5 ways to spark a love of STEM

STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) is a hot buzzword and for good reason. CSIRO has dubbed STEM skills as the “passport of the future”, setting kids up with lifelong creativity, critical thinking, problem solving and technical skills necessary for the future. 

Children are born scientists, and are much more capable of learning about STEM concepts earlier than originally thought; systematically testing hypotheses, obsessing over fair distribution, and observing their world with curiosity. Know that when your kid pushes their cup, food and fork off the table for the 10th time, they’re just testing the limits of gravity. There’s a little scientist in the house!

So how can you support your little scientists to keep growing? Whilst it may be too early for your child to be setting up Bunsen burners, calculating bridge tension loads, or determining the composition of a travelling asteroid there are plenty of other (less dangerous) ways to encourage a love of STEM early in life. 

Bake

Good news- cake is delicious and educational. Baking recipes involve basic math, measuring, weighing and chemical reactions. Spend time counting chocolate chips, comparing items that weigh differently and using different sized measuring utensils. Once you’ve popped your cake in the oven, the kitchen is a fun science lab with plenty of potential. For something messier, make this volcano from kitchen items. 

Ask ‘what’ questions

Kids ask a lot of questions, and sometimes you may not have the answer to why water is wet. Instead of asking “why”, try asking “what”. When you ask “what” questions, you’re exploring alongside your child and focusing on what you can observe and discover; “what do you think will happen if we turn this glass of water upside down?”. 

Read Fairy Tales

When a mother asked famous physicist Albert Einstein for advice on how to raise her child to become a successful scientist he replied, “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be very intelligent, read them more fairy tales”. Pick stories that inspire curiosity, creativity, STEM role models and problem solving. Or, invent your own stories with our fun STEM storytelling game!

Garden

Gardening builds an appreciation for natural sciences and is an experimental playground. Get out into nature, go for walks, collect items in the garden and count count count. Why not try setting up a great plant race, pitting different seedlings against each other in a race to grow?

Cheer them on

Kids that ask difficult questions, hypothesise, experiment and test are going to have a few stumbles. Focus on encouraging effort rather than talent to promote a growth mindset that will help them push through scientific setbacks. And remember, sometimes the greatest scientific discoveries are made from mistakes. Like Play Doh!

These 5 ideas will help set kids up for STEM- for life. But if you only take away one idea, make time for play. As Allison Gopnick (scientist and professor at UC Berkeley), aptly put it: “Everyday playing is a kind of experimentation”. The best tip for bringing up little scientists may very well just be to play. Every single day. 

*This article was also posted at kiindred.co