Engineering Explorers

At the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) conference in November 2024, our own David Banzer, PhD—a postdoctoral fellow at the UIC College of Education—presented Connecting the E and M in STEM: Supporting Early Mathematics through Engineering Design. This hands-on breakout session highlighted the importance of incorporating engineering concepts and activities into early childhood education.

Although engineering may seem too advanced for early learners, we believe that young children are born engineers who are constantly experimenting, problem-solving, and building. Apparently, the educators participating in the session agreed because they were excited about the topic and eager to incorporate engineering concepts and activities into their teaching.

During the session, Dr. Banzer—who has conducted extensive research on early math, science, and engineering teaching and learning in preschool settings—introduced the educators to activities designed to nurture skills such as inquiry, exploration, and design thinking in their early learners.

The educators participated in hands-on engineering challenges that involved the use of only two materials—paper and tape. During these challenges, they followed the same engineering design steps that real-world engineers follow:

• Design
• Build
• Test
• Refine

The teachers built structures such as bridges and airplanes, using creativity and design thinking, sharing ideas, experimenting with different approaches, and learning from trial and error as they worked collaboratively to solve engineering design problems that they encountered along the way.

This hands-on experience provided valuable insights into the effectiveness of a child-led, play-based approach to engineering design and problem-solving for early learners.

The teachers learned how to create engineering challenges designed to teach young children that failure and redesign are natural parts of the process. They also learned how to simplify and adapt engineering concepts and activities to make them more fun and accessible for the under-five set.

Activities such as building block towers, designing car ramps, or figuring out how to make a toy float are all early examples of engineering in action.

Just like scientists, engineers ask questions such as:

• "How can we make this bridge stronger?"
• "What happens if we add more tape?"

When we encourage young children to ask questions like these, they naturally engage in a process called inquiry-based learning, which ignites their curiosity, fuels their creativity, and helps foster the development of critical-thinking skills.

Early engineering activities teach children that problem-solving is a process and that it's okay if their initial designs don’t work out perfectly—or work at all!

By reflecting on their creations, identifying what worked and what didn't, and making changes, children develop important traits such as resilience and flexibility.

Our NAEYC participants had an overwhelmingly positive response to the breakout session. Many of them concluded that engineering is an essential component of early STEM education because engineering is not just about building structures, but about helping children become confident and creative design thinkers and problem solvers.

As we continue to explore the connection between engineering and early childhood education, we’re inspired by the potential for creating meaningful learning experiences that will help the children of today become the engineers and innovators of tomorrow.

Through hands-on activities, inquiry-based exploration, and design thinking, we can equip young children with the skills they need to navigate a complex world—one creative solution at a time.

Interested in learning more about incorporating engineering concepts and activities into your early childhood program?

Check out the resources on engineeringexplorers.org!

Together, we can build a strong foundation for future engineers—one block, one bridge, and one airplane at a time!