STEM in the Early Years: What Great Provision Looks Like for Nurseries and EYFS Settings
Why STEM in the Early Years Matters More Than Some Might Think
Ask most people when children should start engaging with science, technology, engineering and maths, and they'll say primary school. Some might say Year 1. Very few would say age two.
But the evidence tells a different story.
As you know if you're ready this, the early years are not a waiting room for real learning. They're the most significant period of brain development in a child's life - a window of extraordinary curiosity, rapid language acquisition, and the formation of attitudes toward learning that can last a lifetime.
Children introduced to STEM in the early years - through exploration, investigation, and hands-on discovery - don't just learn science concepts. They develop the habits of mind that underpin all learning: asking questions, testing ideas, noticing what happens and wondering why.
For nurseries and EYFS settings, this isn't a nice-to-have. It sits directly within the framework you're already working to. Communication and Language, Understanding the World, Physical Development - quality STEM provision touches all of these, not as an add-on but as a natural extension of how young children already want to engage with the world around them.
Many children in your setting will attend a sports class or swimming lesson outside nursery. Very few will have access to anything that builds their science thinking in the same structured, progressive way. That gap is one that nurseries are uniquely placed to fill - and with the 2025 Ofsted Framework placing greater emphasis on enrichment and an ambitious curriculum, the question of how settings provide this has become more pressing.
Children who get excited about science and engineering at age two are the ones who arrive in Reception already curious, already confident, and already knowing that learning is something they can do. And that's a powerful thing to give a child before they've even started school.
What Does Quality STEAM Provision in the Early Years Looks Like?
Not all STEM provision is created equal, and for the youngest children, the difference between good and not-so-good provision matters enormously.
At Inventors & Makers, we use the term STEAM - adding Arts to science, technology, engineering and maths - because creativity is central to how young children explore and make sense of the world.
Quality STEAM provision in the early years isn't about introducing complex concepts early. It's about creating the right conditions for curiosity to thrive and for children to genuinely fall in love with finding things out. That means experiences that are play-based and explorative, where children are active participants rather than passive observers. It means a familiar, predictable structure that helps children feel secure enough to take risks and try things out. And it means language at the heart of everything - because vocabulary development at this age is one of the strongest predictors of later academic success.
Good STEAM provision for nurseries and EYFS settings should also sit clearly within the EYFS framework - not alongside it as an extra, but mapped directly to the areas of learning practitioners are already planning and reporting against. Communication and Language. Understanding the World. And wherever possible, giving children curiosity and ideas to extend the learning beyond the session itself.
The Journey: From Curious Toddler to Reception-Ready Child
At Inventors & Makers, we run our play-based, hands-on Little STEAMers sessions, specially designed for the early years, in nurseries and EYFS settings across the UK.
One of the most rewarding things about working with nurseries is watching what happens to children who engage with STEAM provision regularly:
The two year old who grips a pipette for the first time, unsure what to do with it.
The three year old who starts predicting what might happen before the experiment begins.
The preschooler leaving for Reception who can identify science equipment, use vocabulary their classmates won't encounter for years, and already sees themselves as someone who does science.
That journey happens through consistent provision that builds over their time in nursery, with each visit adding a new layer of understanding and confidence. When children are moving on to Reception, we mark that with a certificate - a moment that tells them, and their families, that their experiences in STEAM matter.
STEAM In-House or External Provision: What's Right for Your Setting?
Many nurseries and EYFS settings already weave science into their weekly provision, and that's exactly as it should be. Curious, skilled early years practitioners don't need an external provider to make STEAM happen in their setting.
But there's a difference between science as part of your own provision and a specialist arriving regularly wearing a lab coat and with different equipment, new concepts, and a level of preparation that's genuinely hard to resource internally. That sense of something different happening today generates a particular kind of excitement - the same reason many settings bring in external specialists for sports or music. But STEAM is simply a considerably harder specialism to resource than most, and one where the gap between what a generalist can offer and what a specialist brings is especially wide.
External provision also brings an outside eye. During one of our Float My Boat sessions, we noticed that children were really struggling with the concept of floating and sinking. At the end of the visit we flagged this to the nursery manager with suggestions for how to keep exploring it - and the following week they put out more water trays so children could continue investigating. That kind of specialist observation, and the confidence to act on it, is something even the most skilled early years team can't always provide for themselves.
The impact of external STEAM provision can also show up in ways settings don't always anticipate. One nursery booked our Little STEAMers sessions to run on Fridays, which were traditionally their quietest day. We provided posters in advance so they could promote the sessions to parents, and over time their Friday attendance grew from 17 children to more than 40. Consistent, visible STEAM provision had become part of what made that setting stand out to families.
When it comes to budget, it helps to think about what quality external STEAM provision in the early years actually includes - preparation of individual resources and materials for every child, specialist session design and delivery, full setup and clear down, often ideas to replicate between visits, and ideally documentation that links to your existing EYFS reporting. And with each visit cost spread across a month, that level of specialist enrichment is often more comparable to other external provision settings already budget for than it first appears.
Ultimately it's a decision every setting makes based on what they want to offer children and families. But for those who want STEAM to be a genuine strength of their early years provision - visible to parents and building meaningfully over time - external specialist support is worth serious consideration.
Little STEAMers: Our Early Years Programme
If you're considering bringing in external STEAM provision, here's what working with us looks like.
Little STEAMers are monthly, expert-led STEAM sessions for children from age two and a half in nurseries and EYFS settings across the UK. Every session is play-based, hands-on, and mapped directly to the EYFS framework - delivered by qualified teachers who specialise in early years STEAM.
Each visit includes:
Individual materials prepared for every child and usually something the children will create to take home
Session-specific observation sheets and learning journal templates, ready to use
Display materials so the learning is visible to both parents and children in your setting
Ideas to continue exploring the session's concepts in everyday play between visits
A short video to send out to parents at the end of each session capturing what the children got up to and the vocabulary they encountered to increase parent engagement with children's learning
That last item matters more than it might first appear. Parents increasingly understand that early exposure to STEAM shapes their child's future opportunities, and notice when a nursery takes this seriously. It's become one of the ways our settings stand out to the families who care most about their child's start in life.
For nurseries with younger children, we also offer our Sensory STEAM programme - shorter, sensory-led sessions for children from eighteen months that provide a gentle introduction to STEAM ideas before children graduate to the full Little STEAMers programme. It gives your youngest children their own experience while creating a natural pathway as they grow.
Bringing Little STEAMers to Your Setting
If anything in this article has resonated - whether you're ready to find out more or just at the stage of asking questions - we'd love to hear from you.
We work with nurseries and EYFS settings across the UK, and every conversation starts in the same place: understanding what your setting needs and whether we're the right fit for you.
Get in touch here: https://www.inventorsandmakers.com/enquiries
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