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It’s All About STEM Learning with your Preschoolers


It’s All About STEM Learning with your Preschoolers
STEM learning?  What does it mean exactly and how does it help our preschoolers young brains develop?  STEM is an acronym for science, technology, engineering and math.  Below are a few STEM activities that you can do at home with your preschooler.  These activities problem solve through science and creative building through engineering and math.
Building shapes with toothpicks, using marshmallows, Gummy candy or Gum Drops.  These fun activities involve motor skills and brain activity for creative thinking.  Your child will learn more about gravity, engineering and architecture.  All you need for this activity are toothpicks and your choice of what to use to connect the toothpicks.  You can build bridges, igloos, shapes (rectangle, triangle and a square), cars, buildings and roads.  So get your child engaged in this fun building activity and see where your child’s creativity takes them.  Another fun twist to this activity is have your child count how many toothpicks they used for building their project(math).  A little boy from my after school program built his neighborhood.  How cool was that?  His mom said he had so much fun! 
Fireworks in a jar science experiment.  This is a cool science experiment activity learning about oil density and how oil floats to the top of the water while the colored droplets begin to sink because they are heavier than the oil.  Once they sink to the bottom of the jar, they will begin dissolving slowly, creating tiny “fireworks/explosions.”  To do this activity, you will need about ¾ cup of warm water, food coloring 3-4 colors, a jar or drinking glass and 3 tablespoons of cooking oil.  Pour the warm water into the jar or drinking glass, in a separate, shallow bowl, add 3 tablespoons of cooking oil and then add about 4 drops each of the food colors of your choice.  Mix with a fork, then pour into the jar/drinking glass and watch what happens.  As the oil rises to the top, the colored droplets fall to the bottom, then viola! you start to get see colorful fireworks/tiny explosions.

Credits:  Pinterest and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgNOuNh0Okg

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