It is essential to recognize the critical role early childhood development plays in your kid’s life, some simple reasoning skills can help them excel later in life.

STEAM skills are linked to one’s ability in math, technology, science, art, and engineering. These subjects share some great insight and help set a solid foundation that helps kids for the rest of their life. While the mainstream concepts are too much, there are ways you can introduce STEAM skills at an early age.

Mental & Physical Development

Preschool years are the ages between 2 to 5 years, during which children take on a more lively explorer role in life. Developing physically, cognitively, emotionally, socially, while stepping up with it comes to language, sensory, and motor skills. Each child carries out at his/her own pace, but it’s common to cover these general areas during preschool years.

Balance Games

Using 3 simple and fun to play balance games can help your child learn spatial recognition, mental calculation, problem-solving, estimation, and other skills. By developing them at an early age kids can build on the skills later in life. Kids between 2 to 5 years absorb information like a sponge absorbs water; making it a great time to introduce skills they can enjoy for the rest of their lives.

1. Hanger & Weights

With every day you have to teach your kids new things, even if it’s just a basic thing. Teaching them how things work together is crucial, especially when they learn to take on different shapes, sizes, and weights. Hanger and weights is a simple choice that can easily be available, something that has been used for decades. All you need is a coat hanger, paper clips, and some paper cups.

What it Teaches

• Comparing – Playing with a hanger and weights helps kids understand how to compare things based on weight. Adding more coins to one side will tip the coin, creating a simple understanding of the impact of weight.
• Estimation – Learning estimation at an early age can help them learn a crucial understanding allowing them to deal and manage value, quantity, and number of things.
• Measurement – Measuring is something you use your entire life, making it a valuable skill. Understanding measurements help kids understand value, amount, quantity, area, length, height, and so much more.

Things Needed

• Coat hanger – 1 Qty
• Small paper Clips – 3 Qty
• Large Paper Clips – 3 Qty
• Paper/Plastic Cups – 2 Qty

How To Make The Weight Scale

1. Attach the small paper clips to the right side of the hanger and remove the handles.
2. Put the large paper clip on top of the small clip and attach the cup.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 on the other side.
4. Option 1 : Make a  hook for hanger on a board. . Put large clip on the smaller one . remove one handle on the larger clip and one on the smaller clip (diagonally).Attach hook to the board using push pins and add hanger to the hook.
5. Option 2 : Instead of bulleting board  hold the hanger by hand or hang it to the door knob.
6. Check the balance of the scale with a level or a scale and adjust the position of the clips and cups if they are uneven.
7. Your Balance is ready !! you can use cups or small toys to show how balancing works.

2. Stacking Rocks

Stacking stones is all about balance and patience. It allows you to teach two valuable skills in one go. It may be challenging but it will be worth it. The game is all about building a rock tower using your motor skills, concentration, and breathing. Yes, things might get dirty, but your child will learn important skills that they can use in different aspects of their lives.

What it Teaches

• Logical Thinking – Stacking stones helps your child create logical thinking and reasoning.
• Motor Skills – Letting your kids play freely helps encourage exercise and hands-on abilities.
• Distinguishing – Rocks come in different shapes and sizes, teaching your kids the ability to tell them apart.
• Coordination – Stacking rocks is a great way to learn hand-eye coordination and work using sensory development.
• Identification – The game allows for new shapes and color identification, teaching them as they play.

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3. Jenga Wooden Blocks for Kids

Jenga is all about balance, but that is not all it has to offer. Along with physical and mental skills, it offers your children a chance to take on advanced and challenging concepts. As they play they will develop their social skills, motor skills, while building on their balancing skills, hand-eye coordination, rational thinking, and common sense. A great choice when looking for well-rounded development experience. All the skills that will offer your kids great use for the rest of their lives.

What it Teaches

1. Stacking – The only way to start playing Jenga is by learning how to stack the wooden block perfectly.
2. Coordination – The game is all about hand-eye coordination, along with some much-needed luck.
3. Balance – As the pieces are pulled out the balancing act gets tougher than expected. Taking your kid’s balancing skills to the next level.
4. Critical Thinking – Teaching your kids which piece comes out next is crucial, as it will determine if they will win or lose.

How To Play Jenga

A classic Jenga game consists of 54 precision-crafted hardwood blocks. To set up the game, use the included loading tray to create the initial tower. Stack all of the blocks in levels of three placed next to each other along their long sides and at a right angle to the previous level. Once the tower is built, the person who stacked the tower plays first. Moving in the game Jenga consists of:

1) Taking one block on a turn from any level of the tower (except the one below an incomplete top level).

2) Placing it on the topmost level to complete it.

Rules:

• Players may use only one hand at a time; either hand may be used, but only one hand may touch the tower at any time.
• Players may tap a block to find a loose one. Any blocks moved but not played should be replaced, unless doing so would make the tower fall. The turn ends when the next player touches the tower, or after ten seconds, whichever occurs first.
• The game ends when the tower falls — completely or if any block falls from the tower (other than the block a player moves on a turn).
• The loser is the person who made the tower fall (i.e., whose turn it was when the tower fell).

Reference: https://www.jenga.com/about.php

Click Here to get the Classic Jenga game  with smaller wooden blocks .

Click Here to get the Jenga GIANT Family game  which starts at 18 inches high at setup and can safely stack to over 3 feet high in play! Each block is about 5.7″ Long x 1.9″ Wide x 1″ High. Younger kids love building with these blocks!