STEM Activities for Toddlers

Children, especially toddlers, are naturally drawn to STEM activities because they are inherently interested. Have you ever witnessed a toddler doing his or her own science experiment?

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When I say “toddler,” we’re referring to children aged 1-3.

My recommendation for incorporating STEM activities for toddlers (or STEAM as we like to call it) is easy…

Allow them to have fun. Allow them to be intrigued.

As a teacher or parent, it is your responsibility to provide resources, experiences, and chances for children to explore, discover, and be interested.

What Is STEM For Toddlers

What exactly is STEM, and can children participate in and appreciate it?

STEM is an acronym for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. An excellent STEM activity is created by combining two or more of these four foundations. But what does STEM look like for toddlers?

I strongly advise you to teach STEM to children through ordinary activities. Every day, a toddler’s world is filled with new things, and the discoveries and opportunities are limitless. Toddlers need to explore rather than be given a regimented step-by-step exercise. Yes, kids can also engage in open-ended STEM activities.

How STEM Activities Help Toddlers

When developing STEAM activities for toddlers, keep the following in mind:

• Create a secure atmosphere for childrens to use their senses to explore.
• Create spontaneous learning opportunities that lead to exploration and discovery.

What you can do to make STEM learning easier:

• Provide a secure place in which to experiment.
• Participate in the discovery with the kids. Explore with your child to strengthen your bond.
• Connect your childrens present events to his or her past experiences.

What I’m about to share with you isn’t a list of pre-planned STEM activities complete with all of the required equipment. Instead, I’m going to offer my favourite list of STEM-related activities that your toddler is most likely already performing.

Keep an eye on your toddler to see which of these things he or she is already engrossed in, and then see what else you can do to add to the fun and learning! The goal is to keep things lighthearted.

Keep the following in mind: Toddlers have a short attention span and want to be on the go. It’s not so much about lecturing and teaching as it is about finding and exploring.

STEM Activities for Toddlers

You may start fostering a love of science in toddlers by encouraging them to be interested and ask questions. Toddlers use their senses to attempt to grasp the world around them, therefore sensory exercises are crucial to include (like our example of a toddler eating a crumb off the floor).

Invite children to describe what they see and hear using their five senses.

• How does it make you feel?
• What does it resemble?
• What do you think it smells like?
• What do you think you hear?
• What does it taste like?

Toddler Science Activities include:

Take a walk outside! Allow your kid to investigate and explain what he or she sees, feels, or hears.
With a pail of water and a brush, paint on the pavement.
In a bucket of water, drop various sized items.
Ice cubes are used to make this drink.
Shaving cream could be added to the construction blocks.
Mud and construction vehicles go together well. 

Toddlers and Technology

In the context of STEM, technology refers to the use of “tools,” not only electronics.

When we hear the word “technology,” we may think of laptops, iPads, and the latest gadget, but when we say “technology” in the context of STEM, we’re talking about tools.

A tool is something that was created or manufactured to make a task simpler.

Toddlers’ Resources

Scissors suitable for children
Pinchers/Big Tweezers
Tongs
Magnifying Glass for Children or a Hand Lens
Ramps and Inclines using an Eye Dropper or Pipette
Technology Activities for Toddlers: Drawing Materials (Crayons, Markers, Paintbrush)

What happens when you drip paint on different things using a pipette or an eye dropper?
Are you able to use tools in a variety of ways? What are the finest kitchen utensils for blowing bubbles?
What things fly the farthest when they are thrown in front of a fan?
With pebbles and a hand lens, what do you see?

Toddler Engineering Activities

Toddlers are curious about how and why things function the way they do.

Engineering is a means for toddlers to design, produce, and construct functional objects. It serves as a primer in problem-solving and creative thinking.

Toddler-Friendly Building Materials:

Cardboard Boxes 
Wooden Blocks
Sponge and pool noodles, cut
Boxes for gifts
Cups made of plastic
Tubes made of cardboard

Activities for Toddlers in the Arts

Toddler art activities should be open-ended art experiences. The emphasis in process art is on the creation of the piece of art rather than the finished product. Each piece of art should be distinctive to the creator.

To create a range of sensory experiences, try to supply a variety of materials.

Activities for Process Art:

Finger painting on a variety of surfaces, including paper, canvas, foil, mirrors, and a table.
On a huge piece of cardboard, paint
Using a range of mediums to create drawings (crayons, markers, coloured pencils)
Using stickers to make a collage
Putting paint together
Remember to include music and drama in your plans!
Investigate various musical instruments.
Listen to and dance to a wide range of music.

Math Activities for Toddlers

To foster a good attitude toward numbers, include math into your toddler’s play.

Count and sort the various toys.
Discuss the relative sizes of several items. What items are comparable to each other? Which ones are unique?
Sing songs with patterns and repetitions.
Cooking a simple meal together is a great way to bond. Young children may learn about cause and effect, pouring and filling (full and empty), and measuring via cooking activities.
Go in a shape hunt outside or in your school environment to find different shapes.
Create texture shapes for your toddler to touch and explore (cardboard shapes with various types of fabric pasted on each shape).

STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)

Reading to young children is one of the most helpful things an educator or parent can do, according to research. Choose picture books that include Science Math abilities into the tale to incorporate STEM into storytime.

Big, Bigger, Biggest by Nancy Coffelt
Big Fat Hen by Keith Baker
Count! by Denise Fleming
Have You Seen My Monster? by Steven Light
Go, Dog, Go! By P.D. Eastman
Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert
My Heart is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall
Perfect Square by Michael Hall
Quack and Count by Keith Baker
Rah, Rah, Radishes! By April Pulley Sayre
Round Is a Tortilla by Roseanne Greenfield Thong
Ten Black Dots by Donald Crews
10 Hungry Rabbits by Anita Lobel
Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox
Ten, Nine, Eight by Molly Bang
Who Sank the Boat? by Pamela Allen

STEM Projects To Aid Development

You’re well-equipped to assist your small ones to discover the exciting foundations of science, technology, engineering, and math now that you have some simple and affordable STEM activities for kids.

As you might expect, there are a plethora of STEM activities available for people of all ages. You might be wondering where to discover additional age-appropriate ideas for the children in your life. Understanding early childhood development is a significant part of it. You might be inspired to design a few activities of your own after you understand more about how young toddlers learn.

Toddlers are naturally curious creatures. As educators and parents, it is our responsibility to foster their natural drive to explore and learn in order for them to become future innovators and problem solvers.

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