STEM learning in not merely a matter of training children for current jobs--the job market is likely to change radically before a current kindergartner graduates from college, as artificial intelligence, robotics, and other technologies evolve and new technologies emerge. STEM education is an integrated, cross-disciplinary approach to teaching that primarily focuses on developing a problem-solving mindset with skillsets that will benefit children in all aspects of life, including whatever work they may do in the future. Unfortunately, STEM is rarely taught well in school, if taught at all, especially in the early grades. To explore playful and developmentally appropriate STEM education, the STEM-focused Center for Access and Achievement (CA2), which serves about 2,000 pre-K to 12th-grade students, faculty and staff implemented a year-long grant-funded project at a diverse and high-poverty early childhood center in St. Louis County. They implemented Novel Engineering, a method developed at Tufts University's Center for Engineering Education Outreach (CEEO). Research demonstrates that Novel Engineering can improve children's comprehension. Children need to learn and children need to play, and these goals are not mutually exclusive. Guided play is ideal for the classroom setting, allowing children to develop a problem-solving mindset and fundamental STEM skills. Teachers and children will know that they are on the right path when learning is joyful and actively engaging, mistakes can be iterated into successes, collaboration is natural and beneficial, and meaning is found in the process.