Using Your Kindergarten Art Center to Explore STEAM

Inside: Your kindergarten art center is a great place for young children to explore and experiment with STEAM learning. Discover multiple art projects that will help you integrate math, science, engineering, and tech.

From STEM to STEAM

Were you surprised when STEM became STEAM?

Probably not.

I’m sure like most preschool and kindergarten teachers you were already seeing how art ideas and activities could easily be used to explore math, science and engineering.

Look closely at the steps of the scientific method or engineering design process, and you will see that many of these same steps are used in the art center as children explore and experiment with a variety of materials.

Here are some ways I’ve used my kindergarten art center to explore math, science, engineering, and tech.

Math in the Art Center

Geometry is a natural fit for the kindergarten art center as it includes the study of two basic art elements, line and shape. Children can compare the differences between straight and curved lines and use both two and three-dimensional shapes in their compositions.

Here different kinds of lines, along with flat shapes, were used to create monsters similar to those in Ed Emberley’s, Go Away, Big Green Monster!

Snowflake art provides the opportunity to learn about balance and symmetry as children create six-sided snowflakes using pattern block pieces or loose parts.

Starting with a hexagonal center helps children learn to identify and name this shape and compare it to others with more or less sides.

Children can also build snowflakes using loose parts such as bottle caps, acrylic gems, and Q-tips.

Or explore one shape at a time by creating transient art designs and then drawing it in their journals.

3D shapes can be built with marshmallows and toothpicks or other construction materials.

Faces can be traced and overlapped to create artistic designs.

Integrate measurement into art projects, by inviting children to measure what they’ve drawn or created and then sequence them from shortest to tallest.

Bring counting rhymes to life, as my friend did, when she worked with children to illustrate their own version of Five Little Pumpkins.

Science in the Art Center

There are many places where art and science intersect including the important practices of observation and experimentation.

Help children develop their observation skills by providing natural objects for them to look at closely and sketch.

Noticing and drawing details about leaves, apples, or pumpkins help children identify and compare the characteristics and features of different plants.

Children can draw and paint animals as part of their animal research. As they carefully draw and paint every detail, they are applying the knowledge they have learned about a creature’s body characteristics.

Utilize the art center for a collaborative mural or diagram that connects to science content.

Interactive writing can be used to create labels and descriptions.

Encourage children to think about scale and proportion in order to be scientifically accurate as they create things for murals such as the sun and the moon.

Investigate weather through art by providing a variety of materials children can use to represent different types of precipitation.

Include opportunities for children to experiment with cause and effect by inviting them to add water to marks made with washable markers or mix paint colors to create new shades.

The effects of force and motion can also be investigated through marble painting and spin art.

As children apply different degrees of force and movement, they see how it affects the outcome of their artwork.

Creating bubble prints is a fun way to explore the science of bubbles.

Engineering in the Art Center

Engineering challenges can be incorporated into your art center or done at a separate makerspace. Either way, children can use art materials to design, build, and test their prototypes.

Upcycle challenges invite kids to make something new out of an everyday material such as paper tubes or milk cartons.

Or you might try challenging children to create a familiar object such as a paintbrush, bug, or boat.

STEM STEAM challenge - design and build a toy boat for gingerbread man

Technology in the Art Center

Technology can be used in the kindergarten art center to create initial designs. This child used the Geoboard App to design a maze he would eventually build with various art materials.

Or it can be used as a research tool to learn about animal body features or habitats that children want to recreate through art.

Art Center Set-up

Having a dedicated space for art makes it easy to use as a vehicle for STEAM projects. Children can use both the materials and process of artmaking to explore content area concepts, build vocabulary and apply what they’ve been learning in science, technology, engineering, and math.

If you don’t yet have an Art Center in your classroom and are looking for set-up tips and activities, this set-up guide and activity bundle will walk you through the process. It includes lots of ideas on how to choose a location, gather materials, and manage the space as well as photos of many art projects in action.

How to guide to set up an Art Center in early childhood classroom

Happy artmaking!

For more STEAM ideas, visit the Growing with STEAM page found inside the Roots & Wings Resource Library.

This post contains affiliate links. Roots & Wings is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

From STEM to STEAM

Math in the Art Center

Science in the Art Center

Engineering in the Art Center

Technology in the Art Center

Art Center Set-up

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