STEM-Based Books in the Look Under Rocks Family of 85 Plus Books and Educational Resources for Over 54 Years
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) is an integrated and creative approach to discovering and applying knowledge about our world to solve problems that utilize one, or more of the content areas.
Huff Puff Grind: the 3 Little Pigs Get Smart
4 – 8 years (Science Folktales) Preschool – 3rd Grade & Up
Little Red, the Detective
4 – 8 years (Science Folktales) Preschool – 3rd Grade & Up
Little Red is Learning to be a Detective.
And Grannie is Teaching her to Identify Plants.
Grannie asks Little Red to bring her some cone flowers to make delicious tea. While Little Red is walking through the woods to Grannie’s house, she meets a wolf who gives her a bunch of cone-shaped purple flowers. She thanks the wolf and then gets out her plant identification book. While she is comparing the flowers to the pictures in her book, the wolf trots along down the path.
When Little Red arrives at Grannie’s house, she senses things aren’t right. Little Red must use her new detective skills to determine if Grannie is who she says she is. She already knows the flowers the wolf gave her weren’t cone flowers.
Red comes up with a plan to help save the day – all with a little help from science.
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http://mybook.to/LittleRed
Fee, Fi, Fo, Grow! The Real Magic of the Beans
4 – 8 years (Science Folktales) Preschool – 3rd Grade & Up
Jacqueline’s Family is Hungry. She Doesn’t Want to Eat her Friendly but Dry Cow.
When Jacqueline trades the cow at the market for a few so-called “magic beans,” her mom tosses them out the window in a fit of anger. When Jacqueline discovers the beans really are magic, she climbs the giant beanstalk and learns that her family is not the only one suffering from hunger. Now Jacqueline wants to feed the family of giants as well as her own.
Yes, the giant family has riches, but you can’t eat them. And she would never consider robbing them.
Will Jacqueline learn the real magic of the beans in time to feed everyone?
Saving the Gingerbread House
4 – 8 years (Science Folktales) Preschool – 3rd Grade & Up
Is the Witch really going to enter the House Beautiful Contest?
For that matter, is there really a witch? Something is tapping in the woods. Hansel and Gretel investigate. It’s not a witch building a beautiful home. It’s a woodpecker. They were in such a hurry to find the source of the sound, now they are lost. They come upon a beautiful home. It’s made of gingerbread. Animals are nibbling. Hansel and Gretel, eat some, too. Then the owner comes out.
Have the hungry children ruined her chance to win that contest? What will she do?
5 – 10 years (Science Folktales) Kindergarten – 5th Grade & Up
The Sky Isn’t Falling. But Something Hit Chicken Little on the Head.
Many of the mishaps in folktales could be remedied if the protagonists knew how to investigate. Children like seeing familiar stories told with a twist. And they like science, when it is presented as fun. Chicken Little and Sir Isaac Newton did the same thing. They got hit on the head by something that fell from above. In our story, Chicken Little investigates the wonderful effects of gravity.
As a result of her experiments, she and her friends are able to save themselves from Foxy Woxy.
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The Dwarves Dilemma
4 – 8 years (Science Folktales) Preschool to 4th Grade and Up
The Queen is the fairest judge in the land.
All her subjects bring their problems for her to decide. She uses her magic mirror to see the Sparkle of Fairness in their eyes. The dwarves bring her a problem where both sides think they are being fair, and the mirror shows that the Queen is NOT the fairest one of all. Snow White is sent to investigate.
What she finds can change the kingdom forever.
Play Video
https://mybook.to/DwarvesDilemma
Goldilocks and the Six Simple Machines
4 – 8 years (Science Folktales) Kindergarten – 4th Grade and Up
Goldilocks Knows How to Use the Six Simple Machines
She goes bicycling through the woods and comes to the Three Bears home. But fear not! Goldilocks, the curious explorer, is a homewrecker no more.
She has learned to use the six simple machines. She fixes that broken chair. And the wobbly table. She uses an inclined plane to add milk to that too-hot porridge. She leaves the three bears’ home better than she found it. Some tools are too big. Some tools are too small. Goldilocks finds the ones that are just right!
When the bears come home and find her sleeping in that bed, they use a lever to lift her out. Then baby bear asks her for help with her project.
Will Goldilocks figure out how to use the six simple machines to help baby bear?
Play Video
https://mybook.to/GoldiSimpleMachines
Mermaid books:
Mermaid and the Ice Cube Necklace
4 – 8 years
Trezzie is a mermaid. She likes pretty things. And she thinks ice cubes are beautiful.
Maia and Fig are having a picnic by the lake. Fig brought ice cubes for their lemonade. But Fig can’t see Trezzie. Trezzie is Maia’s imaginary playmate. Maia makes Trezzie a necklace by blowing holes in the ice cubes. Trezzie can’t help blow the holes because her breath isn’t warm. Fig gets jealous, when Trezzie swims away with the ice cube necklace. Fig jumps in the lake to get it back. Then, she nearly gets a leg cramp, and nearly drowns. Will Fig believe in mermaids after Trezzie saves her life?
Watch both girls learn water science and see Fig start to trust her friend’s imagination.Perfect for mermaid-lovers and girls who love science.
Mermaid and the Rainbow
5 – 7 years (Mermaid Science) Preschool – 4rd Grade and Up
Maia’s Imaginary Friend is a Mermaid. Her best friend Fig can’t see her.
But Fig and Trezzie both love science. Trezzie loves to collect trash that people leave on the lakeshore. She keeps her finds in her treasure box. They come in handy for learning science. Maia, Fig and Trezzie swap science tricks using treasures from the mermaid’s secret box. Best of all, they make a rainbow with a mirror, a piece of paper, and a glass of water.
Together, they make a great team. Perfect for mermaid-lovers and girls who love science.
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Mermaid and the Water Magnifying Glass
4 – 9 years (Mermaid Science) Preschool – 4th and Grade Up
Trezzie, the mermaid is back for another science adventure. This time Fig teachers her how to make a magnifying glass with a few drops of water.
Trezzie collects things people leave on the shore of the lake. People think these things are trash, but Trezzie knows they are treasures. In this adventure she makes good use of an empty fruit box. Trezzie has found rocks with patterns on them. She shows them to her friends. Fig shows Trezzie how to make a magnifying glass with water and the plastic fruit box. Now they can all see that the pattern is a fossil. Trezzie has found trilobites.
Maia, Fig, and their mermaid friend, Trezzie are back for more underwater science adventures.
Learn about plastic magnifying glasses and fancy fossils. Includes fun things you can do with water too!
Perfect for Mermaid-Lovers and girls who love science.
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Loretta’s Insects
What Loretta’s Katydid Did
4 – 9 years ( Part of series Loretta’s Insects) Preschool – 4th Grade and Up
The tree Grandma brings has aphids.
Grandma says Loretta must kill the aphids before they kill the tree, but Loretta refuses because she loves insects. One day, a katydid finds the tree. It eats all the aphids. Then the katydid starts eating the tree. Loretta doesn’t want to get rid of the katydid. How will she keep her orange tree healthy for the science fair?
With a little secret help from the insect world, Loretta just might win first place.
Loretta’s Caterpillar
4 – 9 years (Part of series Loretta’s Insects) Preschool – 4th Grade and Up
Loretta’s Insects Book Three – Loretta Finds a Caterpillar
Loretta finds a monarch caterpillar egg and protects it from a wasp, a bird, and a lizard as it eats milkweed, grows through metamorphosis, becomes a butterfly and finally flies away to continue its migration.
Learn alongside Loretta about the life cycle of a monarch butterfly.
Play Video
https://mybook.to/LorettaCaterpillar
Ladybugs for Loretta
4 – 9 years (Part of series Loretta’s Insects) Preschool – 4th Grade and Up
Where do the Ladybugs go in Winter?
Loretta is a mischievous girl who lives in a cabin high up in the Colorado mountains. She loves her garden and the ladybugs that protect it. They tickle her arms in the summer. They lay eggs and hatch babies. They eat the bugs that want to eat her plants. But where do they go in the winter? On a cold winter day while collecting pine needles for her strawberry patch, she discovers ladybugs hiding under a rock. She finds more behind a chunk of loose tree bark. She brings them home where they warm up and fly around. But Ladybugs are supposed to sleep in the winter.
Through a loving relationship with her parents and her garden, Join Loretta as she learns how to take care of ladybug
https://mybook.to/LorettaLadybugs
Bees in Loretta’s Bonnet
4 – 9 years (Part of series Loretta’s Insects) Preschool – 4th Grade and Up
When Loretta dropped her armload of firewood on the hearth, a mysterious tube fell from between the logs.
Loretta took it back out to the woodpile and watched as holes appeared. It was a leafcutter bee’s nest. But where were the bees? Soon she found circular holes appearing in leaves on her rose bushes. Some of the rose petals had holes, too. But where were the bees? Leafcutter bees are more efficient than honey bees for pollinating gardens. The book includes instructions for building a nest that may lure wild bees to your yard.
Join Loretta as she learns about bees that don’t sting.
The Glow in Loretta’s Garden
4 – 9 years (Part of series Loretta’s Insects) Preschool – 4th Grade and Up
When Loretta digs in the dirt to plant her flower garden,
she discovers glowing larvae. Learn about the lifecycle of the firefly as she puts the larvae in her empty ant farm box and watches the larvae build tunnels and mud houses. After they hatch,
she also learns the secret to their special flashing messages.
Play Video
https://mybook.to/LorettaFirefly
Loretta’s Stick that Walks
4 – 9 years (Part of series Loretta’s Insects) Preschool – 4th Grade and Up
Dinosaur Friends
4 – 9 years (Science Folktales) Preschool – 4th Grade and Up
Two Dinosaur Stories in One Book. Flip it over and read another story.
These dinosaurs are best friends, but sometimes they disagree.
A present for the Volcano
Spike (an ankylosaurus) sees a volcano erupting. He thinks it is unhappy. He wants to give the volcano a present to cheer it up. He gets his friend Conifer (a tyrannosaurus) to help him build a necklace of stones around the base of the volcano. When it does erupt, the stones block the lava flow.
Saving Conifer’s Eggs
Spike and Conifer smell smoke and know they must leave the forest. But Conifer is sitting on her eggs. She has three eggs and only two hands. When she lifts her nest, she must walk carefully so they don’t clack together. Spike is impatient and swings his tail back and forth. He knocks down a Ginko tree. The two friends decide to take the fallen tree to the river and use it to float away from the fire.
Learn about volcanos and egg-laying dinosaurs. Learn about friendship, too.
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How to Make a Flying Carpet
4 – 9 years (Science Folktales) Preschool – 4th Grade and Up
The refrigerator magnet broke.
Alex never lets anything go to waste. What can she do with it?
Follow Alex as she enters a world of imagination where she learns science fundamentals. Imagination creates experiments. Experiments create ideas. Ideas create inventions. Magnets can stick together. Magnets can push apart. Can Alex use these magnets to build a flying carpet? She’ll need to do many experiments and make changes when things don’t work. She keeps trying.
Learn about magnets along with Alex.
Play Video
https://mybook.to/FlyingCarpet
Rocketship Made of Stars
4 – 9 years (Science Folktales) Preschool – 4th Grade and Up
Shirl takes her alien friend Eee-ahh to school with her.
The kids figure out that Eee-ahh is an alien, because she is green and has an antenna. The teacher asks Eee-ahh where she is from. Eee-ahh draws a map of the stars — She circles a constellation that looks like a rocket ship. The sky looks the same, but Eee-ahh gives all the constellations different names.
Will the teacher like the new names?
Play Video
https://mybook.to/rocketshipstars
Just One More Egg
4 – 9 years (Science Folktales) Preschool – 4th Grade and Up
Cuckoos Lay Eggs in Warbler Nests and fly away.
Should Mama Warbler raise the cuckoo baby as her own?
Inspired by The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Anderson. This story shows mutual benefit to both warblers and cuckoos when a cuckoo lays an egg in a warbler’s nest.
Cuckoo babies eat six times as much as warbler babies. Soon they are bigger than their warbler mamas. They are stinky and hungry and huge.
Will Mama Warbler love her new baby?
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This Egg Won’t Hatch
4 – 9 years (Science Folktales) Preschool – 4th Grade and Up
All but one of Mama Warbler’s eggs have hatched.
The Cuckoo, who hatched first, keeps telling the reluctant baby it’s no fun outside. Stay in your shell where it’s safe.
What will the baby warbler do?
https://mybook.to/eggwonthatch
Under the Bandage
5 – 10 years (Science Folktales) kindergarten – 5th Grade and Up
What’s happening under the bandage?
Mom makes him wear a bandage when he skins his knee. She says “no peeking.” What’s going on under there? It’s a war. His soldiers against the bad bacteria. After the bad bacteria are dead, it’s time to rebuild. Now, the construction crews come in.
It takes lots of work to grow new skin.
Play Video
https://mybook.to/underbandage
The Amanda Mini-Mysteries
4 – 9 years (Science Folktales) Preschool – 4th Grade and Up
Why does blood look blue on the back of your hand?
Why don’t sheets get tan in the sun?
Follow along with Amanda and her friend Elaine as they use science and imagination to solve puzzling aspects of life. These aren’t your typical whodunits: Amanda is more interested in Why and How of things, and children will learn along with her. Jack Kershner’s joyous illustrations add humor and zest to these explorations and mysteries of daily life. Voted the most popular series in Child Life Magazine.
Can you solve the puzzles before Amanda and Elaine?
Play Video
https://mybook.to/AmandaMysteries
Raining Fish and Frogs
4 – 9 years (Science Folktales) Preschool – 4th Grade and Up
Nothing was biting on the shore of Lake Fish-or-Cut-Bait.
Not even the mosquitoes! A ravenous wind sucked up all the water from the lake. It sucked up the fishes and the frogs too. It even sucked up balls from the playground. Then that ravenous wind headed toward town, blowing wind through the branches, and twisting up the playground swings. When that wind could hold no more, rain started falling. It wasn’t an ordinary rain. Balls fell on the steeple and rang the bell. Fish and frogs fell on cars in the streets. A fish even fell into the janitor’s wash bucket.
It was as if breakfast was landing on people’s doorsteps.
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Grippy and Cormo’s Magnet Activities
4 – 9 years (Science Folktales) Preschool – 4th Grade and Up
Low-Cost, Hands-On Magnet Experiments for Children
Grippy and Cormo’s Magnet Activities are low-cost hands-on experiments for children aged 6 and up. Adults like them, too. The activities are designed to be fun, stimulate curiosity through unexpected events, and teach basic concepts of magnetism. If you can’t find magnets locally, the book lists online suppliers.
Get started with Science today.
Dinopotamus Goes to School
4 – 9 years (Part of the Dinopotamus Series) Preschool – 4th Grade and Up
He’s half Hippopotamus and half Tyrannosaurus Rex.
He’s also a Child.
Dinopotamus watches the children. He tries to do what they do. He follows them to school. He doesn’t fit through the door, so he climbs in the window. The children count their toes. They have 5 on each foot. He has three. The children see that he wants to learn, just like they do.
They all learn together.
https://mybook.to/Dinopotamusschool
Opposite Day for Dinopotamus
4 – 9 years (Part of the Dinopotamus Series) Preschool – 4th Grade and Up
It’s Opposite day at Dinopotamus’ School.
The other kids get easy puzzles, like FILL the glass and OPEN the door. The teacher asks Dinopotamus to bring her the big box. What will he do? Dinopotamus is not a typical student. Opposite day means you get to break rules and disobey instructions. But only if you get it right. Or maybe you need to get it wrong.
Not your typical opposites book. Join Dinopotamus as he thinks through the problem.
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Dinopotamus Solves a Mystery
4 – 9 years (Part of the Dinopotamus Series) Preschool – 4th Grade and Up
Why does Dinopotamus always get the Warm Spot on the Floor?
When it’s naptime, Dinopotamus always get the warm spot. He decides to let the children have his favorite place on the floor. But when the children lie down there, it’s no longer warm. And the new spot where Dinopotamus sleeps becomes warm.
Is it Magic or Physics? Can everybody have a warm spot at naptime?
Pardon me, Please
4 – 9 years (Science Folktales) Preschool – 4th Grade and Up
Albert Knows Everyone Has to Eat. He just doesn’t want people to eat him.
A family is looking at Albert. Albert is a turkey at a turkey farm. This turkey farm sells turkeys for Thanksgiving dinner. Albert knows the humans don’t want him for a pet. On the television over the cash register, Albert sees the President. The President pets his turkey and pardons him. Then he wishes the turkey a long life. Can Albert convince the humans to pardon him, too? Like the President did? Can he get them to take him to Turkey Pardon Park, where the pardoned turkeys live?
Find out of Albert can convince this family to eat a vegetarian Thanksgiving.
