Kindergarten to Year 2

EXPLORING
STEM AT
HOME Activities and ideas for
parents to support their
children’s learning and
Science, technology, engineering
development.
and mathematics

© Department of Education, Western Australia 2017

WHAT’S INSIDE
CHILDREN ARE
NATURALLY
CHILDREN ARE NATURALLY CURIOUS 1
WHAT IS STEM? 2
PLAY IS ESSENTIAL FOR LEARNING 3
TOY BOX FUN
IN THE KITCHEN
QUESTIONING SKILLS
4
5
7
CURIOUS
Playing, exploring and asking lots of
LEARNING THROUGH READING 7 questions – that’s how children learn
ON RAINY DAYS 8 about themselves, about others and
about the world around them.
COLLECTING TREASURES 9
THE GREAT OUTDOORS 10
AT NIGHT 12
AT THE BEACH 13
IN THE PARK 13
This booklet has lots of
BUBBLE BLOWING 14 activities you can do at
BATH TIME PLAY 15 home with your children
RETHINK, REDUCE, RECYCLE AND REUSE 16 to support their learning
and development in STEM
TITLE: Exploring STEM at home: This material is available on request in
(science, technology,
Science, technology, engineering and appropriate alternative formats. engineering and
mathematics.
Department of Education mathematics).
SCIS NO: 1831078 151 Royal Street
ISBN: 978-0-7307-4608-9 East Perth WA 6004
T: 9264 4111
© Department of Education, Western W: education.wa.edu.au
Australia 2017
This publication may be freely copied
in whole or part and in any format in an
education institution for non-commercial
education purposes.

© Department of Education, Western Australia 2017 © Department of Education, Western Australia 2017 1
 WHAT IS STEM? PLAY IS ESSENTIAL
STEM is an approach to learning and development
FOR LEARNING Mess is good! It’s
an important part of
that integrates the areas of science, technology,
engineering and mathematics. Play is a fun and important part of playing and learning
Through STEM, children learn to:
children’s learning and development. – so is cleaning up
• ask questions Through play, children: afterwards.
• work together • are interested in and connected to
what they are doing
• think creatively
• learn through copying others
• solve problems
• have the freedom to explore their own
• explore interests and answer questions for
• take calculated risks themselves
• test solutions • learn at their own pace
What can I do?
• discover new ways of doing things. • learn to talk and interact with adults
and other children • Develop and respect your child’s curiosity
As your child’s first teacher, you can start building and creativity.
their STEM skills from an early age, creating a solid • develop their imagination
• Let your child discover and learn at their
foundation for future learning. By encouraging • build resilience.
own pace.
your child to play, explore and investigate, you are
helping them become active participants in their There are many opportunities at home, • Accept the answers your child provides –
own learning. outside and in the community to learn they make perfect sense to them!
about STEM. And best of all, they’re free. • Ask lots of questions. Questions help
your child understand the task.

With advances in
technology, around
65 per cent of children Give your children the opportunity
starting primary school to play by themselves and with others
are likely to work in jobs – this builds their confidence and
that don’t yet exist. adaptability skills.

2 © Department of Education, Western Australia 2017 © Department of Education, Western Australia 2017 3
 TOY BOX FUN TASK IN THE KITCHEN
• With your child, sort objects in the toy box by size, • Show your child that cooking involves
shape, colour, texture, weight, material and use. Make a balance scale by different steps like reading the recipe,
• Take two toys and guess which is heavier. Find out tying a plastic bag to each measuring the ingredients and then cooking
by holding the toys in each hand. Use scales to in the oven or on the stove.
end of a coat hanger. Hang
compare the weights. • Describe to your child what you are doing
the coat hanger on a broom
• See how quickly cars, marbles and balls roll down when cooking. Use words such as more,
handle suspended between less, lighter, heavier, melt, cool, hot, cold,
different surfaces such as baking trays, big books
and planks of wood. See if changing the surface two chairs. Place objects in dissolve and set.
changes how fast the object goes. each bag. See what happens • Name and describe ingredients. Get your
when your child adds heavier child to guess what will happen when you
and lighter objects. mix them together.
• Smell and taste the ingredients (only let your
child taste ingredients you know are safe).
• Talk about how the ingredients change when
you cook them.

Jelly
• Get your child to describe the jelly crystals
before and after water has been added
(from a solid to a liquid).
• Have your child look in the fridge every half
an hour as the jelly sets and talk about how
it changes.
• Ask what would happen if some jelly is left
out of the fridge after setting. Try it!

4 © Department of Education, Western Australia 2017 © Department of Education, Western Australia 2017 5
 IN THE KITCHEN (CONTINUED) Kitchen utensils
QUESTIONING SKILLS LEARNING THROUGH
Play dough
• Explore how different kitchen utensils work, like
a can opener and an ice cream scoop.
Questioning encourages children to expand their thoughts rather
READING
• Look at the reflection on both sides of a spoon. than giving yes or no answers.
• See how many shapes and patterns you Ask Why is each side different? and Which side is like With your child, read
can make together. looking in a mirror? The Enormous Turnip
Ask For example
• Add essential oils, glitter and sand to play • Get your child to pick up small, big, light and by Irene Yates.
dough to change the texture and smell. heavy items with tongs. What does it… feel like? Close your eyes and tell • Talk with your child about the story
me how it feels. using ‘describing’ sentences to give
more information, for example The
look like? Compare the colour,
turnip is heavy because it is so big.
pattern, size, shape and texture.
• Talk about other ways to remove the
taste like? Have you tasted turnip, like cutting it into smaller
TASK something like this before? pieces.
smell like? Does it remind you of • Talk about different ways to move
something else? objects around the house.
sound like? Where have you heard
Make a stove with your
this sound before? With your child, read
child. Talk about the parts
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
you need, for example an What do you think we add water to this? by Eric Carle.
oven, knobs, switches and would happen if… a playground slide grew bigger? • With your child, find butterflies in
grill. Collect items to create
the garden. Describe the colours
the parts such as boxes, Why do you think… the shadow has moved? and patterns on their wings.
bottle tops and corrugated • Dress up as caterpillars. Move like
cardboard. When making the How does… a robot work? a caterpillar. Ask your child to show
stove, talk about where the you how they would live in a cocoon
What if we… change the size of the wheels on – and how they would get out of the
different parts go and how
different toys? cocoon.
they can be attached. And
then paint the stove! • Talk about how animals and
How can you… make blocks balance? humans have lifecycles.

6 © Department of Education, Western Australia 2017 © Department of Education, Western Australia 2017 7
 ON RAINY DAYS COLLECTING TREASURES
• Listen to the rain fall on different • Collect treasures with your child like shells, small
surfaces. Ask your child questions stones, leaves and feathers. Display them around your
like What does it sound like? and home or keep them in a special place.
What does it smell like?
Take lots of photos while
• Sort the treasures into groups, for example by colour,
• Watch what pets and other size, texture, shape and the number of edges. Talk
doing activities. Use a
animals do before, during and with your child about how each group is similar and mobile app to change
after the rain. different. Use words like line, circle, square, triangle the way the photos
• Look at the clouds. Talk about and rectangle. Look for repeated patterns and special look. This develops
how clouds form different shapes designs. your child’s digital skills.
and colours. • Examine each object under
a magnifying glass or take
The great family meltdown photos with your phone
• Give each family member an ice and enlarge them on
cube and ask them to find ways the screen.
to stop it melting without using
the fridge or freezer. For example,
get them to put it in a sock, wrap
it in foil or bubble wrap, or bury it
in the dirt. Time how long it takes
the ice cubes to melt. Talk about
why some ice cubes melt faster
than others.
Watch the rain splash
TASK in puddles. Get your
child to make ripples
with their fingers. Look
at your reflections.
Splash water out of the
puddle by jumping in it.

8 © Department of Education, Western Australia 2017 © Department of Education, Western Australia 2017 9
 THE GREAT OUTDOORS TASK
Investigate a small area
• Have your child use old kitchen utensils such as of ground with your child
sieves, funnels, dishes and jugs to dig and play with using a magnifying glass.
water, sand and mud.
Ask questions like How
• Talk about where water comes from and where it goes.
many insects can you see?
Test these ideas by getting your child to paint or spray
water on a concrete surface and see what happens. Concentrate on one insect
Extend this activity by discussing how clothes dry after and see what it is doing.
washing. Follow it to see where it
• Place torn newspaper into a large jar and soak with goes.
water. Push some bean seeds half way down the inside
of the jar so they can be seen easily. Put the jar in a
warm, light place and keep the paper moist. Watch
what happens over a week (the roots grow down from
the seed and the shoots grow up from the seed).

Garden play
• Plant vegetable offcuts and seeds,
flower seeds and seedlings with your
child. Watch how they grow over time.
Take photos to record the changes.
Talk about the changes together.
• Plant them in some different
places to see how they grow
differently (shade or sun, soil
types, pot or garden bed).
Discuss the differences and
what works best.

10 © Department of Education, Western Australia 2017 © Department of Education, Western Australia 2017 11
 AT NIGHT AT THE BEACH IN THE PARK
• Explore outside at night with • Get your child to use their senses to explore – like • Investigate a tree together. Try and hold hands around
your child – with and without a smelling the air, looking at the waves, listening to the the tree trunk. Ask questions about what the bark
torch. Ask questions like What birds, tasting the seawater and feeling the sand. looks, feels and smells like. See how many colours you
can you see? and What can • Stand at the water’s edge and let the waves lap up can find. Talk about what lives in the tree and see if
you hear? against your feet. Ask questions like What can you feel you can find anything.
• Make shadows on the wall under your feet? • Close your eyes and listen for different sounds. Talk
with a torch. Talk about how about what you can hear, for example the birds and
shadows change when the the wind rustling the leaves. Listen for sounds outside
torch or objects are moved the park, for example cars and planes.
closer to or further away from • Stand still in one place. Talk and ask questions about
the wall. TASK the things you can see moving around you like birds
flying overhead, leaves blowing on the ground, dogs
running and people walking.
Dig a hole near the water’s Playground equipment
edge and see how long it
• Get swinging! Talk about what makes the swing work.
takes to fill with water. Describe how to make the swing go higher.
Talk about where the water • Slide down the slide and talk about how and why you
comes from. Stand in the can stop mid-slide.
hole to see what happens. • Roll an object down the slide. Talk about how to make
it go faster or slower.

12 © Department of Education, Western Australia 2017 © Department of Education, Western Australia 2017 13
 BUBBLE BLOWING BATH TIME PLAY
• Blow bubbles and get your child to try and catch them.
Ask questions like What makes the bubbles float? and • Put different objects in the bath with your child.
What makes the bubbles pop? See how long a bubble Get your child to see if they float or sink. Ask them to
can stay in the air. guess what they think might happen before they try.
• Get your child to make bubbles with their hands by Ask why some objects float and others sink. Talk about
forming a small circle with their thumb and forefinger ways to make floating objects sink, and sinking
and blowing through the circle. objects float.
• Get your child to fill different objects with water and
then empty them. Use cleaned shampoo bottles to
squirt water. Squeeze the bottle when it is empty
and full and talk about how that feels. Squeeze
TASK the bottle under water and above water to see what
happens.

How to make bubbles

Put 600ml of dishwashing Ask questions about what
detergent and 25ml of glycerin happens when the bath plug
into a one litre container and is removed.
fill it with water. Get your child
to use a pipe cleaner to make
a wand with a circle at the top.
Get your child to dip the wand
in the bubble mixture and blow
through the circle.

14 © Department of Education, Western Australia 2017 © Department of Education, Western Australia 2017 15
 RETHINK, REDUCE, RECYCLE Reduce
• Reduce electricity by getting your child to turn off TASK
Before you throw items
AND REUSE appliances and lights at the wall when they are not
being used. Make signs together as a reminder.
in the rubbish, talk about
what each item is made of
• Get your child to turn off the water while cleaning and ask your child to look
Rethink
their teeth. for the recycle symbol.
• Rather than driving your child to school, walk there. • Show your child the gas, water and electricity meters Sort out the recycling
If you live far from school, drive part of the way and
walk the rest.
so they understand how utilities are measured. items together and put
• Put a bucket in the shower when your child showers them in the recycle bin.
• Encourage your child to think about the way they use and measure how much water is collected.
their environment with others. Suggest things like
placing rubbish into bins and tidying up after playing. Recycle
• Show your child the ‘recycle’ symbol. Talk about how
important it is to recycle.
• Discuss the sorts of materials that can and can’t be
recycled.

Reuse
• Reuse paper plates, boxes, cards, wrapping paper
and ribbon for arts and craft activities. Store buttons,
crayons and pencils in glass or plastic containers.
• Reuse shoeboxes to create houses for toys and
treasure boxes.
• Identify ways water can be collected and reused
around the house, instead of going down the drain.

16 © Department of Education, Western Australia 2017 © Department of Education, Western Australia 2017 17
© Department of Education, Western Australia 2017