Young children explore the world with a sense of wonder and scientific curiosity – whether watching the fluttering wings of a butterfly, marvelling at and memorizing the name of a favourite plastic dinosaur, or measuring out and mixing ingredients for their favourite cookies.
“For little ones, everything is new, mysterious, fascinating, and ultimately knowable,” says Dr. Bonnie Schmidt, President and Founder of Let’s Talk Science, a national charitable organization. It equips and empowers educators, school boards, and parents/caregivers to ignite a passion for STEM in youth. “We need to nurture that curiosity from an early age and use it to build the foundation for life-long learning and skill development.”
Early engagement with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) builds foundational skills like problem-solving and characteristics such as confidence and resiliency that offer significant life-long benefits.
“Young children can easily engage with STEM – making observations and predictions, carrying out simple experiments, and making sense of what they find,” she says. “They are natural-born scientists. And a STEM learning platform supports the development of early literacy and reading skills.”


STEM engagement can also help close the gap between disadvantaged children and their more advantaged peers, she notes. STEM education improves long-term health outcomes, increases the likelihood of high school graduation, and boosts future career opportunities and earnings.
This is why Dr. Schmidt and her team are working with the Canadian Child Care Federation to enrich professional learning for early childhood educators by integrating STEM into early childhood education.
“We support increased investments to help early childhood educators build their confidence and capacity in STEM.”
Schmidt and her team also work with educators, parents and caregivers, encouraging them to be open to the world of STEM and explore new and exciting ways to engage. “We should expose young children to STEM in all its exciting forms daily and share in our children’s interests,” she adds. “Don’t be afraid to admit you don’t have all the answers. Learn together by playing with STEM.”
This year, Let’s Talk Science is celebrating its 30th Anniversary and is committed to making a positive impact in the lives of children and youth across Canada for another 30 years – or longer.
“Join our mission and change lives. Investing in Let’s Talk Science is critical to Canada’s future,” says Dr. Schmidt. “If you only give once this year to a charity impacting youth in Canada, consider Let’s Talk Science. Because how we educate our kids is how we change our future.”
TEXT SHELANNE AUGUSTINE