<< Background >>High-quality early childhood education is an extraordinarily powerful way to promote continued success in school, in the workplace, and in society. The skills and attitudes children acquire in their early years have disproportionally large impacts relative to those acquired during their later school years. The unprecedented rate of change in the world around us creates profound uncertainty about the future. Creativity, openness, collaboration, resilience, cognitive elasticity as well as social and emotional competencies are becoming an essential toolkit for any child and STEM education is becoming vital in helping children better understand the world and relate to it. This has placed increasing responsibility and demand on pre-school teachers which are the main facilitators of inciting and nurturing diverse sets of skills in pre-school children. To deepen and diversify crucial skills, knowledge, and attitudes of pre-school teachers in Europe and beyond, Cell Biology and Art Class Omnibus (CACAO) project bring together biology and music researchers, artists, pre-school teachers, and experts in technology-assisted learning from five European countries to co-create unique pre-school learning program blending cell biology, music, dance, and visual art. There is a wealth of research in cognitive psychology and neurosciences that immersion in activities that combine multiple sensory skills such as singing, playing, clapping, and dancing makes a dramatic difference in cognitive development and success in education. However, there remains a concomitant lack of education and training for contemporary educators in the early childhood sector on how they might use music effectively as an educational tool. Moreover, the STEM training falls substantially short in the core education of pre-school teachers as well.<< Objectives >>To bridge this gap by developing and implementing a highly innovative and inclusive pedagogical concept blending music, visual art, and cell biology, we gathered ten partners from five European countries. The reach of our partnership will undoubtedly greatly enhance the dissemination, impact, and exploitation of the project results thus contributing to future joint initiatives on the European level leading to a lasting and profound change. The CACAO pedagogical program will be developed for five and six-year-old children and their teachers who will get certified professional education on using music as an educational tool to teach children biological concepts. The inherent inclusive nature of music and art through which the CACAO program teaches biological concepts will support the inclusion of preschool children with special educational needs in all educational activities. All activities are inherently inclusive and will focus on the fulfillment of the personal development plan of each child involved while respecting their educational needs. This novel and interdisciplinary educational approach would not be possible without the support of two additional target groups, parents whose children will be involved in such a program, and preschool headmasters who will recognize the value and the need for such a program. In our international partnership, we have experts in different disciplines as well as preschool institutions coming from different pedagogical traditions addressing the common goals of European preschool systems. These partners will develop a strong sense of shared interests helping to frame problems from a wider perspective.<< Implementation >>To achieve this, we will organize four trainings organized by the members of our partnership. In such an interdisciplinary group, comprised of scientists, academics, and practitioners it is necessary to complement each other’s, knowledge, skills, and experiences. The first training will cover design thinking in curriculum design, basic cell biology training, and training on how to use virtual collaborative ILDE 2 platform for co-creation of the project results. The second training will cover music as a learning and communication tool and embodied learning. The third training will cover engaging communication in front of the camera and the process of creating an online course, as well as the use on online learning tools for continuous professional development. The fourth training will be hands-on training to test newly developed activities in working with children.<< Results >>During the two years of the project implementation, we will collaboratively create five project results. The first and second project results are curriculum designed for blending biology and art (with emphasis on music) for pre-school children and curriculum designed for blending biology and art (with emphasis on music) for early childhood educators and a definition of CACAO certification. Then, we will CACAO online platform with the web repository of activities, songs, video, and sound material for the CACAO curriculum. The fourth project result will be CACAO certified online course for early childhood educators following CACAO curriculum design, allowing continuous professional development in STEAM for preschool educators. Finally, we will conduct an extensive scientific evaluation of the impact of CACAO program implementation and create Final Project Report. Project activities and results are designed to strengthen STEAM learning in the preschool setting, by developing an innovative educational program and creating complementary professional training for the preschool educators as well as the wealth of material for seamless implementation of the CACAO program.In summary, for the first time to our knowledge, the CACAO project will design and implement structured multidisciplinary curricula for pre-school educators and pre-school kids, complemented with free and comprehensive training and the omnibus of interdisciplinary activities where multifaceted effects of art will be harnessed to immerse both the pre-school teachers and the pre-school children in the world of cell biology to ignite the life-long love for both disciplines.