Hands-On Preschool STEM Activities

Last Updated on July 23, 2024 by Sheryl Cooper

Inside: Discover how to introduce preschool STEM activities to preschoolers in a simple and fun way – science, technology, engineering and math!

The preschool age is a wonderful time to begin to introduce the concepts involved in STEM- that is, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.

These topics at first may sound too advanced for preschoolers, but there are wonderful age-appropriate simple activities that begin to introduce the qualities of STEM to preschoolers in a way that feels natural and fun for them!

Below is a compilation of ideas to put your gears into motion.

Hands-On Preschool STEM Activities

What Dissolves in Water? – Discover which materials dissolve when stirred with water and which do not. (Hands On As We Grow)

Materials: Spoon, glass, food ingredients for stirring (salt, sugar, flour, etc.)

Do Oil and Water Mix? – Create a jar filled with water and oil for preschoolers to discover what happens when they try to shake them together. (Preschool STEAM)

Empty jar, water, oil, food coloring

Eyedropper Dot Filling – Draw circles of water for preschoolers to fill with a small eyedropper. (Teach Beside Me)

Eyedroppers, food coloring, laminated paper or sealable bag

Lego Playdough Building – Learn about balance as structures are built from playdough, straws, and playdough.

Playdough, Legos, straws

Shaving Cream and Blocks Tower – Fill your sensory bin with shaving cream and square blocks to stack together. (No Time For Flash Cards)

Bin, shaving cream, square blocks

Sink the Egg Challenge – Fill Easter eggs with various materials and discover which sink and which float. (Happy Toddler Playtime)

Plastic Easter eggs, various heavy and light materials to fill the eggs (pom-poms, dice, quarters, etc.)

Contact Paper and Blocks – Cover a vertical surface with contact paper for preschoolers to arrange blocks on as if they are stacked. (Teach Preschool)

Contact paper, foam blocks or small blocks

DIY Balancing Beam – Create your own balancing beam for comparing weights using wood or cardboard. (Early Learning Ideas)

Wood slates or cardboard, wood dowel, craft sticks, glue

Plastic Egg Stacking – Attempt to stack tall towers of plastic egg halves until they tumble over. (The Resourceful Mama)

Plastic Easter egg halves

Frozen Leaf Inspection – Freeze leaves in sheets of water for preschoolers to inspect. (Preschool Powol Packets)

Leaves, trays for freezing

Pom-pom Wall Tubes – Tape tubes to your wall arranged in a way for preschoolers to drop pom-poms down the tunnels. (Toddler Approved)

Paper tubes, scissors, different colors of paper, painters tape, pom poms

Nature Sink or Float Bin – Provide a bin of water along with nature materials to guess which items will sink and which will float. (Laughing Kids Learn)

Bin, various nature materials

How Do Insects Eat? – Discover how many insects eat by using straws to drink water from a plate. (Adventures in Mommydom)

Straws, plates, water

Dinosaur Stacking – Try stacking oddly-shaped toys such as plastic dinosaurs and discuss why preschoolers think that it is difficult to stack. (Kindergarten Worksheets and Games)

Small plastic dinosaurs (or other animal)