Engineering Skills for Preschool and School-Age Children

At My Place, we provide fun and age-appropriate opportunities for students to learn about STEAM – science, technology, engineering, art, and math. Preschoolers and school-age children are naturally drawn to STEAM activities. In particular, building and constructing games are related to engineering, and teach critical thinking and development.

By teaching these cornerstones of engineering skills at an early age in a fun way, preschoolers and school-age children will more naturally incorporate them in future learning and life.

There are many age-appropriate engineering activities for preschoolers and school-age children that are centered around creation, building, and construction, and encourage the development of critical thinking and problem solving. Here are some examples:

Engineering activities for preschoolers

1. Stacking blocks

2. Making pillow forts

3. Building a rain shelter for a toy

4. Water-based sensory bin

5. Creating a bird feeder out of popsicle sticks

Engineering activities for school-age children

1. Building a ramp for toy cars

2. Drawing a plan for a block structure, and then attempting to build it

3. Folding paper airplanes

4. Creating boats out of aluminum foil

5. Taking apart a simple toy to try and figure out how it works

6. Building things out of common household items

To help your child get the most out of these STEAM engineering activities, have them ask questions and form theories about what will happen if they stack certain sizes of blocks, or what bath toys will sink or float. Re-evaluating their theories based on what happens is a key engineering skill, so keep positive and work together to develop new theories.