The significance of STEAM education in early years has drawn great attention in recent years. However, there is lack of empirical studies to understand the relationship between STEAM education and children’s imagination since early years is critical for the development of children’s imagination. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of project-based STEAM exploration on the development of young children’s imagination. A total of 41 first-year preschool children participated in the educational experiment. That is, a nearly one-semester experiment was carried out on STEAM project practice in natural classroom environment in preschool. The imagination of children from two first year classes was evaluated and compared with the “ Thinking Creatively in Action and Movement ” ( TCAM ) and the Scientific Imagination Task ( SIT ) which was developed in this study. It is founded that: 1) In terms of longitudinal changes in motor imagination, children’s imagination in the class that implemented the STEAM project shows significant growth before and after the project was implemented ( p < 0.05); children’s imagination in the class that did not implement the STEAM project is in relatively stable state between the pre- and post-test. 2) The individual differences in motor imagination of children in practice class show a decreasing trend, while those in non-practical class show a widening trend. 3) There is no significant difference in the post-test of scientific imagination between children in practical and non-practical classes. These results indicate that STEAM project practice has a certain significant impact on children’s imagination. Findings from this study provide insight into how to bridge research and practice around supporting preschool children’s imagination.
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