Everyday STEAM for the Early Childhood Classroom offers a rich, rewarding pathway for early childhood educators integrating the arts into STEM instruction across ages 0–8. Science, technology, engineering, and math are mainstays of early childhood curricula, but young learners can have even more engaging experiences in these subjects with the inclusion of the arts. In this comprehensive resource, early childhood educators will learn key principles for the effective teaching of STEAM in their classrooms and be guided to leverage their existing knowledge and strengths toward meaningful learning opportunities. Packed with hands-on resources, ready-to-use teaching tools, and developmentally appropriate practices, this book is ideal for in-service and pre-service educators ready to explore and experiment with STEAM.

Everyday STEAM for the Early Childhood Classroom offers a rich, rewarding pathway for early childhood educators integrating the arts into STEM instruction across ages 0-8. Science, technology, engineering, and math are mainstays of early childhood curricula, but young learners can have even more engaging experiences in these subjects with the inclusion of the arts. In this comprehensive resource, early childhood educators will learn key principles for the effective teaching of STEAM in their classrooms and be guided to leverage their existing knowledge and strengths toward meaningful learning opportunities. Packed with hands-on resources, ready-to-use teaching tools, and developmentally appropriate practices, this book is ideal for in-service and pre-service educators ready to explore and experiment with STEAM.

This thought-provoking read invites you to reconsider your automatic "no" when it comes to young children’s weapon play. It offers new perspectives on how weapon play and other risky or controversial play can provide opportunities for healing discussions—including around boundaries, kindness, and consent—and create positive learning experiences for children and teachers alike. Centered in an antiracist framework with applications across diverse communities, the book is written by two educators with unique lived experiences of community violence and safety who each share their perspectives on risky play, questions to consider, and strategies to try in the classroom. Aiming to inspire new ways of thinking, instead of trying to change your mind outright, this book asks deep questions to support you in carefully thinking about the kind of play allowed in your classroom. This book is an essential resource for early years teachers, practitioners, and anyone with a key interest in creating supportive spaces for young children.

This book provides a fresh perspective on recent debates around integrating STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) education in early childhood. The book offers inspiration and practical advice for educators and researchers. It suggests concrete ways to engage young children in STEAM learning activities and promote their development. With contributions from international experts, the book discusses how to develop age-appropriate STEAM learning activities for young children. Divided into four parts, the book covers a wide range of topics, including the perceptions and practices of STEAM education among early childhood teachers in different countries, the use of new pedagogies and technologies to promote equitable and accessible STEAM education, the role of teacher education and policy in reducing inequality in STEAM education, and how early STEAM education can promote social change and achieve sustainable development goals. The book highlights the importance of STEAM education in providing young children with the necessary skills to create a more sustainable and equitable world. Overall, this book provides an important contribution to help critique and improve how early childhood educators view and practice STEAM education across cultures. It proposes ideas for achieving sustainable development goals through high-quality early STEAM education. The book appeals to early childhood educators and researchers, as it draws on cross-cultural viewpoints to critically examine how teachers understand and implement STEAM education across different cultures along with exploring how cultural values and goals shape early STEAM education.

This edited book provides an overview of unstructured and structured play scenarios crucial to developing young children’s awareness, interest, and ability to learn Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in informal and formal education environments. The key elements for developing future STEM capital, enabling children to use their intuitive critical thinking and problem-solving abilities, and promoting active citizenship and a scientifically literate workforce, begins in the early years as children learn through play, employing trial and error, and often investigating on their own. Forty-seven STEM experts come together from 16 countries (Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, England, Finland, Germany, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Russia, Sweden, and the USA) and describe educational policies and experiences related to young learners 3–4 years of age, as well as students attending formal-nursery school, early primary school, and the early years classes post 5 years of age. The book is intended for parents seeking to provide STEM activities for their children at home and in playgroups, citizen scientists seeking guidance to provide children with quality educational activities, daycare practitioners providing educational structures for young children from birth to formal education, primary school teachers and preservice teachers seeking to teach preschool, kindergarten or children typically aged 5–8 years old in grades 1–3, as well as researchers and policy makers working in science didactics with small children.

This book approaches STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics) in early childhood education from multiple angles. It focuses on the teaching and learning of children from two years of age to the early years of school. Proponents of STEAM describe how it can create opportunities for children to learn creatively, and various chapter authors make strong connections between discipline areas within the context of an informal curriculum. Others advocate for an integrated STEM, rather than STEAM, approach. With a light touch on theory and a focus on how to embed STE(A)M in an integrated early childhood curriculum, the editors and contributors examine the STEAM versus STEM question from multiple angles. The chapters provide helpful frameworks for parents, teachers and higher education institutions, and make practical suggestions of ways to support young children’s inquiry learning. Drawing on pedagogy and research from around the world, this book will be of interest to scholars of STEAM education, early childhood educators, students of early childhood education and parents of young children.

STEAM is a development and extension of the original STEM efforts with the goal to support innate creativity and innovation that all children possess. This book serves as a platform for educators to observe and facilitate infants and toddlers natural curiosities around STEAM concepts. The text discusses tangible, rich STEAM learning environments for children from birth through age two and introduces where this learning can go next as children transition into the preschool years.