Little Scientists
2025 impact
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From our Project Director
I’m proud to share that in 2025, 25% of all in-person STEM workshops delivered by Little Scientists were in regional Australia. This being thanks to our incredible trainers who — time and again — hopped on a plane or in the car to travel hundreds, sometimes thousands, of kilometres to deliver STEM professional development to educators in remote and regional towns.
It’s been a year marked by conversations like:
“A preschool in Mt Isa has requested a STEM workshop. Would you be up for two full days of travel?”
“For sure! Just let me know the dates.” The response from our trainers every time.
Across Australia, 1,645 educators decided to expand their early STEM teaching skills and confidence with Little Scientists this year. A milestone that speaks to the growing recognition of early STEM education’s importance and the ripple effect each Little Scientists workshop represents — with 46,883 children projected to gain greater access to evidence-based early STEM over the next 12 months. Looking ahead, our focus remains clear: ensuring every child has the opportunity to develop foundational STEM skills no matter where they live. A goal we continue to pursue thanks to our exceptional and passionate Little Scientists trainers and Local Network Partners.
🤖 Early STEM in an Age of Artificial Intelligence
More broadly, as artificial intelligence becomes woven into everyday life, it’s feels more important than ever to reflect on the role of early STEM in shaping children’s wellbeing and learning. Because it’s not enough for children to one day use emerging technology, they need to understand how to question it and make thoughtful decisions about how and when to utilise it. It’s our children’s metacognitive skills — the ability to think about one’s own thinking — that will transform technology from something that replaces human thought into something that amplifies it.
It’s no accident that metacognition is one of the pillars of Little Scientists’ educational approach. After all, the skills that will matter most in our children’s future are not just digital or technical, but deeply human: curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking.
Educators & teachers developed their STEM teaching skills & confidence.
Children aged 0-8 years gained greater access to evidence-based STEM education.
Services & schools increased their STEM teaching capabilities.
In-person STEM workshops were delivered across Australia.
Online STEM Workshops connected educators to early STEM experts.
Flights and long drives to bring in-person STEM PD to regional towns and communities.
Our 2025 impact
of educators were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with the quality of Little Scientists workshops
Our STEM Workshop Locations
Thank you to our Local Network Partners
More Highlights
Shadow Minister Visit
A big thanks to the Angie Bell MP, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, for taking the time to visit Bauer Street Community Children’s Centre (Qld) to learn about their commitment to early STEM and their Little Scientists House certification.
ECA Conference
We loved connecting with educators at the Early Childhood Australia Conference in Perth. We handed out hundreds of STEM Showbags and invited educators to test their skills in our Paper Bridge Challenge.
Play School Science
For the second year running, Little Scientists is thrilled to have partnered with the ABC on Play School Science Time to develop a range of science experiments and resources for educators and children for Season 4.
Inspiring the ACT
We loved being back in the ACT thanks to an Inspiring Australia ACT grant, which supported us to travel to Canberra to deliver our foundational “Water & Co-constructed Environments” Workshop for local educators.
Real World Ready
Little Scientists had a blast supporting pre-service teachers to spot the STEM at Western Sydney University’s Real World Ready Conference. Students voted us the 2nd most popular workshop at the conference!
Penrith City Council
Little Scientists delivered our 10th STEM workshop topic this year in Penrith in partnership with Penrith City Council. A testament to the Council’s commitment to providing children in Greater Western Sydney with high-quality early STEM education!
🚀 Expanding Little Scientists House
Another exciting focus this year has been our Little Scientists House program, which we’ve worked hard to enrich with expanded perks and resources. If you haven’t heard of it before, Little Scientists House is Australia’s only dedicated STEM certification program for early learning services and classrooms.
While the program has always celebrated services and classrooms that embed inquiry-based STEM in their practice, this year, we wanted to make that recognition even more meaningful by introducing new mentoring opportunities, exclusive STEM PD discounts, and tailored promotional support. We’re proud to say becoming a Little Scientists House is now even more valuable!
Of all the new Little Scientists House initiatives we’ve rolled out this year, our absolute favourite are our Project Interviews, which hold space for educators to explain and celebrate their children’s inquiry-based STEM projects in their own words. Watch a few of these inspiring interviews below.
House Project Interviews
Bagdad Education and Care, TAS
Their project, Will the ropes break under our weight?, involved the children experimenting with ropes and physics to test hypotheses about the properties of ropes and how to strengthen them.
Spotted Frog Kindergarten, NSW
Their project, The Mighty Mathematicians, involved the children developing tally systems to keep track of their toys and developing their identities as capable, confident mathematicians.
Little Ducks Childcare Bardon, QLD
Their project, What’s inside the pumpkin?, involved the children exploring pumpkin seeds, the lifecycle of a pumpkin, and how to make pumpkin soup.
Kiddies Hut @ Diamond Beach, NSW
Their project, How are towns & communities planned?, involved the children experimenting with blocks, mini figures, and chalk to build their own town.
Leaps and Bounds Preschool Highgate, WA
Their project, How can we make our playground safe?, involved the children exploring different hazards in their play area and ways to prevent injury, including jumping and landing on soft mats.
Froebel Fitzroy North Early Learning Centre, VIC
Their project, Reuse, Recycle, Repurpose!, involved the children experimenting with recycled materials like lids and cardboard boxes to build their own robots and steam trains.
See you in 2026!
This year has been a standout for Little Scientists — not just in numbers, but in the collective effort behind them. From our exceptional Little Scientists trainers to our Local Network Partners, every person in our community has played a role in expanding the reach of early STEM 💚 It’s heartening to see so many educators and services choosing to invest in STEM professional development and, in doing so, helping to build lasting momentum for early STEM education nationwide.
As we look ahead to 2026, our advice is to start the year strong by booking an in-service workshop to establish a STEM foundation across your entire team. You could also book into an in-person workshop with more Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and NT workshops coming soon.
Have you seen our 2026 online STEM Hours? Register to learn from experts on topics such as drawing as a tool for early STEM learning, Growth Mindset, supporting transitions through STEM, as well as integrating the Arts. As for our Online STEM Workshops, we’ll be kicking off the year with Inquiry-based STEM Projects through Educator Experiences — with more Online Workshops coming soon.
Keep in touch
Have you joined Little Scientists’ new Facebook group “Early STEM Educators Network”? It’s for educators and teachers of children 0-8 years, with close to 3,000 and counting! Please join us for a friendly space to exchange ideas, ask questions, and access ECEC resources that will inspire you to embed STEM into everyday curricula and play.
hello@littlescientists.org.au or (02) 8080 0065
