place to celebrate together.

Digital edition

Buy PDF + EPUB — $3.99

Digital household edition only: facing-page screen-reading PDF and fixed-layout EPUB. Compatible reader required. No physical book, classroom-print activity pack or group-use license included.

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Tinkerwren series

Machine Mission Lab

Follow real machines and everyday making journeys through coloring, puzzles, and hands-on discovery.

Front cover of Discover Working Machines

Machine Mission Lab

Discover Working Machines

Coloring, Puzzles & Activities for Ages 4–6

Thirteen real working machines do real jobs across construction, farming, transportation, and rescue. Kids color, count, match, solve mazes, and reason about machines and their jobs with Tinkerwren along for the ride.

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Front cover of It Didn't Start Like That!

Machine Mission Lab

It Didn't Start Like That!

A First Look at How Everyday Things Are Made

Eight everyday making journeys help children follow real processes from starting materials to familiar objects through picture-led coloring, sequencing, matching, counting, and observation.

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Front cover of Discover Road-Building Machines

Machine Mission Lab

Discover Road-Building Machines

Coloring, Puzzles & Build-a-Road Activities

Help a paper crew turn an unfinished route into a road. Eight machine missions bring digging, hauling, grading, paving, and finishing to life through coloring, picture lessons, puzzles, and drawing.

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Front cover of Discover Farm Machines

Machine Mission Lab

Discover Farm Machines

Tractors, Harvesters & Big Farm Jobs

Follow planting, watering, harvesting, and handling through eight illustrated farm-machine missions. Children explore what each machine does with coloring, picture puzzles, and matching activities.

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Front cover of Discover Recycling Machines

Machine Mission Lab

Discover Recycling Machines

Coloring, Puzzles & Activities for Ages 4–6

Explore belts, screens, magnets, sensors, balers, washers, and more through read-aloud machine explanations, coloring, tracing, counting, sequencing, picture puzzles, and drawing.

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Tinkerwren series

Tinkerwren Explorers

Look closer at national parks and nearby nature through picture-led activities, puzzles, and creative exploration.

Front cover of Discover More National Parks

Tinkerwren Explorers

Discover More National Parks

Coloring, Puzzles & Nature Activities

Explore giant trees, rain forests, rock windows, desert plants, underground passages, shifting dunes, and lava landscapes with Tinkerwren. Young explorers look closely, try picture activities, and make something of their own.

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Front cover of Discover Backyard Nature

Tinkerwren Explorers

Discover Backyard Nature

Coloring, Puzzles & Outdoor Discovery Activities

Nature is closer than it looks. Eight picture-led missions invite children to explore trees, flowers, birds, bugs, soil, ponds, rain, and nighttime nature through coloring, puzzles, and creating; every activity also works indoors from the page.

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The fuller color Tinkerwren character, a bright-eyed brown and cream wren with a cocked tail and one wing raised. The fuller expressive Tinkerwren character in black-and-white line art, looking upward with an alert, curious expression.

Meet Tinkerwren

A small bird who wants to know how things work.

Tinkerwren is the wren who turns up throughout our books and activity sheets. Curious, easily distracted by machinery, and always watching from somewhere nearby.

Across the activity-book series, Tinkerwren follows each journey with an expressive look, step, or surprise. Inside the books the character appears in plain black and white, because a bird you can color is a character you can make your own.

Free to print

Tinkerwren activities

See all free activities

Printable sheets to use alongside the books or entirely on their own. No account, no email address, nothing to join.

Preview of the Color Your Own Tinkerwren printable: a large line drawing of the wren with room to color it in. Color Your Own Tinkerwren One page · PDF Preview of the Tinkerwren and the Excavator printable: an excavator with rocks in its bucket to color and count. Tinkerwren and the Excavator Color and count · PDF Preview of the Machine Spotting printable: a checklist of twelve machines with a box to tick beside each one. Machine Spotting Take it with you · PDF

About the author

About Ryan

Ryan McCauley is an engineer, automation leader, dad, and lifelong tinkerer who has spent his career figuring out how machines, systems, and processes work—and how to make them work better.

At home, that same curiosity has taken on a new form through his young daughter, whose interest in how things work helped inspire Tinkerwren.

Ryan creates hands-on children's books that turn real machines, manufacturing, and everyday processes into approachable adventures filled with coloring, puzzles, and discovery. Through Tinkerwren, he hopes to give curious kids and grown-ups something they can explore together—and encourage the habit of looking closer, asking questions, and figuring things out.

Ryan McCauley is the author. Tinkerwren is the publishing brand.

Visit Ryan's verified Amazon Author Page

Why Tinkerwren

Make curiosity something kids can hold in their hands.

We make children's books rooted in the things that are actually out there: working machines, busy places, how everyday things get made, and the details worth stopping to notice.

Our books pair real-world subjects with coloring, puzzles, observation, and simple explanations—giving kids a screen-free way to explore and giving grown-ups something useful to explore alongside them.

Tinkerwren is built around a simple idea: learning sticks better when curiosity gets to do some of the work.

01

Real things

Machines, places, processes, and the everyday systems children already wonder about.

02

Hands-on discovery

Coloring, puzzles, noticing, matching, and problem solving—not passive page filling.

03

Made to share

Thoughtful enough for parents, grandparents, and educators to enjoy alongside a child.

Publisher contact

Questions about Tinkerwren?

For publishing, rights, retailer, educator, or general inquiries:

contact@tinkerwren.com (317) 342-9314