25+ (Hilarious) Signs that Your Child is a STEM Genius

With STEM being the educational rage right now (and rightly so), I’ll be honest and say that I struggle to think of STEM activities for my kids. However, no matter your STEM skill level, I bet you that your child is a STEM genius without you needing to plan anything. Through a series of unfortunate events (the experimental tendencies of my four children), my eyes have been opened to the natural scientist that every is budding in every child. Don’t believe me? Keep reading. You won’t need to plan a thing. This is definitely a no-prep learning environment.

25+ Signs that Your child is a STEM genius:

Let’s start off with an example to help you understand the STEM capabilities of a child…

• Your child sees a toaster and a loaf of bread. He wonders how many pieces of toast really do fit into that 2-pieces toaster. He estimates the size, tests out the bread and realizes the bread can get smaller if you smash it. He discovers that you can fit 4 pieces of bread into just one side of the toaster.
• Then he wonders what that fun sliding knob on the bottom of the toaster is for and decides to test out what happens if he slides it all the way to the other side from where Mom had it set. Four blackened pieces of toast later…
• The child wonders which knife is the best for putting butter on the bread. He pulls out a kitchen knife and a serrated knife and tries them both, but decides that really the best place for butter is on the kitchen counter not on the bread.
• He is also testing to see if he can accomplish this before you get out of the bathroom.

All this is done not because the child was actually hungry, but because he is a scientist.

Need a few more examples? Here are questions that a budding STEM genius will ask herself at least once.

• What will happen if I stick this bean, rock, candy, coin, piece of foam, finger, pencil… up my nose?

• What is the best location for me to set my full glass of liquid in order to ensure that it gets spilled all over the dinner table that has just been set?
• How can I strategically arrange my LEGOs®, so that Mom steps on every.single.one as she comes to kiss me goodnight?
• What will happen if I unscrew the lid from this bottle of glitter and turn it upside down?
• What will the glitter that is all over the floor feel like if I have a dance party on top of it?

• What is the best way to rearrange the school supplies, so that no one can find what they need?
• How can I hide my library book to ensure that Mom can’t find it until a month after the due date?
• What is the best trajectory to jump off my window to ensure that I catch my ear on the side of my dresser on the way down so that I can measure the efficiency of the emergency room?

• What is the best way to smear______ onto the wall?
• What is the most permanent writing utensil I can use to decorate the wall? couch? floor? Mom’s brand new chair?
• What will happen if I remove my diaper BEFORE I tell Mom it needs changed?
• How can I engineer a stepladder that will get me on top of the counter, so that I can rearrange the cabinet contents?
• How big of a pile will 7 bottles of sprinkles make when emptied onto the counter?

• At what speed do my sister and I need to be running to ensure that a collision will create blood?
• What is the best footwear to use in order to trip on a gravel road and split my knee open ensuring another trip to a different emergency room, so that I can compare experiences?
• At what velocity do I need to come down the slide, so that I can soar off the end and land on my elbow, so that I can explore the emergency room that my sister assures me is so cool?
• Exactly how big does the mess need to be before Mom totally loses her cool and gives herself a time out?
• How little sleep does Mom need in order to imitate a zombie?
• If I let Mom sleep 3 hours tonight, how many cups of coffee will she require tomorrow? What about 2 hours?
• If I hide the car keys in the box of trash bags how long will it take my parents to find them? What will be the effect of such an effort?
• Exactly how big does my diaper mess need to be to ensure that Mom’s clothes get decorated too?
• How many sippy cups do I need to flood my previously dry diaper? And what is the diameter of the resulting puddle on Mom & Dad’s bed?
• If I put my sister’s arm into my mouth and close it tightly, how loud will she scream?
• How loud do I need to be in church before the pastor looks at me?
• If I pull on the end of this toilet paper roll, what will happen?

• What does the water inside the toilet taste like?

So you see, every child is a budding STEM genius. Kids are simply born with an innate desire to explore the world around them. Every experience is a new opportunity for exploration.

Instead of getting upset over their explorations, we just need to focus that energy on more desirable STEM experiences.

This collection of 5 STEM books are full of activities will provide your kids will lots of great opportunities to learn, ask the right kind of questions, and find helpful answers encouraging them to enjoy a lifetime of learning.

The Curious Kid’s Science Book: 100+ Creative Hands-On Activities for Ages 4-8

STEAM: Preschool Activities for STEM Enrichment

STEAM: STEM Activities for Christmas

Tinkerlab: A Hands-On Guide for Little Inventors

Learn with Play: 150+ Activities for Year-round Fun & Learning

So, do you have a budding STEM genius on your hands? What signs do you have?