Encourage your child to get involved in STEM through everyday activities.

STEM at home: early years

Young children are natural scientists as they explore their world, generate new ideas, identify problems and explore solutions through a sense of wonder and play.

As your child’s first teacher, you can encourage your child to:

• make observations
• test their ideas
• share their discoveries.

Ask open-ended questions about what they know and what interests them – such as:

• Why do you think that happens?
• How do you think this works?
• How could we find out?
• I wonder what would happen if …

Fun STEM activities at home

• Cooking – explore the tools you use, where the ingredients come from and what happens when you mix ingredients together
• Gardening – try simple experiments such as growing a seed in a jar or growing herbs in the garden
  • Ask your child why they think seedlings need soil, sunlight and water to grow into healthy plants
  • Find out what insects you can find in the garden
  • Consider how worms help plants
• Construction toys – when children create structures with these toys, they’re using critical thinking, reasoning, problem-solving and engineering design skills.

More fun ideas at home

• GreatStart activities – everyday learning in STEM for kids of all ages
• Commissioners Digital Challenge: early learning unplugged – a free digital challenge for preschool aged children
• Early numeracy skills – ideas to support numeracy develop for 0 to 4 years olds
• Mathematics Hub – learn how to enjoy maths at home
• Let’s Count Facebook Messenger Bot – an interactive platform to support maths learning for 3 to 5 year olds
• What is coding for kids – types of coding and coding language
• ABC Education – interesting facts and educational games
• Nature Play SA – ideas to bring nature to children’s learning
• STEM is everywhere – common everyday activities and their links to real science.

Learning about STEM through books

• Early Learning STEM Australia (PDF 2.5MB) – picture books that show children maths and science concepts through a story.

STEM at home: primary and middle years

Children and young people can explore science and technology as a hobby such as writing code to create a robot or to create music or art.

As early as year 4, students start to think about future careers. Help guide your child to learn about the diverse range of STEM careers and how these careers are helping people and society. This can help students to see the relevance of studying science, mathematics and technology into the middle and senior years at school.

Activities and resources to explore at home

• Future You – find out about the vast array of careers that use STEM skills.
• The STARPortal – find out about events, programs, and activities in your community
• Girls in STEM toolkit – explore activities, resources, case studies, lessons, study pathways and careers.
• Digital Technologies Hub – resources to help teachers, students and families learn about digital technologies
• RiAus Education – explore videos to inspire STEM learning
• ABC Education – interesting facts and educational games
• Office of the Chief Scientist – STARPortal – interesting and fun STEM resources
• Inspiring South Australia – science at home
• Telstra Foundation – free coding clubs for ages 8 to 15
• VEXcode VR – build your understanding of computer science and code your own virtual robot
• SASTA student activities – science activities for South Australian students
• Questacon at home – be inspired with fun activities you can do at home.

Places to visit

• Australian Space Discovery Centre – there’s much more. to space than being an astronaut. Learn about the exciting activities happening right here on Earth.
• The MOD – a futuristic museum at the University of South Australia
• Nature Play SA – ideas to bring nature to children’s learning.