Implementing a STEAM foundation in Early Childhood Curriculum
Constructive Playthings believes that the cornerstone of early childhood education starts with STEAM. Critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity are the building blocks your students need in order to expand their knowledge.
The best part about a STEAM foundation is how easy it is to implement. Children are born ready to explore–they are scientists, engineers, and problem-solvers right out of the gate touching, creating, discovering, building, and tasting!
Jamie White from Play to Learn Preschool uses our Learning Center to create a learning space for various STEAM activities. Switching things up over the weeks, her activities take into account various ages and abilities within an early childhood setting.
- Younger students sort the apples by color.
- Older students can roll the dice and count out the number and color of their apples. They can play with a friend and take turns filling up their trays.
- Pre-K (5-year-old) students can also practice reading and writing the color words on the recording sheets
As we look at refreshing our spaces in 2022, what STEAM resources are you utilizing in your classroom? You can use almost any classroom item and find a way to create a STEAM activity from it.
MEASURE
Find something fun in the classroom that is all the same size…blocks, cars, new crayons…and pick out a few different things to measure! How many cars wide is the storage shelf? How many blocks high is the window? How many crayons does it take to get to the top of the construction paper?
RACE
Create differently sized and sloped ramps! Perhaps you have a block set with a ramp; or stack up a few blocks and lay a thin book on top. How fast does a car go down? What about a little figure? What slides down vs rolling down? What happens if you change the slope of the ramp? What can you do to make the ramp faster or slower?
EXPLORE
Outside has all kinds of opportunities for STEAM learning. How fast does the snow melt inside? How much rain can you measure in a cup? How many bugs can you find and what is something unique about each one? Where is your shadow?
Looking to refresh your STEAM resources? Here are some of our favorites!
Wood-Look Foam Blocks - CFE-100
Multi-Colored Hardwood Unit Blocks - MTC-426
Have a moment to share with us? Be sure to tag us and use the hashtag #constructiveinsights in your post. We’d love to potentially feature you on our social feeds and/or in an upcoming email!
