What makes a natural scientist? Wonder, curiosity, and a sense of purpose. Young children ask the most amazing questions about how the world works, and playful learning and hands-on STEAM activities can be powerful vehicles for learning. This session will help you capitalize on your students’ natural curiosity by helping you connect inquiry-based learning, hands-on STEAM activities. and multicultural picture books into dynamic engaging lessons.

In this workshop, participants will develop a toolbox of practical ideas for connecting STEAM and multicultural picture books to create curriculum experiences that organically harness play to foster opportunities for reading, writing, math, science, and social-emotional learning throughout the day. The workshop experience is hands-on and encourages active and engaged participation throughout. We will discuss specific examples and strategies for connecting multicultural picture books and authentic STEAM experiences using materials readily available in most early childhood or elementary settings. As participants play and learn in the way that we want to model for our youngest learners, they will explore strategies for selecting and connecting books to support curriculum needs and develop a framework for building and implementing STEAM-based lessons in early childhood classrooms.

As part of the framework, we focus on connecting play and inquiry-based learning. This innovative perspective allows us to explore ways to foster discovery, wonder, and joyful learning together – addressing strategies to help early childhood educators remove their potential fears about teaching science and demonstrating ways to effectively integrate it into the overall curriculum. Workshop attendees will participate in structured hands-on activities with their table teams to reinforce the STEAM strategies being shared by the presenter. Participants will also explore a wide range of resources and multicultural picture books, then work together to use a guided framework for creating a rich STEAM infused lesson/experience appropriate for the early childhood audience.