STEM Learning

33 STEM Quotes about Education & Play for Kids [2020]

September / 2020

To celebrate learning, play, and STEM, we’ve compiled a list of 33 quotes that are inspirational and thought-provoking.

Blocks Rock! sits at the intersection of learning and education, play, and STEM. To celebrate these topics, we’ve compiled a list of 33 quotes that are inspirational and thought-provoking.

We encourage hope you'll read through these STEM quotes and education quotes and then share your favorites with the children in your life. Read to the end to find other resources we have on the topics of learning, play, and STEM for kids.

Education & Learning

“If you haven’t failed yet, you haven’t tried anything.” - Reshma Saujani, Lawyer, Politician, Founder of Girls Who Code

“All the world is a laboratory to the inquiring mind.” - Martin Henry Fischer, Physician & Author

“All sorts of things can happen when you’re open to new ideas and playing around with things.” - Stephanie Kwolek, Chemist & Inventor

“Curiosity is the wick in the candle of learning.” - William Arthur Ward, Author

“If the only goal is to win (while competing) and not learn anything in the process, kids are going to feel discouraged when they lose.” - Sherri Gordon, Contributor to VeryWell Family

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”- Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father

“You can teach a student a lesson for a day, but if you teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives.” - Clay P. Bedford, President of Kaiser Aerospace & Electronics and More

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” - W.B. Yeats, Poet

“We are not what we know but what we are willing to learn.” – Mary Catherine Bateson, Writer and Cultural Anthropologist

“The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future life.” - Plato, Philosopher

“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.” – Henry Ford, American Industrialist

Play

“Children need the freedom and time to play. Play is not a luxury. Play is a necessity.”- Kay Redfield Jamison, Professor and Psychologist

“I shouldn’t have to defend play for children any more than I should have to defend their eating, sleeping, and breathing.” - Rae Pica, Early Childhood Education Speaker & Consultant

“Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn.” - O. Fred Donaldson

“Playtime is precious. Play builds brain pathways for thinking, creativity, flexibility, empathy, and many other lifelong skills.” - Heather Shumaker, Author & Speaker

“Play is the highest form of research.” - Albert Einstein, Theoretical Physicist

“Time spent playing with children is never wasted.” - Dawn Lantero, Parenting Expert & Author

“Play is our brain’s favorite way of learning.” – Diane Ackerman, Poet & Naturalist

“Play is the work of the child.” – Maria Montessori, Physician & Educator

“When we make Play the foundation of learning, we teach the Whole child.” - Vince Gowmon, Author

“Child’s play is not mere sport. It’s full of meaning & serious impact. Cherish it and encourage it.” – F.W. A. Froebel, Pedagogue & Created the Concept of Kindergarten

“The child amidst his baubles is learning the action of light, motion, gravity, muscular force….” - Ralph Waldo Emerson, Philosopher & Poet

STEM

“Science is magic that works.” - Kurt Vonnegut, Writer

“Without mathematics, there's nothing you can do. Everything around you is mathematics. Everything around you is numbers.” - Shakuntala Devi, Writer & Mental Calculator

“Science and everyday life cannot and should not be separated.” - Rosalind Franklin, Chemist and X-ray Crystallographer

“...biologically driven neurological processes and natural curiosity of how the world works make early childhood an optimal time to introduce children to scientific inquiry.” - Jennifer Buchter, UNLV Developmental Specialist

“Creativity is the secret sauce to science, technology, engineering, and math.” - Ainissa Ramirez, Science Evangelist

“Sciences provide an understanding of a universal experience, Arts are a universal understanding of a personal experience... they are both a part of us and a manifestation of the same thing... the arts and sciences are avatars of human creativity” - Mae Jemison, Engineer, Physician & NASA Astronaut

“Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton asked ‘why’” – Bernard Baruch, Philanthropist & Statesman

"Science is not a boy's game, it's not a girl's game. It's everyone's game. It's about where we are and where we're going. Space travel benefits us here on Earth. And we ain't stopped yet. There's more exploration to come." - Nichelle Nichols, NASA Ambassador & Star Trek actress

“In the 21st century, scientific and technological innovations have become increasingly important as we face the benefits and challenges of both globalization and a knowledge-based economy. “To succeed in this new information-based and highly technological society, students need to develop their capabilities in STEM to levels much beyond what was considered acceptable in the past.” - National Science Foundation

“Engineering or technology is all about using the power of science to make life better for people, to reduce cost, to improve comfort, to improve productivity, etc.” - N.R. Narayana Murthy, IT Industrialist

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