Contemporary trends in education go in the direction of empowerment in the fields of STEM and early scientific literacy. This is partly based on the need for educational reforms and the perceived value of early scientific literacy, and partly on trust in the possibilities and potential of characteristic forms of learning for children of early and preschool age. As contemporary literature suggests, early scientific literacy requires a significant emphasis on research-oriented methodology in which children use developmentally appropriate materials in experimental and experiential activities. Children need an attractive educational environments and practical experiences rich with scientific and natural themes in order to develop a scientific way of thinking. The lack of studies on such practices makes it difficult to analyse the situation in Croatia, and therefore the purpose of these studies was to contribute to the understanding of the discourse of early scientific literacy based on the teacher's assessment and to deal with the question of the extent to which children of early and preschool age have the opportunity to learn basic science concepts through experimental cognitive- research activities in kindergartens. That is why the research presented here examined the attitudes and beliefs, as well as the personal perceived competence of educators of early and preschool children regarding the introduction of basic scientific concepts into educational practice through experimental cognitive-research activities. The study also assessed contextual factors, including the organisational, spatial and material environments of educational institutions, which may influence these perceptions and immediate practice. The research included three phases involving a total of 1057 participants (39 participants in the qualitative part, and 1018 in the quantitative part of the research, both including pilots) and used an exploratory sequential research design. The qualitative part of the research produced a theoretical framework that was used to design the instrument (SKMO) in the second phase. The final phase is formed through the application of a questionnaire to a representative sample. Constructs were assessed with research-specific scales with strong quality parameters (reliability and validity). The SKMO evaluation instrument assessed both the organisational and material conditions for ESI activities and the frequency of their implementation by educators, thus fully covering the theoretical framework based on the experience and culture of Croatian educators. The entire instrument was applied to a representative sample of educators in the Republic of Croatia. By putting together a specific theoretical framework and a research instrument, an empirical look at how early scientific literacy is taught in the RPOO system is given. The availability of adequate quantity and quality of materials in educational groups, along with adequate pedagogical knowledge, competences and appropriate attitudes and beliefs of educators, are defined as some of the basic conditions for empowering educators in the introduction of basic natural-scientific concepts into educational work through experimental cognitive- research activities. The findings indicate the existence of differences in personal perceived competences, attitudes and beliefs in the context of the frequency of implementation of such activities, and material, spatial and organisational conditions are shown to be important factors in the context of educational practice.