S.T.E.A.M. based art classes for 2.5 to 5-year-olds
South Philadelphia and Center City
You signed up for a S.T.E.M. class hoping to watch your child’s eyes light up.
Instead, you wound up fighting your toddler over a hot glue gun.
You’re not alone.
When an activity isn’t run by someone who understands early childhood – a young child’s motor skills, attention span, or ability to grasp the “why” behind something – parents end up wrangling their little one through a project they have no interest in following along with.
Without that understanding of “why,” S.T.E.A.M. classes tend to go one of two ways.
Either your child does it their own way, and ends up disappointed when their DIY plane won’t fly or their boat won’t float.
Or you step in to keep things on track, and end up in a tug-of-war with your little one between creative expression and a functional end result.
So maybe you try something else:
A science show gets you a blank stare when you ask what they learned — toddlers don’t have the chemistry background to make sense of what they just saw.
A sensory bin is calming and great for babies still exploring the world, but without guided conversation, there’s not much actual S.T.E.M. happening — it’s really just a Zen garden for kids.
I won’t tell you this is something your family can’t do without me. But building an experience that’s genuinely age-appropriate, educational, and something your child wants to come back to week after week takes real knowledge and work.
Steam Engines Learning Co offers S.T.E.A.M.-based art classes for 2-5-year-olds, designed around how young children build early math and science thinking. We complete two hands-on crafts each week, giving little ones a chance to interact with these concepts and watch them click.
And because we really get it, class starts with 10 minutes of simple coloring while little ones warm up and includes a 10-minute story-time “brain break” for your little one to snack, wander, or do whatever helps a toddler relax.
Curious what this looks like in action? Head to the About Page for more details, or Sign Up to see it in-person.
“We have been following Ms. Erica to different locations because she provides a unique and very valuable art & science based lesson and the young children love it- great method to get parents & their kids working together in a fun & supportive environment. Teacher Erica comes well prepared so that the lessons flow nicely. Highly recommended by Cormac & Gigi”
June 16, 2025
Symmetry is shown in this project, because each half of the egg has the same amount of each colored triangle 
This mountain craft was a great way to practice comparative language such as lighter, lightest, darker, darkest, farther and closer. This helps children learn to think like a scientist when they observe the world around them. 
