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Make a Mess and Explore STEAM

STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) learning activities provide opportunities for young children to develop skills across developmental domains. This tool kit provides ideas and resources to help you plan engaging and developmentally appropriate STEAM activities for young children. STEAM learning provides children hands-on opportunities to discover their world. For example, play is a pathway for STEAM exploration. This play can be messy yet full of rich possibilities for learning. Learn more in the resource list Explore STEAM with Young Children.

Science

Science exploration offers young children a chance to explore and discover the world around them. This includes discovering the living world and the physical world. Young children have many opportunities to make predictions and see whether their theories about the world are correct. This learning can take place at home, in the classroom, and even on the playground. Conversations about science concepts are a great way to fit science learning into your day. These conversations can be part of activities such as cooking, building with blocks, and exploring the outdoors. Learn more in the resource lists:

Technology

Young children encounter technology throughout their everyday routines. Technology tools can provide hands-on learning opportunities when educators and caregivers purposefully include technology in activities. You also can use technology tools such as photography and audio or video recordings to document children’s learning. Consider teaching older children how to take photos and videos of their creations as they learn to use phones or tablets. Learn more in the resource lists:

Engineering

Young children are creators. They are often observed dreaming up inventions using blocks, boxes, and other items. Through play, budding engineers show us their growing understanding of the world. Young children may wonder how simple objects and structures are built. These questions are the beginning of their exploration as budding engineers. Educators and caregivers can provide young children with opportunities to explore engineering through purposeful play. Learn more in the resource lists:

Arts

The arts provide important opportunities for young children to show what they know about the world around them. Young children express their ideas and feelings through visual art, music, drama, and movement. The arts can be a pathway to other STEAM learning areas. For example, the visual arts allow children to use the principles of mathematics to observe and create patterns. Young children employ engineering principles when they are building structures with blocks to represent a castle or house in a pretend story. Digital technologies, such as videos or audio recordings, can be used when children are recording the stories they develop during dramatic play. Learn more about the arts in these resource lists:

Mathematics

Children discover mathematics concepts through everyday routines and play. Playing games is one of the best ways young children learn these concepts. Young children encounter numbers during everyday routines and play. You may have seen young children count blocks to compare the height of towers, count crackers on their plate, or count the number of people playing on a playground. As they talk and count with peers and caregivers about the things they are exploring and playing with, they continue to develop more understanding of how numbers and their operations work. In addition, conversations about patterns, shapes, and measurement are a wonderful way to explore math concepts. These conversations can be inspired by everyday objects such as glass window panes, bricks on a building, or the shapes and colors of fruits or vegetables in a salad. Learn more in the resource lists: