Educators and researchers agree early literacy experiences are important for children?s cognitive and language development. For the past 30 years there has been a strong movement to foster children?s literacy skills. This has resulted in an abundance of information on how parents can do this by reading books, singing songs and nursery rhymes, playing word games and noticing print.
This is a good thing and should continue, given the importance of early literacy skills in learning to read, and how this leads to later success in school and life.

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18 STEM books your kids will loveBut in addition to early literacy skills, we should also be promoting early STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) skills. Early childhood is the natural starting point for STEM learning, as young children are curious and want to explore their environments.
Children are very capable STEM learners, and their knowledge and skills are often greatly underestimated by educators and parents.
1. Encourage children to notice things

Notice things in your environment such as changes in the seasons, new buds on plants, or the way things move in the wind. Children are often more observant than adults, especially when we are busy thinking about work and all the other ...