Baby STEM
Provide STEM learning opportunities for young children through play, investigation, and exploration of the world around them.
Building off a child’s natural curiosity and love for exploration and discovery, Baby STEM helps elevate responsible caregiving and increase STEM learning opportunities, de-mystifying what a developmentally appropriate, early childhood STEM foundation looks like while providing opportunities for language acquisition, social-emotional, and other cognitive skill development.
Infants and toddlers are naturally curious and love to investigate and explore, but learn in a way that is uniquely different from traditional classroom environments. They explore through their senses, and every waking moment of a child’s day is about learning. They explore how things work, how they move, and how they connect. They are learning about nature, the earth, and living things. Exploration and investigation are a critical component of early STEM learning but guidance is needed for caregivers to make more intentional connections and unlock the full potential of an investigative approach.
Baby STEM provides early childhood caregivers with the fundamentals of early STEM education in a way that’s developmentally appropriate, individualized, and responsive to the needs of infants, toddlers, 2’s and 3’s using the “watch, listen, and engage” approach. For children, our approach to STEM activities builds off of their natural curiosity to investigate and explore, bringing early STEM skills and concepts into their world. For caregivers, our approach de-mystifies what STEM means in early childhood, showing the simplicity of what is considered STEM.
Baby STEM is appropriate for ages 0-3 years and helps to enhance the effectiveness of early care environments with fun, play-based activities for children that expand and build upon their knowledge and understanding of the world around them in the way they learn best.
Why Baby STEM?
Teaches foundational STEM skills
and supports cognitive development the way young children learn best, through the “business of play” and exploration.
Expands the bank of STEM learning experiences
to help children take in new information and make connections as they discover the world around them
Supports a more integrated learning approach
by fostering social emotional, language, physical, and other cognitive domain development through investigative STEM experiences.
Helps families and caregivers provide individualized, responsive caregiving
through a question and prompt approach to meet each child’s unique needs and interests.
Impacts and Outcomes
Early STEM education is an important foundational component of a high-quality education, but it can be challenging to understand what early STEM means, or how to teach these skills in a way that’s developmentally appropriate for young learners.
Baby STEM is based on the knowledge that children are unique individuals and require the ability to explore in ways that build off of their interests to promote hands-on STEM learning, language, and concepts through investigation. Baby STEM helps to enhance the effectiveness of early care environments with guidance for caregivers to plan fun, play-based activities that harness a child’s understanding of the world around them to promote STEM learning.
Who can benefit from using Baby STEM?
Baby STEM is used by many organizations and programs to help the following people:
Community Organizations
Looking to bring early STEM learning into childcare programs.
Caregivers
Looking to seamlessly incorporate STEM learning into routines and experiences.
Families
Looking for guidance to support STEM activities and vocabulary in the home.
Through Baby STEM, The Discovery Source aims to nurture each and every child’s natural curiosity to support STEM learning and skill development.
Early STEM learning is a critically important component to cognitive development. In early childhood, STEM is all around – it’s natural for children to use their five senses to explore and investigate how things work, move, and connect. Baby STEM brings early STEM skills, concepts, and language into their world, supporting cognitive skill development in a way that’s appropriate, familiar, and engaging. Learn more about The Discovery Source and Baby STEM by clicking below.