“What is this?”, “How does this happen?”, “why does this happen?” –all these are just a few questions you get to come face to face with when your kids are at that age where brain development is taking place. Inquisitively and curiosity are two important assets of kids and a parent must not get irritated by it, they should use this power of kids to educate them more about different things. One such thing is STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. STEM covers everything that a kid needs to learn from the very beginning for a better and bright future, considering the times we live in.
We are well aware that between the ages of 0-3 years, a child’s brain is 80% developed and thus 0-6 are few important years for a kid to learn a lot. One should try to impart knowledge and education in day to day life to make kid’s future better. Even psychologists confirm that those parents who understand how a kid’s brain function at different stages of brain development, can help kids shape a better future and can guide them better.
Apart from being curious, kids are also great observers. They imitate anything that we say or do which makes it clear that they look and listen closely too. They can adapt easily.
All these attributes can be used to teach kids STEM at home on daily basis. Let’s see one by one how all these areas can be covered at home by parents.
Science
An interesting thing here is that we see Science taking place around us all the time and thus, it is very easy for parents to engage their kids, entertain them while they also learn new facts which will be helping them in future and will create better fundamental.
• Make small science projects with your kids. For example – build a solar system with them. Teach them about different planets.
• Take them out to show the nature and then tell them easy things like how it rains, why plants are green, what radiations sun emit, what gases plants emit etc.
• Make them sit with you when you cook or bake.
• Take them to a lake and show them how stone sinks in water.
• Let them look at the stars, moon, sun, sky, and clouds. Let them answer questions.
Technology
• Let them use different tools that are easily available at home like pitchers, funnels, scoops etc.
• Show them different tech gadgets and try to teach them their usage and importance.
• You can also show them NASA pictures.
• Show them remote cars etc.
Engineering
• Take them out in a garden and try to solve a problem. For example, water coming out of a tap, engineering behind railway track or roads.
• Let them operate electric appliances at home.
• Fix their broken toys with them.
Mathematics
• Take them out for shopping and show them how the calculation is done at a store
• Tell them the difference between finite and infinite by showing them stars and countable things
• Buy them puzzle games
To understand the components of STEM better, hop over to our Lets Talk STEM (1) Blog series.