In today’s world of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics), we think
of robots, coding classes, science labs and engineering design challenges. While these
types of hands-on activities are important in education, many of the critical thinking skills
involved in future STEM applications develop prior to a student being formally exposed
to a STEM lesson. These thinking skills appear to emerge in daily play experiences:
building a tower, solving puzzles, categorizing items, and figuring out why a structure
collapses. What appears to be casual play can involve processes such as observing,
comparing, predicting, understanding spatial relationships, and solving problems.
Building towers introduces ideas related to structural stability, while a puzzle requires a
child to think about how different shapes fit together. This type of experience does not
have to feel “educational” to students who are simply attempting to create something
functional or pursue their interests. This is part of what makes play a natural setting for
early STEM thinking and exploration.
Development Through Experimentation, Trial & Error
One of the easiest examples of this process is construction-based play. For instance, a
child building with blocks may initially decide to create the tallest tower. Once the tower
collapses, the child will now have a problem to solve. Should I widen the base? Will
adding another block improve my design? What happens if I place the heavier blocks on
top? This cycle of building, testing and revising a plan represents some of the same
thought processes experienced in engineering. Additionally, this process can also serve
as a vehicle for developing basic math skills through play: size, shape, location and
comparisons are typically inherent aspects of construction based play without ever
being formally presented as math. Construction based play doesn’t necessarily require
purchasing a special STEM kit either. Materials commonly found around homes such as
cardboard, sticks, containers and blocks provide students with numerous opportunities
to experiment with their own creative solutions.
A study published in Communications Psychology in 2025 provided insight into
children’s STEM behaviors during this type of unstructured play. Researchers evaluated
the STEM related behaviors exhibited by 60 preschoolers who played with loose parts
consisting of cardboard tubes, pipes, buttons and sticks and compared their behaviors
while playing with toy percussion instruments. The results demonstrated that children
exhibited significantly more STEM related behaviors when using the loose parts.
Specifically, researchers observed various STEM related behaviors such as building
structures, demonstrating an awareness of mathematical principles, providing
explanations of how something works, and explaining what they were trying to
accomplish.
This is not intended to imply that every piece of cardboard has been transformed into a
science lesson. Rather, materials with multiple potential uses allow for decisions about
how to use an object or experiment with different approaches. An example of this would
be utilizing a cardboard tube as part of a ramp or a tower or perhaps a completely new
application within five minutes. This versatility matters because each object does not
come with an obvious solution. Instead, children are responsible for determining what
they wish to accomplish with the objects and most often try another approach when an
initial attempt fails.
Math Concepts May Not Be Obvious During Unstructured Play
Additionally, early mathematical thinking is often overlooked simply because it does not
always include numerical values. A variety of examples illustrate this including: sorting
toy animals by size; arranging objects in repetition such as red-blue-red-blue; building
two towers and identifying which tower is higher; and counting pieces during a game,
recognizing shapes while building or creating patterns using available items. Math often
becomes a component of whatever activity is already taking place. Household objects
may be categorized in several ways; items counted during a game; shapes identified
while building; and patterns created from surrounding items. Parents/adults do not have
to explicitly reference mathematical concepts. Simply recognizing that two objects differ
in size or anticipating the next item in a sequence is sufficient to continue the thinking
process.
Guided play research further supports that there can be benefits to pairing children’s
choices with intentional adult support. A 2022 systematic review and meta-analysis
published in Child Development assessed 39 studies of guided play with 17 studies
included in the meta-analysis. Guided play was shown to produce greater positive
outcomes for early math skills (vs. direct instruction), shape knowledge (vs. direct
instruction), and spatial vocabulary (vs. free play). However, guided play was not shown
to produce greater positive outcomes for all areas studied, which serves as an important
reminder that guided play is not always superior to direct instruction or free play for
every area of development.
Puzzles Offer An Alternate Form of Thinking
If you’ve ever observed a toddler working on a puzzle, you’ll likely remember the trial
and error process that occurs. A puzzle piece is rotated, placed elsewhere, removed,
and then attempted again. In order to continue this process, the child must observe the
puzzle piece’s shape, rotation and how each piece fits into the surrounding space.
Research conducted by Levine et al. and published in the journal Developmental
Psychology (2012) studied 53 children whose free-play behavior was documented at
home from age 2 to 4. Researchers measured these children’s mental manipulation of
two-dimensional shapes at approximately 4.5 years old. Children who had participated
in play with puzzles showed better performance on a spatial transformation task
compared to those who did not participate in puzzle-related activities. Even after
controlling for parent education, income and overall parent word types, frequency of
participation in puzzle-related activities also correlated with performance among
participants.
Because this research was observational, there is no direct causal evidence that
puzzles contribute to enhanced spatial reasoning abilities. However, this research does
suggest a positive correlation between puzzle-related experiences and spatial
reasoning development. Early exposure to and experience with spatial thinking is
relevant to many STEM-related disciplines including geometry, engineering, reading
technical diagrams and visualizing how objects interact in three dimensional space.
However, the primary focus for most preschoolers is not spatial thinking. Typically, the
main concern is finding the correct placement of a stubborn puzzle piece.
Adults Can Assist While Children Take The Lead
Exploratory play does not necessarily mean adults have to be completely absent from
the process. Adults can provide valuable assistance through questioning while
simultaneously providing sufficient autonomy for the child to complete tasks
independently. Rather than physically repairing a structure that consistently collapses,
an adult could inquire about why it consistently falls. When a toy car rolls farther down
one incline versus another, an adult can ask the child what differences exist. While
participating in a sorting activity, an adult may ask if the child believes there is another
way the same objects could be grouped. There are times when children need additional
support, but adults do not always need to provide an answer before allowing them to
investigate their own ideas.
This distinction is important since the intention is to assist the child in conducting an
investigation rather than taking control of the investigation itself. A 2026 study titled
“InterPLAY: A Framework to Describe Play and STEM Engagement at Exhibits for
Young Children” was published in Curator: The Museum Journal. The study examined
319 observations of family visitations at STEM focused exhibits at eleven children’s
museums and science centers. Play was observed during 93% of visits, and different
forms of play were positively associated with STEM practices. Furthermore, results
indicated that adult facilitation was associated with more time spent at exhibits and
increased levels of STEM engagement. Although the results of this study were
generated from data collected within museum settings, this represents a real world
application of both adult involvement and autonomous exploration occurring
concurrently.
Although adult assistance can occur without transforming each activity into a quiz
format, questions such as “what do you believe will happen?”, “why do you believe that
occurred?” or “what would you attempt differently?” allow children to articulate a thought
and determine subsequent actions. Additionally, there are also plenty of times when
asking a question is unnecessary. Providing children with extended periods of time to
experiment, fail or develop alternate solutions may be more productive than immediately
answering their question.
Creating Opportunities for STEM Thinking Within Daily Routines
Developing early STEM thinking capabilities requires neither educators nor parents to
create laboratory environments at home nor introduce complex scientific concepts
before students are cognitively prepared. The key lies in observing and supporting
existing thinking processes that children utilize while engaging in play, coupled with
adequate time, materials and autonomy to pursue their interests. Building, sorting,
examining similarities and differences and testing hypotheses can occur using blocks,
recycled materials, open-ended educational toys, magnets or natural materials such as
rocks and sticks. Creating bridges using blocks, creating repetitive patterns using
colored blocks or pieces, attempting to solve a puzzle or creating a simple hypothesis-
testing project such as determining which objects float or sink in water can result in
observation and problem-solving.
On occasion, an adult can expand upon the experience by asking a question or offering
new materials; however, in some cases, providing children ample opportunity to grapple
with an idea until they arrive at their own solution may be sufficient. The connection
between childhood play and future STEM learning is not that each activity needs an
educational objective. Frequently converting play into a lesson can overlook much of the
value in the activity. A preferable strategy involves recognizing how naturally children
inquire about possibilities, assess alternatives, identify patterns and alter previously held
beliefs when given the freedom to explore. These habits of mind are similar to those
they will apply later in STEM fields.
