Nature play: Maths and optics
While free play in natural environments is important for their general skills development, children’s observations can also lead to fantastic STEM learning opportunities.
Play
Child-led inquiry and spotting STEM in the everyday isn’t always easy in our busy everyday lives so we have created these resources for inspiration. We want to give you support and guidance in a virtual co-constructed learning environment.
If you are enjoying these ideas, our hands-on online workshops provide even more stimuli for your STEM learning with the children.
Nature play: Observing sea animals
Camouflage, communication, classification, counting: Being immersed in nature is a great opportunity to observe, ask questions, form hypotheses and learn about STEM concepts.
Sustainability: Reusable dryer sheets
Small changes can go a long way. Read about this child-led investigation that led to more environmentally friendly practices in the service and at home.
Sorting and classifying dinosaurs
Sorting and classifying are important STEM skills that children can train while finding out more about dinosaurs. How many different ways of sorting dinosaurs can you think of?
Cultivating a variety of STEM skills in the garden
Enrich gardening by cultivating children’s STEM skills in all areas. Our head trainer Lena provides practical tips for incorporating engineering, technology and maths into the outdoor experience.
Exploring sounds with STEM starter cards
Using the STEM starter cards with the children in her service, STEM leader Lynne Graham discovered that the children were immediately drawn to the noises they imagined in relation to the pictures.
Eating a rainbow
This Eat a rainbow program set out to change children’s perception about food. The program encourages children to explore fresh and healthy foods in all the colours of the rainbow.
Grinding grains with children
Take a look at the different technologies you can use to grind grains with children including grinding rocks, mortar and pestle and coffee grinders then explore the textures produced.
Australia’s T-Rex: The kangaroo
How are kangaroos and the T-Rex alike? What physical features do they have in common? How is the tail used? Investigate. What do the children think?