STEAM: Engineering Preschool Activities for STEM Enrichment

It is full STEAM ahead in our third week of the FREE ecourse, STEAM: Preschool Activities for STEM Enrichment, Click here to view week 1 and week 2.

This preschool activity was Lil B’s favorite activity from the entire ebook and we are so excited to share it with you today.

Lil B (5) has a love for building as you may have already noticed from our Lego inspired drawing ideas and DIY building with unconventional materials.

Preschoolers naturally are inclined to build and problem solve. Arrange building materials in an inviting way and let them create and build. Be sure to give time for your preschooler to explore the different building materials and try new things to solve the problem. As the parent or teacher ask open ended questions along the way to extend and stretch their creative thinking.

Week 3 ENGINEERING CHALLENGE:

Design Challenge: Build a Rain Shelter

This activity is re-printed with permission from STEAM:Preschool Activities for STEM Enrichment

Learning Objective

Build a shelter for a toy that can withstand water.

Materials Needed

Building Materials (foam blocks, cardboard, craft sticks, straws, tape)

Squirt Bottle

Directions for Activity:

1. Layout different building materials creating choices to build for the child.

2. Discuss different ways he can keep the toy dry from the water. Ask open ended questions that require him to solve the problem such as, “What can hold a roof up?” or “What makes for a strong wall?” Provide assistance as needed, but let him create the idea.

3. Let him chose the materials they wish to build with for their shelter. It may take patience as they discover which materials work better than others.

4. Once the shelter is complete, test it out by squirting with water simulating rain.

5. Check to see if the shelter kept the toy dry. If not, redesign and rebuild the shelter.

For more preschool engineering tips and ideas click over to The Educator’s Spin On it.

Don’t forget join us!

Join us this SUNDAY for the third week of our ecourse with a Google Hangout on October 5th @ 8:00pm EST to hear tips and tricks for incorporating Science activities for your preschooler. We will be discussing along with Amanda from The Educator’s Spin On It our own personal experiences and tips for using technology with preschoolers.

No registration is required, but we would love for you to share in the blog comments how your child did, any observations you made, or other tips on how you are improving that area of academics with your preschooler.