
STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) learning activities provide opportunities for young children to develop skills across developmental domains. This list provides resources to help teachers and caregivers plan developmentally appropriate STEAM activities for young children.
IEL Resources
Please note that IEL has many resources on the individual aspects of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math). Explore our website to find them. The items listed below relate specifically to STEAM as a whole.
- Tool Kit: Make a Mess and Explore STEAM
- Podcast: Process Play and STEAM: Getting Started
Web Resources
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Back to School: Making and Tinkering with STEM
Source: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
This 45-minute webinar shares tools and resources for incorporating STEM projects into the classroom.
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Building Blocks of Learning
Source: University of Delaware
This article addresses the role that simple toys like blocks and puzzles can play in providing a foundation for learning math, science and other STEM subjects.
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Cat in the Hat: A House Just Right for Me!
Source: PBS
This is a lesson plan for a play activity that offers a fun way to practice measurement skills by building a house for a toy or for a favorite fictional character like the Cat in the Hat!
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Engaging Children in STEM Education Early
Source: Natural Start Alliance
Many parents wonder what age their children should begin learning STEM. This article stresses that it is never too early to begin teaching STEM to children.
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How to Identify Effective STEM Activities for Children
Source: Baylor University
This resource includes information about the importance of learning STEM in the classroom at a young age, guidelines to help with transitioning into what may be a new subject for children, and additional STEM resources to encourage further learning in this field.
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Inclusion in STEM
Source: STEMIE (Innovation for Inclusion in Early Education)
This documentary shares information about including children with disabilities in STEM learning opportunities.
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Peep and the Big Wide World
(also in Spanish)Source: PBS
This resource includes videos and games for children relating to science, engineering, and mathematics. There are also activity ideas for teachers and parents to do with your children.
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Puzzle Play: An Easy Way to Boost Early Spatial and Math Learning
Source: Development and Research in Early Math Education
Jigsaw puzzles are a fun and relaxing activity for families with young children to do together. But puzzle play offers even more than this. Puzzles are an opportunity for young children to explore key early math concepts, including shapes, sizes, and how and where one puzzle piece fits with another to make pictures or designs.
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Reading Together
Source: Development and Research in Early Math Education
Picture books can be an opportunity to develop children’s math and reading skills at the same time. These storybook guides help parents and caregivers talk about math with their children while reading together.
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Scribbling Machines
Source: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
In this blog, the author describes a classroom project in which children work in groups to build scribbling machines. This project emphasizes science, technology, engineering, arts, math, and other developmental areas.
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STEM at the Sea
Source: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
This article encourages families to let kids get messy by incorporating STEM activities into a day at the beach. These suggestions could also be used in a sandboxes, ponds, or other bodies of water available to families.
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Take it Outside! Adventures in Nature with STEAM
Source: Head Start ECLKC
This hour-long webinar shows teachers how they can use nature and the outdoors to teach science, technology, engineering, art, and math concepts to young children.
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Teacher Time: Infant Toddler Cognition – Supporting Early Math
Source: National Center on Early Childhood Development, Teaching, and Learning (NCECDTL)
This video includes information about early math development in infants and toddlers and strategies caregivers can take to support math learning by integrating early math concepts and skills into everyday teaching practices.
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Think Like an Inventor
(also in Spanish)Source: Colorin Colorado
This shares four ways to encourage creativity in young children. Fostering a creative spirit will give your child experience identifying a problem and coming up with new ideas for solving them.
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Understanding STEAM and How Children Use it
Source: Head Start ECLKC
This resource explains each subject of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) and how children engage in each subject as they grow.