Kindergarten STEM Activities | A Comprehensive Guide

Kindergarten STEM activities are the IN thing right now when it comes to early education.

Many kindergartens offer these activities to help kids become creative, imaginative, inventive, as well as STRONG critical thinkers and problem-solvers.

As a parent or guardian, you want to enroll your child in an educational program that offers STEM projects to learners.

Don’t have your child left behind by enrolling them in a kindergarten that doesn’t focus on these projects.

However, if your child is already enrolled in one, it’s never too late as you can still create some projects for him or her to tackle at home.

Maybe you’ve never heard about STEM activities before and thus zero clues about what I am talking about.

Perhaps you came here to find some clues as to some of the BEST activities you can create for your kindergartener.

OR maybe you would like to understand how kindergarten STEM activities can be beneficial to kindergarteners.

Whatever the case may be, you’ll find useful knowledge in this post. 🙂

Having said that, let me first explain to you what a STEM activity for kindergarteners really is.

What Are Kindergarten STEM Activities?

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First of all, the acronym “STEM” stands for the words; “Science”, “Technology”, “Engineering”, and “Math.”

You got it right, kindergarten STEM activities are projects that enable kindergarteners to acquire skills in the fields of science, technology, engineering as well as math.

What are the BEST STEM Activities for Kindergarteners?

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There is no doubt about the fact that STEM projects will have varying impacts on kids.

For example, some projects will impart greater skills to learners than other projects will do.

On top of that, these projects offer dissimilar levels of fun, interest, and difficulty.

The BEST projects are certainly more FUN and more interesting for kindergarteners.

Apart from that, they are EASIER to accomplish for kids.

Whether you are a teacher or a parent who intends to create some engaging STEM activities for your learners or kid, respectively, knowing the best or top activities can go a long way.

Here are some of the BEST activities you might want to consider …

1. Construct Different Objects and Shapes Using a Marshmallow and Toothpicks

This can be a valuable and an EXCITING STEM project that’s full of fun for your kindergartener. 🙂

It will help the kid to develop some imaginative and basic engineering skills fit for his or her level by building shapes objects. All you’ll need for this project is a marshmallow and some toothpicks.

Start by demonstrating the project to him or her by building a few objects or shapes, using the marshmallow and the toothpicks.

Then challenge the kid to build other shapes or objects, e.g a car, castle, etc, using the same tools.

Photo Credit by The Sprinkled Topped Teacher

2. Introduce Your Kindergartener to Scientific Experiments Early with a Coffee-Filter Chromatography Project

Introducing your child or learners to scientific experiments early in a fun manner will help them develop a great interest in science when they are still young.

That interest could propel them to become great scientists in the future!

This coffee filter chromatography can be an exciting kindergarten STEM activity.

It involves separating pigments using a coffee filter, magic marker, and a shallow cup of water to see how many colors it takes to create a marker.

Supplies Needed:

1. Coffee filters
2. Magic Marker (a pen with thick soft point made of fibers)
3. Shallow cup

Photo Credit by Buggy and Buddy

Activity Instructions:

1. Let the child draw a thick circle around the center of the coffee filter (where the rigid part meets the center), using the marker.
2. After that, have he or she create a cone shape by folding the filter in half and then in half again.
3. Next, let the kid set the tip of the filter cone into the water while being careful NOT to get the marker ring wet.
4. Finally, have him or her watch and observe the colors as they flow up the paper.

Photo Credit by Make and Takes

Children are very fascinated by the behavior of the colors and the experiment in general.

You can use that opportunity to teach them about molecules and the uses of the chromatography experiment in the real world.

3. Baking Soda and Vinegar Kindergarten Experiment

This basic scientific experiment for kids involves a foil tray, an ice cube tray filled with vinegar, and some baking soda.

It’s an engaging activity that will expose your kid or learner to learn a lot of science.

Supplies Needed:

1. Foil tray
2. Ice cube tray
3. Vinegar
4. Baking soda
5. Food coloring (optional)

Activity Instructions:

1. To get started, have the kid cover the bottom of the foil tray with the baking soda.
2. Next, let them fill the ice cube tray with vinegar.
3. To make the experiment more fun, allow them to add a drop of food coloring to each compartment, using a pipette or dropper.
4. Freeze the vinegar ice cubes.
5. Finally, take the ice cubes out after they are frozen and place them onto the baking soda on the foil tray.  Let them watch, in awe, the baking soda as it fizzes and froths in a chemical reaction.

Video Credit by Primrose Schools

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Benefits of Kindergarten STEM Activities for STEM Projects

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Get kids excited and EAGER to learn.

The outcome of most projects motivates kids to learn further about the projects. You can ascertain that by trying any of the projects above.

Help children’s brains to be more effective.

The brain, especially that of children, needs to think harder to be more effective.

STEM activities ENCOURAGE it to do just that, enabling children to become smart upstairs.

Teach kids to fail.

Failure is an inevitable part of success. People who are turned off by it never find success.

Trial and error (an element of failure) is a KEY part of STEM projects, allowing kids to be used to failure and not discouraged.

Foster creativity.

All stem projects require imagination and creativity of some sort to accomplish.

Without these two abilities, these projects can never be accomplished. You can be sure that your kid or learner won’t rest until they accomplish a project.

Prepare kids for today’s technology.

Ever wonder why many elderly people don’t have smartphones?

Well, it’s because they don’t know how to operate them. These folks grew up without the technology of smartphones hence the challenge.

Luckily, STEM projects prepare kids for current technology and future technology because that’s an important part of them.

Examples of Kindergarten STEM Activities

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As a parent or teacher, you can do this with your Kindergartener!

Crystal sun catchers STEM project.

This will help your precious learner learn how to make crystals, using just salt and a sun catcher (a small, reflective glass typically hung indoors at windows to “catch the light”). It’s fun and enlightening.

Stop-motion animation video creation.

This STEM project will introduce your learner to movie-creation technology (stop-motion animation video creation technology in particular), at an early age.

It teaches them how to create these types of videos in a fun way, using only their smartphone or tab and a movie app.

Building a hand crank winch.

This will introduce your child or learner to basic engineering.

It helps them get crafty and learn how to build things with simple tools such as a ribbon spool, cardboard paper towel roll, and pulley.

Final Takeaway

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Kindergarten STEM activities introduce kids to science, technology, engineering, and math at an early age.

This enables them to become imaginative, innovative, and creative individuals when they grow up. That’s why you should take your child to a kindergarten that focuses on them.

Alternatively, you could do several projects with them at home, including but not limited to the above.

Either way, your child or learner will be excited to learn new things, become sharp and brilliant, know how to deal with failure, become creative, and be technologically prepared.

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If there are questions you may have or anything you’d like to add that I did not cover in this post, please feel free to comment below.

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