STE for Senior Infants

Curriculum Mapping Student Devices
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This course introduces young children to core STE concepts through hands-on exploration of the human body, senses, growth, and the natural world. Pupils investigate materials and their properties, observe how materials change, and explore energy, forces, floating, sinking and magnets. They learn simple algorithms, control floor robots and ScratchJr, then apply engineering skills to identify problems, design, build and test practical classroom helpers.
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Explore the Course

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Children build on what they can already do (notice, name, sort and draw) to name more body parts and their jobs, tell the full baby to grown-up to elderly life story, use their senses to ask 'I wonder...?' questions, look closely at minibeasts, and sort plants and animals with a stated reason. Play-led, joyful and recorded mostly by drawing.

Wondering and Our Wonderful Bodies
Wonder and Question Teacher Resources
Naming All Our Body Parts Teacher Resources
The Jobs Our Body Parts Do Teacher Resources
Growing up and Our Senses
Our Life Story: from Baby to Grandparent
Our Senses Ask Questions
The Natural World Outdoors
A Close-looking Nature Walk
Looking at Minibeasts up Close
Sorting Plants and Animals with a Reason
What Helps Plants and Animals Flourish

Children name materials and what they are made of, describe and group their properties, notice which are waterproof and which material suits a job, and explore changing materials by mixing, squashing, bending, tearing, and watching the teacher freeze and melt (warm, never hot, no flame).

Naming Materials and Their Properties
Materials and Their Names
Describing Properties
Waterproof or Not
The Right Material for the Job
Changing Materials
Mixing Materials
Changing Materials: Squash, Bend, Tear, Stretch
Freezing and Melting: Teacher Shows

Children notice that energy makes things work and that different things go in different ways, feel how pushes and pulls move things, guess-then-find float and sink at the water tray, and have lots of fun with magnets, guessing what they will pull, sorting magnetic from not, and spotting magnets at work.

Energy and Forces
Energy Makes Things Work
How Do We Make It Go
Pushes and Pulls Move Things
A Bigger Push, a Longer Roll
Float, Sink and Magnets
Float and Sink: Guess and Sort
Magnets: Guess What They Will Pull
Sorting Magnetic and Not Magnetic
Magnets at Work

Children sort everyday 'helpers' by who they help and by digital or non-digital, then meet computational thinking: steps in order (algorithms), patterns and bugs, a floor robot to a target, and a gentle ScratchJr taster on tablets.

Technology That Helps Us
Technology That Helps Us
Digital or Not Digital
Algorithms, Patterns and Bugs
Steps in Order: First Algorithms
Patterns and Bugs
The Floor Robot and Scratchjr
Floor Robot to a Target
Meet Scratchjr
Scratchjr: Make Our Character Do a Little Dance

Children deepen the design process at infant lightness: notice a problem someone has, build stronger and steadier, make a boat that carries a load, then run one short two-lesson make-and-share project for a classroom helper, their first taste of keeping a build between two sessions.

Spotting Problems and Building Strong
Spotting a Problem to Solve
Stronger and Steadier Builds
Make a Boat That Carries a Load
Project: Make a Helper for Our Classroom
Plan and Make Our Helper
Show and Tell Our Helper

Children build on what they can already do (notice, name, sort and draw) to name more body parts and their jobs, tell the full baby to grown-up to elderly life story, use their senses to ask 'I wonder...?' questions, look closely at minibeasts, and sort plants and animals with a stated reason. Play-led, joyful and recorded mostly by drawing.

Wondering and Our Wonderful Bodies
Wonder and Question Teacher Resources
Naming All Our Body Parts Teacher Resources
The Jobs Our Body Parts Do Teacher Resources
Growing up and Our Senses
Our Life Story: from Baby to Grandparent
Our Senses Ask Questions
The Natural World Outdoors
A Close-looking Nature Walk
Looking at Minibeasts up Close
Sorting Plants and Animals with a Reason
What Helps Plants and Animals Flourish

Children name materials and what they are made of, describe and group their properties, notice which are waterproof and which material suits a job, and explore changing materials by mixing, squashing, bending, tearing, and watching the teacher freeze and melt (warm, never hot, no flame).

Naming Materials and Their Properties
Materials and Their Names
Describing Properties
Waterproof or Not
The Right Material for the Job
Changing Materials
Mixing Materials
Changing Materials: Squash, Bend, Tear, Stretch
Freezing and Melting: Teacher Shows

Children notice that energy makes things work and that different things go in different ways, feel how pushes and pulls move things, guess-then-find float and sink at the water tray, and have lots of fun with magnets, guessing what they will pull, sorting magnetic from not, and spotting magnets at work.

Energy and Forces
Energy Makes Things Work
How Do We Make It Go
Pushes and Pulls Move Things
A Bigger Push, a Longer Roll
Float, Sink and Magnets
Float and Sink: Guess and Sort
Magnets: Guess What They Will Pull
Sorting Magnetic and Not Magnetic
Magnets at Work

Children sort everyday 'helpers' by who they help and by digital or non-digital, then meet computational thinking: steps in order (algorithms), patterns and bugs, a floor robot to a target, and a gentle ScratchJr taster on tablets.

Technology That Helps Us
Technology That Helps Us
Digital or Not Digital
Algorithms, Patterns and Bugs
Steps in Order: First Algorithms
Patterns and Bugs
The Floor Robot and Scratchjr
Floor Robot to a Target
Meet Scratchjr
Scratchjr: Make Our Character Do a Little Dance

Children deepen the design process at infant lightness: notice a problem someone has, build stronger and steadier, make a boat that carries a load, then run one short two-lesson make-and-share project for a classroom helper, their first taste of keeping a build between two sessions.

Spotting Problems and Building Strong
Spotting a Problem to Solve
Stronger and Steadier Builds
Make a Boat That Carries a Load
Project: Make a Helper for Our Classroom
Plan and Make Our Helper
Show and Tell Our Helper

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. Identify and name major human body parts and describe the jobs they perform through movement and observation
  2. Observe and describe the life stages of humans, the five senses, and how plants and animals flourish in the natural world
  3. Name common materials, test and describe their properties, and explain why certain materials are chosen for specific jobs
  4. Investigate how materials can be changed through mixing, squashing, bending, tearing, stretching, freezing and melting
  5. Understand different forms of energy, forces including pushes and pulls, and explore floating, sinking and magnetic attraction
  6. Sort and evaluate everyday technologies as digital or non-digital and explain how they help people
  7. Create and debug simple algorithms, programme a floor robot to reach a target, and build basic animations in ScratchJr
  8. Identify everyday classroom problems, plan, design, construct and evaluate practical engineering solutions

Learning Outcomes

  1. Identify and name major external body parts and describe the jobs they perform using movement and matching activities.
  2. Order the stages of human life from baby to elderly and match each stage to typical abilities.
  3. Sort living things into plants and animals, then further sort animals by observable features such as having legs or not, explaining the sorting rule.
  4. Name common materials including wood, plastic, metal, glass, fabric and paper, and group them by observable properties such as rough or smooth, waterproof or not.
  5. Demonstrate how materials can change shape by squashing, bending, tearing or stretching, and describe the changes observed.
  6. Distinguish between pushes and pulls as forces, and investigate how a bigger push affects how far an object travels.
  7. Predict and test which objects will float or sink in water, then sort them accordingly.
  8. Predict, test and sort objects as magnetic or non-magnetic, then identify everyday jobs that magnets perform.
  9. Create and debug simple algorithms using picture cards and floor robots to achieve a target.
  10. Build a short sequence of code blocks in ScratchJr to make a character move, spin and pop.
  11. Identify a small classroom problem, draw a plan, construct a simple model to solve it using available materials, and explain how it works to others.

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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