Play, Think and Build with Preschool Engineering

Why is the sky blue? Why do leaves fall off trees? What happened to dinosaurs?

Preschoolers naturally are inquisitive and ask a lot of questions!  

By asking a lot of questions, your child is trying to understand the world around them.

Opportunities for hands-on play with different materials will allow your child to learn and extend their knowledge and creative thinking skills.

STEM preschool activities (or we like to say STEAM) are designed to engage your child and stretch their thinking.

At the preschool level, introducing the engineering and design process is a natural fit. Preschoolers already like to build and problem solve.

Give time for your preschooler to explore the different building materials and try new things to solve the problem.

Lil B (5)  is really into building and I am trying to keep extending his learning by introducing different engineering activities that push his creative thinking and challenge him.

However, you do not have to buy every building toy on the market to stretch and grow your chid’s thinking.

By simply changing one or two materials you can create a brand new experience for your child that fosters their creative problem-solving skills.

I was very excited when I found mini red cups at the local dollar store.

This was a perfect opportunity to change a simple building activity to challenge him to think and create in new ways.

By introducing the new “mini” cups, it became a brand new engaging activity that kept Lil B and his sister (3 yrs) busy building, creating and problem-solving.

If you don’t have mini cups, regular size plastic cups will work too!

An Invitation to Build, Think and Play

Materials: 

Red Mini Cups (Regular plastic cups will work too)

Craft Sticks (optional)

Directions:

Lay out materials in an inviting way for your child to play and build.

I added the craft sticks to create a new challenge but using just cups also works.

There is no wrong way to do this activity. Set out the materials and let your child explore and build!

Stretch and grow your child’s problem-solving skills by adding in specific building challenges.

Building Challenges:

How high can you build a structure?

Can you create a shape (square, rectangle, triangle, pentagon, hexagon)?

Can you create a bridge?

Can you make a skyscraper?

What else can you create?