Kindergarten STEM Lessons – Why STEM Education Sets Kids Up For Life

Small children are a fountain of imagination and love to discover. They learn through hands-on experience rather than abstract thinking, which is why giving them STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) activities is the ideal way to teach them. By engaging your kindergarten-aged children with this playful approach to learning, you are helping to nurture their natural curiosity about key subjects that will benefit them later in life.

Kindergarten STEM lessons also develop other vital life skills such as resilience and problem-solving. This approach is accessible and beneficial for children in sessional kindergarten as well as long daycare.

What is STEM in Kindergarten?

STEM is delivered through play-based, age-appropriate activities that can be adapted to very young children. The activities include observing, building, and experimenting. Rather than formal academics, these kindergarten STEM activities are more about encouraging exploration and inquiry. They play a crucial role in developing foundational cognitive and social-emotional skills that will ease them into their school years and into later life.

10 Fun and Easy STEM Activities for Kindergarteners

But what do STEM activities for kindergartners actually look like? It’s time to put these ideas into practice and get hands-on. Almost by definition, the materials are easy to come by and are often things you already have on hand in your house. They are as fun to do in the classroom, facilitated by educators, as they are to do at home by parents.

So let’s look at just a few STEM ideas for kindergarten-aged children that you can try today.

Baking Soda & Vinegar Volcano

How to do it: Mix baking soda, food colouring and vinegar to simulate a volcanic eruption.
STEM Concept: Witness chemical reactions.
Why It’s Beneficial: Demonstrates cause and effect and promotes scientific curiosity.

Art from Leaf Rubbing

How to do it: Place leaves beneath paper and rub with crayons. Observe the patterns and veins.
STEM Concept: Plant structure and texture.
Why It’s Beneficial: A blend of creativity and scientific observation.

Mixing Oil & Water

How to do it: Pour water and cooking oil into a clear glass. Add a few drops of food colouring and observe what happens.
STEM Concept: Density and immiscible liquids.
Why It’s Beneficial: Encourages scientific curiosity and observation.

Musical Glasses

How to do it: Fill various glass jars with different levels of water. Gently tap with a teaspoon and hear different sounds.
STEM Concept: Sound waves and vibration.
Why It’s Beneficial: Supports auditory exploration and early understanding of physics.

Plasticine Imprints

How to do it: Press different objects (such as spoons, leaves, small plastic toys and hands) into plasticine and observe the imprints.
STEM Concept: Texture, shape, and impressions.
Why It’s Beneficial: Builds sensory awareness and fine motor skills.

Magnet Hide-and-Seek

How to do it: Hide small magnetic items in a large, shallow tray of shredded paper. Use a magnet wand to find them.
STEM Concept: Experimenting with magnets and discovery.
Why It’s Beneficial: Promotes fine motor skills, focus and exploratory learning.

Soap Resist Painting

How to do it: Draw with a corner of a bar of soap on paper. Paint over it with watercolour or water with food colouring to reveal the design.
STEM Concept: Water resistance and material properties.
Why It’s Beneficial: Blends creativity with scientific exploration.

Walking Rainbow

How to do it: Fill several glasses with water and add different food colours to each one. Place folded paper towels as bridges between them. Watch the colours ‘walk’.
STEM Concept: Capillary action and colour mixing.
Why It’s Beneficial: Introduces early chemistry and fine motor skills.

Bubble Size Challenge

How to do it: Blow soap bubbles with different tools (straw, wand and wire). Compare bubble sizes.
STEM Concept: Surface tension.
Why It’s Beneficial: Builds experimentation skills and introduces shape concepts.

Egg Float Experiment

How to do it: Place an egg in a glass of fresh, warm water. Then, slowly add salt and see how it floats to the surface.
STEM Concept: Learn about density and buoyancy.
Why It’s Beneficial: Teaches observation, scientific curiosity, and hands-on learning.

There are hundreds of such fun STEM games for kindergarten-aged children. Use these ideas to create new ones you can try with your child.

Why Early STEM Matters

By introducing STEM activities in early childhood, you are laying a strong foundation for your child to develop essential skills that will benefit them in the next phases of life. These activities bring out foundational skills in logic and reasoning, encouraging your child to ask questions, identify patterns, and draw conclusions based on evidence.

Hands-on learning experiences help to promote active engagement, allowing your child to tackle real-world problems through experimentation and exploration. Integrating STEM into early education helps strengthen school readiness across various subjects.

These activities promote effective communication and collaboration among peers, as your child works with others on projects, sharing their ideas, and learning to articulate their thoughts while building social skills. Your child also learns that failure is a part of the learning process, helping them to develop resilience, perseverance and the courage to tackle new challenges.

Choosing a STEM-Focused Early Learning Program

When selecting a STEM-focused early learning program, be sure to match this to your child’s specific interests and stage of development. Also, take into account your family circumstances.

Some key questions you may like to ask the learning facility before making your decision include:

Does their program explicitly mention STEM or inquiry-based learning?
Are staff trained and confident in delivering STEM experiences?
What kinds of materials and activities are used to encourage discovery?
How are children’s questions and investigations supported?

How to Find the Right STEM Program

You can begin by evaluating your early learning options in your local area by researching local directories or government websites. It is best to visit a few centres in person so you can observe in action the ways that STEM is delivered.

Enquire further about the centres’ STEM curriculum, the qualifications of the educators, and gain a sense of the daily activities on offer. You may also like to consider factors like accessibility, any waitlists and location. And finally, seek out feedback about the facilities from other parents or look at online reviews.

Making the Right Choice for Your Child

Ultimately, STEM is an essential part of your child’s early learning. A great STEM-based program provides strong STEM experiences in either sessional kindergarten or long-daycare. When choosing a STEM program, consider your child’s needs, your family’s logistics and the quality of the program offered.

Inspire ELJ is a leader in providing powerful STEM-rich early education throughout Melbourne. We invite you to contact us today to arrange a visit to one of our exceptional childcare centres.