S.T.E.A.M. in Preschool

Got S.T.E.A.M.?  

This little guy does!!

All......the......time!!!

Seriously though, if you have a little one around, teaching S.T.E.A.M. is natural, abundant, and caters to their innate curiosity about the world around them.

Let me show you just how easy it is!

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What is S.T.E.A.M.?  Why all the fuss about it?

"STEAM is a movement championed by Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and widely adopted by institutions, corporations and individuals.
The objectives of the STEAM movement are to:

• transform research policy to place Art + Design at the center of STEM
• encourage integration of Art + Design in K–20 education
• influence employers to hire artists and designers to drive innovation "(stemtosteam.org/)

Simple enough, right??!!  And how amazingly cool is it that this has trickled down into preschool, childcare, and pre-k programs all across the country?!  

Let me answer that... AWESOME!!!

Here is what just a few days of S.T.E.A.M. looks like for the Family Childcare and Preschool sSetting.

Structures study

The children are immediately drawn to the yarn, straws, examples, and pipe cleaners.

One of the structures we made.

Our Science Journals chronicle our experiences!

Lots of concentration going on making connections!

From our Electricity Study. We are demonstrating how to make "connections".

This was from our "Gravity" day. We demonstrated gravity with parachute men!

These were our "molecules" made by children ages 1-4.

Molecules study!! We learned that these are the building blocks of everything!

This little guy LOVED building his. He modeled several and wanted to build the molecule with the most connections!!

These sweet little hands are patterning his pieces after the molecule card he picked out.

These little birdy fridge magnets came from our magnet study.

We learned that magnets "attract"!

Even our little bitties get to be part of the sensory and science experiences! Here is one observing and examining a feather!!

The materials are simple, but the concepts are complex.  Allowing children to work with everyday items brings these lessons home and makes them concrete.  

​This was just 4 days of our Science Camp with Mother Goose Time.  We are learned new words, new concepts, new "laws" and even what a "law" is!

The best part about incorporating S.T.E.A.M. into preschool is that it is such an easy fit.  The children LOVE asking questions like, "Why?" and "How come?" and this gives them many opportunities to do so.  

From connections to circuits, from magnets to molecules, it is all in a day of play with Woolsey Academy!

As always, I wish you well and I hope you get to play today! - L