We asked our Facebook group community “What is your STEM kryptonite?” and a whopping 41% of educators identified technology as the most challenging STEM discipline, followed by mathematics and engineering. But do not fear: Little Scientists has developed this free resource to support you in exploring the early learning potential of technology through computer science.
To build children’s understanding of computers, you can foster their computational thinking such as patterning and sequencing skills. You might think of computer science as only related to digital computers, but we actually use algorithms, sequencing, and sorting (the keys to computational thinking!) in our daily lives. Read on for computer science ideas to explore technology with different age groups.
Do you explore STEM with your children through computer science? We’d love to know! Join Little Scientists’ Facebook group “Early STEM Educators Network” to share your practices with us and exchange STEM ideas with educators all over Australia.
IDEAS: 0-2 years
🗣️ Use verbal communication to highlight the sequences and patterns of routines that the children engage in. For example: “We’re going outside soon. First, we’ll put your suncream on, then we’ll find your hat, and after that we will go outside.” Using words like “first”, “then”, “next”, “before”, and “after” will help children to build their understanding of sequences.
🧋 Offer the children stackable cups and invite them to explore the shapes and sizes. They may try to fit the cups together, which is another example of sequencing.
🎶 Sing songs that support sequencing skills, such as:
- “Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear”
- “One Grey Elephant”
- “Going On a Bear Hunt”
- “5 Little Ducks”
- Other fingerplays that involve number sequences
You can also sing songs that support children’s patterning skills, such as:
📚 Read books that include sequencing and patterns, such as:
- “Hippos Go Berserk” by Sandra Boynton
- “Going On a Bear Hunt” by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury
- “Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy” by Lynley Dodd
- “Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes” by Mem Fox and Helen Oxenbury
IDEAS: 2-3 years
🔍 Encourage the children to spot the patterns created spontaneously during play. For example: “Look how you built that tower with the Duplo: It goes red, yellow, red, yellow. You made a pattern!”
🍃 Invite the children to sort and categorise leaves in the outdoor area by colour, size, texture, and shape. You can also do this with building blocks, toys, and other play materials.
📚 Read books that include sequencing, such as:
- “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly” by Pam Adams
- “The Gruffalo” by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
- “Brown Bear, Brown Bear” by Bill Martin Jnr
IDEAS: 3-5 years
🧮 Encourage the children to create their own everyday algorithms. Algorithms are similar to sequences, but they must involve specific instructions with limited ambiguity to ensure you get the exact outcome you require. For example, what do you do when you open your wardrobe to pull out your favourite jumper, but it’s not there? Here’s one example of a simple algorithm to solve the problem:
- Identify that the jumper is missing.
- Check other sections of your wardrobe. If not found, move on to Step 3.
- Check the basket of clean washing. If not found, move on to Step 4.
- Check the basket of dirty clothes. If not found, move on to Step 5.
- Choose another jumper to wear.
👽 Invite the children to explain everyday algorithms to a robot or an alien that has never performed them before. Here are routines you can try:
- Brushing your teeth
- Serving a bowl of food
- Using a slide at the park
- Getting dressed
▶️ Play the “If-Then” game. Here are the instructions:
- Identify a few paired actions, such as “If I clap my hands, stomp your feet” or “if I nod my head, you must jump.”
- Have the children practice these paired actions.
- Gradually increase complexity by having the children remember and perform several “if-then” pairs.
- For even more complexity, introduce chaining conditions that involve more than one “if” statement. For example: “If I say ‘jump’ and you’re wearing red, spin in a circle.”
🤖 Pair the children and ask them to choose one child to be a robot and one to be the programmer. The programmer must provide commands to move their robot over a simple obstacle course. The robot can only move using the commands, such as “move left” or “jump over the block”.
🐝 Encourage the children to create a maze out of wooden blocks or natural materials and program Bee-Bots to move through it. Bee-Bots are educational robots that you can program with simple directional instructions like up, down, left, and right. You can often borrow some from your local library or buy your own from this website.
The children can also choreograph a dance for the Bee-Bot to perform. If more than one Bee-Bot is available, see if they can make the Bee-Bots dance in unison!
IDEAS: 5-8 years
💌 Support the children to write coded letters using binary code. Download a simple Binary Code Alphabet from NASA here. Choose two different coloured pencils and assign one colour to be 0 and the other to be 1. Ask the children to practice using the binary alphabet by first writing their name. Once they’ve mastered this, they can write a message to a peer. Can their peer read the message? See an example below:
👾 Explore pixel art using graph paper (you can buy this from a stationery store or print some here). Here’s a simple way to explore the computational thinking behind pixel art:
- Explain to the children that each row will have a different letter from top to bottom (e.g. A to Z), and each column will have a number from left to right (e.g. 1-10).
- Draw a picture on graph paper.
- Invite the children to direct their friend to recreate the same picture on a different piece of graph paper by telling them the coordinates of each square and colour needed.
See the image on the left for an example (without colour). The instructions would be: colour B5, C4, C5, C6, E3, E5, and so on.
Develop your STEM skills with pedagogy-based STEM PD:
- Browse our in-person STEM workshops.
- Browse our online STEM workshops.
- Browse our online STEM Hours.
- Book an in-service workshop for your team.
- Book a STEM Family Workshop for your families.
