When it comes to STEM activities for kids, you may think of things like computer coding and building simple machines. These activities are perfect for elementary students.
But what about the younger learners? Toddlers & preschoolers are naturally curious, making STEM activities for preschoolers perfect for doing at home or in the classroom.
Why Is STEM Important in Early Years?
Not only are STEM challenges for preschoolers fun, but they are a great way to work on early math development. Preschool STEM challenges often deal with counting, one-to-one correspondence, measuring, and recognizing if a quantity is “more or less.”
The use of STEM education also helps support critical thinking and problem solving skills.
When it comes to group STEM activities, young children develop necessary communication skills as they learn to collaborate and work together to solve a problem.
Preschool STEM Activities
Music Instrument STEM — Toddlers and preschoolers will have fun creating their very own musical instruments. Once they’re made, you can use them to make your own mini marching band.
Cardboard Tube Marble Run — Use cardboard tubes to create your very own marble run. Preschoolers will have fun dropping the marble through the maze to see if it works.
Plastic Egg Submarines — Preschoolers love experimenting with what floats and sinks. Challenge your child to figure out how to get the plastic eggs to sink like submarines. In the fall, your child will love this pumpkin sink or float, too!
Build a Tree — This would be a perfect preschool STEM activity for fall. Challenge kids to build a free-standing tree, using craft sticks, play dough, and colorful leaves.
Icy Dinosaur Egg Excavation — How can you get the toy dinosaur out of the frozen egg? Kids will have fun experimenting with different techniques and rescuing the dinos.
Fireworks in a Jar — This is a colorful twist to the classic oil and water experiment.
Sunscreen Painting — This is a fun STEAM activity to demonstrate how sunscreen works.
Making Sun Prints — Use objects around the house and the power of the sun to create silhouette art.
DIY Water Wall — Water is always a hit when it comes to toddlers and preschoolers. Kids will have fun using recyclables to design a path for water to flow through.
Engineer a Stuffed Animal Chair — Challenge your child to use recyclables to make a chair for their favorite stuffed animal
Fizzy Blocks — Challenge your preschooler to build a tower with their favorite blocks. Then amaze them with a simple science twist.
Coffee Filter Parachute — Kids will love making a mini parachutte for their favorite toys. Once finished, they will have fun testing out how well their parachute works.
Bucket Pulley — Little ones will have fun making this simple pulley and using it to pull toys up the stairs.
Walking Water Experiment — Demonstrate what happens when colors mix, all while doing a simple and fun science experiment.
Magic Wand Explosions — A drop of soap on the end of a toothpick becomes a “magic wand” in these 2 super simple science experiments.
Penny Cleaning Experiment — Have a preschooler that loves to get messy? This hands-on experiment is perfect for getting messy and learning a little about chemistry.
Color Explosions — Toddlers and preschoolers will have fun dripping water from eye droppers and watching the colored marker dots spread out across their coffee filter. You can use this same science to make colorful coffee filter suncatchers.
Lava Lamp Sensory Bottle — Start with the basic oil and water experiment…and give it a fun twist. This preschool science activity can double as a calm down bottle once you’re finished.
Engineer a Boat that Floats — This one is perfect for all ages. What objects from the recycling bin, or nature, can you use to build a boat that really floats?
Icy Lantern STEAM Activity — Preschoolers will love creating their very own lanterns, made of ice!
Building Shapes — Learn about shapes while building your own with marshmallows & toothpicks.
Melt a Frozen Heart — Can you get the plastic heart out of the ice? Young scientists will have fun experimenting with how to get it out.
Fizzy Halloween Science — Mix up some fun with this preschool science experiment that’s perfect for October.
Fizzy Rainbow — Young kids will love this baking soda experiment that results in a bubbling rainbow of colors.
Melting Snowmen — Preschoolers will have fun dropping their “snowman” into the water and watching it slowly disappear.
Paper Cup Phone — Young kids will have fun engineering their very own working phone made with paper cups.
If you liked these STEM activities for preschoolers, you’ll also like:
- Preschool Mad Scientist Lab
- How to Do the Egg Drop Challenge
- CD Hovercraft STEM Activity
- Build a Balloon Powered Boat
- Preschool Vehicle Activities for the ABCs
Check out my Youtube channel for more preschool STEM.
