What you will learn in our Engineering Workshop:
Swinging, running, jumping, falling. Children love to have fun with physical forces and to explore their effects. In this interactive workshop, you will delve into the impact of physical forces through leveraging, lifting, swinging, and moving and unleash your inner engineer.
Do you like to get creative or to immerse yourself in step-by-step instructions? Find out your engineering type – an analyst, experimenter, maker, or inventor — and, thinking about the different types of children in in your service, discover how to playfully integrate technical education into a nurturing learning environment.
In this interactive workshop, you will learn how to create rich STEM learning experiences in your service through the exciting topic of engineering and use it as a topic through which to teach the outcomes of the Early Years Learning Framework. Activities may include:
- Use rods, weights, and tools to invent something that balances on a rope.
- Discover how forces initiate movement.
- See the impact of friction by playing tug-of-war.
- Understand the connection between movement, mechanics, and the effect of physical force on the human body.
- Find out how a rock and a feather can fall at the same speed.
- Make your own catapult.
- Set up an incline plane and crash test toy cars.
- Make a Leaning Tower of Pisa and explore what happens when the diameter, height, or weight changes.


Pedagogical topic: Early technical education
The workshop will help you recognise opportunities for technical learning in everyday life and show you how to scaffold children’s eagerness to invent, produce, analyse, and experiment. By the end of the workshop, you will gain the ability to:
- Learn how to engage children in technical questions and exploration.
- Learn how to integrate technical education into your setting in age-appropriate ways.
- Explore invention, production, analysis, and experimentation as facets of engineering.
- Define the purpose of engineering and consider what a world without engineering would be like.
- Recognise individual preferences in technical education and explore your own technical approach.
- Compare natural sciences to engineering and comprehend the difference between a technical approach and a scientific approach.
- Identify what type of engineer you are and consider the challenge of involving children with diverse preferences and skills
STEM learning outcomes
This STEM workshop will provide you with the following learning outcomes through the specific lens of computer science:
- Uncover how early education can foster children’s metacognitive development.
- The confidence to tap into, guide, and focus children’s natural interests and abilities.
- Understand the important role of inquiry-based learning and co-construction in early education.
- The confidence to pass on your new knowledge and skills to your colleagues and to become a STEM champion in your service.
- Learn how communication, reflection, and questioning can enhance children’s ability to think about their own learning.
- Exchange ideas and experiences with other like-minded educators and reflect on your current practice.
- Receive comprehensive topic-specific materials with educational STEM ideas and information about inquiry-based practices.
Who should do this course?
This workshop is designed for all early childhood educators and teachers, as well as educators with managerial responsibilities. No prior STEM knowledge required.
Something to think about before the workshop:
- What do children love to invent, test, analyse or produce?
- How do I approach technical issues?
More in-person STEM workshop topics:
Book your workshop
Duration: 1 day | Cost: $215pp
100% of profits from your booking fee are used in funding towards education projects, such as a literacy program for young girls.