Raising Tomorrow’s STEM Leaders: The Power of Spatial Skills

Cansu Oranç

June 14, 2025

What Are Spatial Skills?

Spatial skills help us navigate and understand how things are arranged in the world around us, like finding your car in a parking lot, packing a suitcase for a trip, or figuring out how to arrange furniture in your living room.

Why Do They Matter?

Research shows that early spatial skills build a strong foundation for school readiness and future academic success, including math. These skills also spark a lifelong curiosity about how the world works. Kids with strong spatial skills at a young age are more likely to pursue careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), becoming the architects, engineers, and scientists of tomorrow!

What Can You Do About It?

2. Use everyday activities to build spatial skills naturally.
3. You can have your child pack their backpack to fit everything in, cut their birthday cake into equal slices, or help navigate the way home from the playground.

Let them play with shape sorters, puzzles, and building blocks.

You don’t always need store-bought toys though! You can fold origami, make paper airplanes, or sort natural objects by shape. For example, you can make a game of grouping circular rocks and rectangular sticks at the playground.

Point out real-world shapes, not just perfect ones.

Try showing your child the broad triangle of a mountain or the narrow triangle of a cake slice, not just the perfect triangles in books.

Use spatial language in daily conversations.

Try naming shapes around you, like “the triangle roof on that house.” You can also use spatial words when playing, like “put this IN the box” or “place it NEXT TO this one.”

Help your child understand what makes each shape special.

In addition to naming shapes, explore their features too. You might say things like, “Do you see that our TV has 4 sides, 2 short and 2 long?”

By nurturing your child’s spatial skills through these simple tips, you’re not just preparing them for academic success. You’re fostering a lifelong curiosity and confidence to explore and understand the fascinating world around them!

Cansu Oranç

Developmental Psychologist

Dr. Cansu Oranç holds a PhD in Developmental Psychology and has over a decade of experience studying children’s interactions with technology. She has worked as a postdoctoral researcher and assistant professor, focusing on how digital tools impact early learning, and now works in EdTech, leading the design and research of engaging, developmentally appropriate digital learning experiences for children.

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What are spatial skills and why do they matter for STEM success?

Spatial skills involve the ability to visualise, rotate, and manipulate objects and shapes in the mind. They are one of the strongest predictors of achievement in maths, science, engineering, and technology - more predictive than early reading skills for STEM specifically.

How do I build spatial skills in a young child at home?

Building blocks, puzzles, Lego, origami, drawing maps, playing with shapes, and spatial language ('on top of', 'beside', 'rotate', 'flip') are all powerful spatial skill builders. These activities build the mental machinery that powers later STEM thinking.

Can spatial skills be taught, or are they innate?

Research clearly shows spatial skills are highly trainable. Unlike some abilities, even brief targeted spatial practice produces significant and lasting improvement. This is one of the most encouraging findings in developmental science - every child's spatial ability can grow.