STE for Junior Infants

Curriculum Mapping Student Devices
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This course introduces young children to core STE concepts through hands-on exploration of living things, materials, energy and forces, technology, and engineering. Pupils investigate their bodies and senses, name and test materials, discover pushes, pulls, magnets and energy sources, sequence steps unplugged and with floor robots, and design simple solutions to everyday problems such as building towers, floating boats and cosy beds for toys. It nurtures curiosity, observation, problem-solving and creative making.
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Explore the Course

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The youngest science begins with wondering, then moves through the external parts of the body and their jobs, the main phases of the human life cycle (baby, child, grown-up), the five senses, and exploring, observing and sorting the plants and animals of the school garden and what they need. All play-based: noticing, naming, sorting and drawing.

Wondering and My Body
Hello! Let Us Wonder Together Teacher Resources
My Amazing Body Teacher Resources
What My Body Parts Do Teacher Resources
Baby, Child, Grown-up
My Senses
Our Wonderful Senses
A Senses Walk Outdoors
Nature in Our Garden
Minibeasts in Our Garden
Sorting What We Found Outdoors
What Plants and Animals Need Outdoors

Notice that everything is made of a material, name common materials and sort by them, feel their properties (hard or soft, bendy or stiff, see-through or not), and explore how we can change a material by squashing, bending and wetting, with the teacher showing ice melting safely.

Naming and Sorting Materials
What Is It Made of?
Sorting Our Materials
How Materials Feel
Hard and Soft
Bendy and Stiff
See-through or Not
Changing Materials
Squashing and Bending: Things Change!
Wet, Dry and Melting (Teacher Shows)

Notice that energy makes things go and that toys go in different ways, feel how pushes and pulls move things, explore float and sink at the water tray, and have fun finding what magnets pull, sorting magnetic from not, and spotting magnets at work.

What Makes Things Go
What Makes Things Go?
Toys That Need Winding, Batteries or a Push
Pushes, Pulls, Floating and Sinking
Pushes and Pulls
Big Push, Little Push
Float or Sink?
Magnets
Magnets: What Do They Pull?
Magnet Sorting: Yes or No
Magnets Help Us

Notice the everyday helpers (technologies) that help us do jobs, sort screen from no-screen, then have fun with first computational thinking: putting steps in order, spotting a repeat, spotting a wrong step (a bug), and driving a floor robot. All unplugged or using a physical floor robot, with no ScratchJr this year.

Helpers All Around Us
Helpers All Around Us
Screens and No Screens
Steps in Order (Unplugged)
Step by Step: Getting Ready
Again and Again: Spotting a Repeat
Oops: Spotting a Wrong Step
Drive the Floor Robot
Drive the Floor Robot
Floor Robot: Fix the Bug

Notice the helping things engineers make, then have a go at making simple things, a tall tower, a little boat and a bed for a teddy, and show them, talking about the little problem each one solves. Every make is a single make-and-show lesson.

Engineers Make Things to Help
Engineers Make Things to Help
Making Things to Help
Build a Tall Tower
Make a Little Boat That Floats
Make a Bed for a Teddy
Showing Our Makes
Show and Tell Our Makes

The youngest science begins with wondering, then moves through the external parts of the body and their jobs, the main phases of the human life cycle (baby, child, grown-up), the five senses, and exploring, observing and sorting the plants and animals of the school garden and what they need. All play-based: noticing, naming, sorting and drawing.

Wondering and My Body
Hello! Let Us Wonder Together Teacher Resources
My Amazing Body Teacher Resources
What My Body Parts Do Teacher Resources
Baby, Child, Grown-up
My Senses
Our Wonderful Senses
A Senses Walk Outdoors
Nature in Our Garden
Minibeasts in Our Garden
Sorting What We Found Outdoors
What Plants and Animals Need Outdoors

Notice that everything is made of a material, name common materials and sort by them, feel their properties (hard or soft, bendy or stiff, see-through or not), and explore how we can change a material by squashing, bending and wetting, with the teacher showing ice melting safely.

Naming and Sorting Materials
What Is It Made of?
Sorting Our Materials
How Materials Feel
Hard and Soft
Bendy and Stiff
See-through or Not
Changing Materials
Squashing and Bending: Things Change!
Wet, Dry and Melting (Teacher Shows)

Notice that energy makes things go and that toys go in different ways, feel how pushes and pulls move things, explore float and sink at the water tray, and have fun finding what magnets pull, sorting magnetic from not, and spotting magnets at work.

What Makes Things Go
What Makes Things Go?
Toys That Need Winding, Batteries or a Push
Pushes, Pulls, Floating and Sinking
Pushes and Pulls
Big Push, Little Push
Float or Sink?
Magnets
Magnets: What Do They Pull?
Magnet Sorting: Yes or No
Magnets Help Us

Notice the everyday helpers (technologies) that help us do jobs, sort screen from no-screen, then have fun with first computational thinking: putting steps in order, spotting a repeat, spotting a wrong step (a bug), and driving a floor robot. All unplugged or using a physical floor robot, with no ScratchJr this year.

Helpers All Around Us
Helpers All Around Us
Screens and No Screens
Steps in Order (Unplugged)
Step by Step: Getting Ready
Again and Again: Spotting a Repeat
Oops: Spotting a Wrong Step
Drive the Floor Robot
Drive the Floor Robot
Floor Robot: Fix the Bug

Notice the helping things engineers make, then have a go at making simple things, a tall tower, a little boat and a bed for a teddy, and show them, talking about the little problem each one solves. Every make is a single make-and-show lesson.

Engineers Make Things to Help
Engineers Make Things to Help
Making Things to Help
Build a Tall Tower
Make a Little Boat That Floats
Make a Bed for a Teddy
Showing Our Makes
Show and Tell Our Makes

Curriculum Mapping

See exactly how this course maps to official curriculum specifications

NCCA STE Education Specification (2025)
Curriculum Area
Outcomes
Nature of STEM
S1.1.1
Living things
S2.1.1 S2.1.2 S2.1.3
Materials
S3.1.1 S3.1.2
Energy and forces
S4.1.1 S4.1.2 S4.1.3
Technology
S5.1.1 S5.1.2
Engineering
S6.1.1

The curriculum does not include official reference codes for individual learning outcomes, so we have assigned a code scheme to make it easier to identify and track coverage.

What Students Will Learn

Learning Goals

  1. Develop skills of scientific observation, wonder and close looking at the human body, senses and living things in the local environment
  2. Identify, name and sort materials according to their observable properties and explore how materials can be changed by actions such as squashing, bending, wetting and melting
  3. Understand pushes, pulls and other forces that make things move, investigate floating and sinking, and explore how magnets work
  4. Recognise everyday technology helpers, understand the importance of ordering steps correctly, and practise giving precise instructions to control floor robots
  5. Identify small problems in everyday life and apply simple engineering design skills to create, test and improve practical solutions

Learning Outcomes

  1. Identify and name the main parts of the human body and describe what each part does through movement, song and discussion.
  2. Use their senses to observe and describe the world around them during indoor carousel activities and outdoor sensory walks.
  3. Sort objects and pictures into groups by material (wood, plastic, metal, paper, fabric) and by properties (hard/soft, bendy/stiff, see-through or not).
  4. Recognise and demonstrate different types of energy and forces including pushes, pulls, winding, batteries and magnetism through play and investigation.
  5. Follow and create simple sequences of steps to programme a floor robot, identifying and fixing errors when it goes wrong.
  6. Design and build a simple product such as a tower, boat or teddy bed to solve a given problem using appropriate materials.
  7. Explain what problem their made object solves and share their engineering work with others in a show-and-tell circle.

What You'll Need

Required Equipment

Equipment used in some of the lessons in this course. Items can be shared among students.

IWB/Projector/Large Screen
IWB/Projector/Large Screen

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