› Engineering activities with ramps and building materials allow for the exploration of physics concepts in ways that involve movement.
› Asking children to create food-focused art( illustrating a cooking activity, creating playdough models of their favorite fruits and vegetables) helps them to organize and execute ideas, engage in self-expression, and learn about foods that may be new to them.
› Using pretend food items from the dramatic play center to sort or create patterns encourages children to practice math concepts like sequencing and classifying.
Educators can also collaborate with families so that healthy behaviors become habits. For example, in our work, we share ideas with families through a family resource booklet, which includes suggestions for engaging in physical activities and choosing healthy foods. To nurture reciprocal relationships, educators can ask families how they include movement and healthy foods in their daily lives.
often leveraging a single activity( like planting a garden) to support skills across multiple learning areas. As they plan lessons and activities, educators must consider each child’ s unique strengths, needs, and goals and opportunities to partner with each family.
Physical Movement and STEAM
The Society of Health and Physical Educators America recommends preschoolers participate in 60 minutes of planned movement and 60 minutes of unstructured movement daily. To help meet these benchmarks, educators can look for ways to incorporate physical movement into STEAM lessons. They can tailor experiences for children with different abilities by adapting movement and activity locations based on children’ s interests and needs. Families can also offer ideas about how their children like to engage in both structured and unstructured movement as they play.
Following, we focus on two healthy habits— nutrition and exercise— and show how educators can plan active, hands-on experiences by building on children’ s current understanding, creativity, and problem-solving skills. The charts we present are intended as planning documents and include suggestions for family engagement. We also offer instructional adaptations based on each child’ s strengths and areas for growth.
Nutrition and STEAM
Early, frequent, and low-pressure opportunities to engage with a variety of foods can support children as they develop healthy eating habits. Educators can weave nutrition into STEAM instruction and the learning environment,
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