Early childhood education

Museums Victoria engages early childhood teachers, educators, families and carers with award-winning early years’ galleries, programs and professional learning to support STEM learning and play and best outcomes in early childhood.

Two teachers sitting at a desk doing a STEM experiment with strawberries

Professional learning for early childhood teachers

Two preschool age children playing with beakers of colour liquid

Education programs for early childhood services

Two children and an adult playing a board game on the floor

Early childhood STEM activities

STEM videos and books

Upcoming events for young children

Girl laughing as she plays with the suction tube exhibit in the Ground Up exhibition at Scienceworks

Special event Scienceworks Monday 3 June

Little Kids Day In | Up Up and Away!

Enjoy a day of fun and play-based learning activities without the school groups!

Tour Melbourne Museum Daily

Tiny Tours

Young visitors visit the museum like real grown-ups with their very own guide showing them around the most curious and amazing specimens and objects in our galleries.

Girl and her mother looking out the windows of a pretend train

Exhibition Melbourne Museum Daily

Children’s Gallery

A wondrous place for babies to 5-year-olds to explore, play and learn.

Child between a man and a woman using an exhibition interactive

Exhibition Scienceworks Daily

Ground Up: Building Big Ideas, Together

Get ready to build your curiosity! An exhibition for babies to 5-year-olds.

Why STEM?

Early learning environments nurture young children, providing play-based learning experiences for children to thrive throughout their schooling and adult lives. One of the best ways to support this play-based approach is through a STEM lens.

STEM encompasses Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. Incorporating STEM into everyday experiences promotes 21st century learning, allowing children to develop their curiosity, persistence, creativity, problem solving and collaborative skills. As preschool aged children are naturally curious, STEM experiences encourage children to take charge of their own learning—promoting a child’s sense of agency. Maths is of particular importance, as several recent studies have shown it to be an accurate indicator of academic success across literacy and numeracy disciplines in primary school.