Explore STEAM with Young Children

STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) learning activities provide opportunists for young children to develop skills across developmental domains. This resource list provides additional web resources to help teachers and caregivers plan developmentally appropriate STEAM learning activities for young children.
IEL Resources
- Tool Kit: Make a Mess and Explore STEAM
- Tip Sheets:
- Say Yes to the Mess! Play with Rocks
- Say Yes to the Mess! Snow Time
- Say Yes to the Mess! Water Works
- Things to Do While You’re Waiting: Art Is All Around
- Things to Do While You’re Waiting: Curious Young Scientists
- Things to Do While You’re Waiting: Math Is Everywhere
- Things to Do While You’re Waiting: Music, Sound, and Movement
- Get Growing: From Seeds to Sprouts
- Get Growing: Learning about Seeds
- Get Growing: Planters and Preschoolers
- Get Growing: Planning a Garden with Young Children
- Playground Physics: Watch for Falling Objects!
- Playground Physics: Hang in There!
- Playground Physics: On a Roll!
- Videos:
- Illinois Early Learning Guidelines: Domain 4: Science Concepts & Exploration
- Illinois Early Learning and Development Standards:
- Resource Lists:
- Project Examples:
- Blogs:
Web Resources
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All About… Messy Play
Source: Kernow Education Arts Partnership
Messy play is beneficial for many areas of child development. This resource discusses the benefits, obstacles, and sources for messy play.
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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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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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Everyday Fun with Science: Let’s Talk About STEM
(also in Spanish)Source: Zero to Three
This 4-minute video discusses how adults can help their children learn by joining in on play and asking questions. Infants and toddlers observe, explore, and test the world around them.
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Everyday Fun with Technology and Engineering: Let’s Talk About STEM
(also in Spanish)Source: Zero to Three
This three-minute video explains that children are naturally “little engineers.” Caregivers can help foster problem-solving by following the steps in the video.
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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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Let’s Talk about Math Series
Source: Zero to Three
This video series covers math concepts such as subtraction, spatial awareness, patterns, shapes, and measurement. Each three to five-minute video explains what parents can do to support math skills in young children.
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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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Preschool Science: Learning at the Playground!
Source: Education.com
This article discusses how adults can turn playground play into adventures in science. Children can learn about momentum, friction, and balance on the playground.
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Preschool STEM
Source: National Science Teaching Association
This blog entry discusses science, technology, engineering, and math–STEM. Science can be rolling objects down a ramp while recording and thinking about what happened. Technology includes computers, but it can also include using other tools such as flashlights and digital cameras. Engineering can be children planning and designing structures with blocks. Math can be counting and matching shapes and making patterns.
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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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Roll with It
Source: National Science Teaching Association
Sliding common objects, such as blocks, boxes, balls, empty containers, and even play foods, down a ramp is a fun way for kids to start exploring some physical science concepts related to the position and motion of objects. Create a free account on the National Science Teacher Association website to view this resource.
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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
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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The Pendulum
Source: Regents’ Center for Early Developmental Education
During this activity, children interact with pendulums and have the opportunity to develop their reasoning about movement and trajectory.
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Understanding STEAM and How Children Use it
Source: Head Start
This resource explains each subject of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) and how children engage in each subject as they grow.