Embracing STEM at Primrose

Embracing STEM at Primrose

It’s no secret that we love STEM in our classrooms. 

STEM concepts (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) are important for your child’s success in school, life and the workforce. While these concepts may sound complex for little ones, children under age 5 can begin to learn basic STEM skills in fun and simple ways, building a foundation that will benefit them for years to come.

At Primrose, we’ve worked with early education experts and used current research to incorporate STEM-based learning into children’s everyday experiences through our Balanced Learning® approach. For infants to kindergartners, STEM subjects are intentionally integrated in many ways, including through group activities, learning centers, books, discussions, experiments, art projects and educational games.

“When play is connected to problem-solving, children begin to work more collaboratively with their friends and develop a deeper understanding of concepts,” says Dr. Sandra Linder, co-author of the Primrose® Balanced Learning curriculum.

Here are examples from some of our classrooms of how children in each age group learn and practice STEM skills (which can also be easily implemented at home!):

  • Kindergarten: In Kindergarten, students engage in  a variety of engineering-based design thinking challenges. For example, they design and build a prototype of a bridge, along with a moveable vehicle, to carry the Primrose Friends puppets safely across.
  • Pre-Kindergarten: Pre-K students dive deeper into science connections by reading books like “Kitten’s First Full Moon” by Kevin Henkes and observing pictures of the night sky. They paint watercolor pictures of the night sky and even practice their nightly routine of preparing to go to sleep, which helps connect the new concepts back to everyday life.
  • Preschool: Children in our preschool classrooms flex their critical thinking skills by building robots out of various materials and testing them to see how they move and function. Robots are worked into every part of the day, whether it’s moving like a robot during outdoor playtime, singing a song about being a robot or counting the pieces needed to build a robot. We purposefully introduce new concepts in this integrated way so they are easier for each child to grasp and master.
  • Toddlers: Students in our toddler classrooms explore how communities are built as they create buildings, roads and towns with cardboard tubes, cups, toys and more. They sing songs like “How Do You Build?” and “Blocks in the Tower” as they learn more about technology, math and engineering throughout the unit.
  • Infants: Little ones in our infant program explore concepts like animals, colors, shapes and sounds — all of which are foundational STEM concepts. Teachers encourage discovery through modeling, such as by building a tower with soft blocks or sorting toys based on color.

STEM skills are not only simple to nurture in your child, but they’re also useful for years to come. For more STEM inspiration, check out these resources:

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