Teaching science through stories

Children’s stories provide a great context for learning science. Explore our resource collections based around popular children’s books and discover the science hidden in a book. Resources include book summaries, hints and tips for teaching the science and further stories on a similar theme.

They are organised into three age groups:

Ages 5-7
Ages 7-9
Ages 9-11

Ages 5-7

Handa's Surprise

Handa's Surprise would make a great starting point about the needs of living things linked to diet and the specific needs of humans.

Jack and the Beanstalk

The story of Jack and the Beanstalk makes a great starting point for teaching the topic of plants to younger primary aged children.

Little Red Riding Hood

As Little Red Riding Hood is set in a wood, it makes a lovely starting point for finding out about habitats.

Once There were Giants

Support children to understand that all animals, including humans, have offspring which grow into adults.

One Year with Kipper

One Year with Kipper provides a nice link into work on Seasonal Change as children work to observe changes across the four seasons.

RSPB

My First Book of Garden Birds helps to meet the objective to identify and name a variety of common birds.

Tadpole's Promise

Tadpole's Promise is a great story to use when exploring life cycles and helping children to describe the difference in the life cycle of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird.

The Gruffalo

The Gruffalo can support children to learn more about habitats and to identify and name a variety of plants and animals in different habitats, including micro-habitats.

The Three Little Pigs

Help children to think about identifying different materials and considering what properties they have and how this suits them for different purposes.

Ages 7-9

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl provides a good context to learn about states of matter.

Horrid Henry Rocks

Horrid Henry Rocks is a great book to start teaching about sound and exploring how sounds are made.

The Firework-Maker's Daughter

The Firework-Maker’s Daughter by Philip Pullman is a good starting point for teaching about light.

The Iron Man

The Iron Man is the perfect story to explain how magnets attract or repel each other and attract some material and not others.

The Little Mole Who Knew It Was None of His Business

This funny tale creates a great setting through which children can explore simple functions of the basic parts of the digestive system in humans.

The Pebble In My Pocket

The Pebble In My Pocket tells the dynamic story of rock formation; showing the reader the processes that the pebble goes through from its beginnings in a fiery volcano 480 million years ago.

The Story of Frog Belly Rat Bone

The Story of Frog Belly Rat Bone provides a good setting for investigating plants and their benefits to our environment.

The Vanishing Rainforest

The Vanishing Rainforest by Richard Platt is a good book for looking at the human impact on the environment, in particular deforestation.

Wolves

Wolves is a brilliant setting for constructing and interpreting a variety of food chains, as well as identifying producers, predators and prey.

Ages 9-11

Beetle Boy

Beetle Boy provides a nice way to link to work on classification of invertebrates.

Charlotte's Web

This is the perfect story to compare the lifecycles of different animals and plants.

Pig-Heart Boy

Pig-Heart Boy provides a good setting for learning about the heart and circulation.

George's Secret Key To The Universe

George's Secret Key to the Universe is a fun read and contains lots of factual sections for help with teaching about the solar system.

Goodnight Mister Tom

This wartime story is ideal for exploring the uses of electricity and how circuits work.

Itch

Itch is an action-backed story in which is great for finding out more about changes of state.

Kensuke's Kingdom

Kensuke’s Kingdom is full of opportunities to explore properties of materials, you can even use the context of survival scenarios linked to the book.

One Smart Fish

One Smart Fish by Christopher Wormell provides a meaningful context for learning about adaptations and evolution.

The Tin Snail

The Tin Snail by Cameron McAllister provides a context for learning about forces and mechanisms, including levers, pulleys and gears.