As artificial intelligence increasingly permeates the field of education, early childhood science education is encountering both new opportunities and emerging challenges. Grounded in multimodal learning theory, this paper reviews the applications of artificial intelligence in scientific context creation, inquiry process support, and learning process evaluation, and analyzes the potential risks it may pose to child development, teacher professionalism, and educational ethics. The analysis indicates that artificial intelligence can enrich children’s learning methods and enhance the quality of science education through multimodal presentation, instant feedback, and continuous evaluation. However, its deep involvement may also weaken children’s experiential inquiry, diminish teachers’ professional judgment, and, in certain contexts, lead to the encroachment of technical logic upon educational values. In response, this paper proposes strategies across three dimensions: educational philosophies, teacher professionalism, and institutional safeguards. These strategies include upholding inquiry-based learning, strengthening teachers’ professional judgment, and improving ethical norms and data security mechanisms, aiming to promote the appropriate and effective empowerment of early childhood science education by artificial intelligence, ensuring that technological innovation genuinely serves children’s scientific learning and development.