We examined the conversational reflections of 248 families with 6–11‐year‐old children shortly after they visited a tinkering exhibit. Our aim was to understand the conditions of tinkering and conversational reflection that can enhance STEM learning opportunities for young children. Some families visited the exhibit when there was a design challenge and others when there was not. Some families chose to leave the exhibit with their creations, and, therefore, had them with them during the conversational reflection, and others did not. Children who participated in the design challenge, and had their tinkering creation present during the reminiscing, answered a greater percentage of adults’ elaborative open‐ended questions. Children also elaborated more if they visited the exhibit when there was a design challenge compared with those who did not. Children and adults made more elaborative statements if they had their tinkering creation with them than if they did not. Families with their tinkering creations talked most about engineering and the value of tinkering, and those who participated in the design challenge talked the most about engineering practices, and least about tools. We discuss implications for the design of tinkering and reflection activities that can both reveal and advance STEM learning.

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The hands-on and physical nature of children’s museum exhibits creates opportunities for families to engage in conversations that are rich in spatial language. Prior work points to the importance of spatial language use during museum experiences for children’s spatial skills. The ways families talk about experiences after they occur is also important in the learning process. Therefore, in this study we asked how families use spatial language in conversational reflections after experiencing exhibits and programs in a children’s museum. Families (N = 243) with a 6- 11-year-old child made recordings in which they talked about experiences they had in a tinkering exhibit and up to two other exhibits. Families reflected on their tinkering experiences when there was either open-ended tinkering programs, function-focused programs, or engineering-focused programs occurring in the museum’s Tinkering Lab exhibit. In comparison to families who reflected on open-ended tinkering programs, those who reflected on engineering-focused programs used more spatial language in their reflections. Furthermore, our analysis of families’ reflections about additional museum exhibits revealed that families used the most spatial language when they reflected on exhibits that engaged children in physical activity and navigation. Results suggest design features of informal learning experiences that may support spatial language in families’ reflections.