Making and Tinkering with STEM: Solving Design Challenges with Young Children, Second Edition - Softcover

Heroman, Cate

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1952331420 ISBN 13: 9781952331428

Publisher: The National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2026

Synopsis

Tinker, Make, Engineer--Solving Problems from Picture Books

Can you build a sturdy house that is safe from the big, bad wolf?

Imagine your dream car. What special features does it have?

What can you use to create it?

In the first edition of this bestselling book, author Cate Heroman made teaching and learning STEM concepts more accessible than ever before through the maker movement. The practical, hands-on resource guided teachers to inspire, delight, and challenge children to use everyday materials to design and build solutions to problems faced by characters in their favorite books.

This revised, expanded, and updated second edition

• Features 35 design challenges appropriate for children ages 3 through 8; this includes favorite design challenges from the first edition, some of which are revised to be more robust, as well as all-new design challenges
• Organizes the design challenges into four sections/concepts-Build It, Move It, Change It, and Invent It
• Updates many of the picture books to include recommendations that are culturally inclusive
• Adds more information about making and tinkering, including how it connects to developmentally appropriate practice and learning standards

Use engaging children's books together with the guidance and ideas in this book to extend children's problem-solving skills and creative thinking.

About this title

About the Author

Cate Heroman is one of the founders of Knock Knock Children's Museum in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, serving children birth to age 8 and renowned for its emphasis on early literacy and early STEAM education. She has been instrumental in establishing a makerspace in the museum and has spent countless hours studying and researching what making, tinkering, and design engineering look like with young learners.

Her passion is to help children be successful learners and socially competent individuals. A nationally recognized educator and author-her numerous publications include The Creative Curriculum for Preschool and Teaching Strategies GOLD. Cate's professional experiences center on early childhood education. She has been an early childhood classroom teacher, state administrator, trainer, facilitator, keynote speaker, author, consultant, and developer of curriculum and assessment materials. She has a deep understanding not only of what children learn but also how they learn.

Cate received a master's degree from Louisiana State University. Previously, she taught in East Baton Rouge Parish Schools, served as an early childhood administrator at the Louisiana Department of Education, and was vice president of Teaching Strategies, LLC.

Edition details

• Publisher: The National Association for the Education of Young Children
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1952331420
• ISBN 13: 9781952331428
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 176