Teaching science through stories

Children’s stories provide a great context for learning science. Explore our resource packages 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:

5-7   7-9   9-11

• 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. 
  
  NEEDS OF LIVINGS THINGS, DIETS AND ANIMALS

• Jack and the Beanstalk

  

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

  PLANTS

• 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.

  HABITATS AND FOOD CHAINS

• ONCE THERE WERE GIANTS

  

  Support children to understand that all animals, including humans, have offspring which grow into adults.
  
  ANIMALS INCLUDING HUMANS AND LIFECYCLES

• 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.

  seasons and weather

• RSPB: MY FIRST BOOK OF GARDEN BIRDS

  

  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. 
  
  LIFECYCLES

   

• 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.
  
  IDENTIFYING AND NAMING ANIMALS

   

• 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.
  
  MATERIALS AND THEIR USES

• Charlie and the chocolate factory

  

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

• Horrid Henry Rocks

  

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

   

• The Firework-Maker's Daughter

  

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

  
  FORCES And magnetism
   

• 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.

  
  DIGESTION

• the pebble in my pocket
   

  

  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.
  
  ROCKS AND SOILS

• 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.
  
  PLANTS

• 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.
  
  HUMAN IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT

• wolves

  

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

   

• BEETLE BOY

  

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

• CHARLOTTE'S WEB

  

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

   

• PIG HEART BOY

  

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

   

• George's Secret Key To The Universe

  

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

  SOLAR SYSTEMS
   

• Goodnight Mr Tom

  

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

• itch

  

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

• ONE SMART FISH

  

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

• The Tin Snail

  

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