Skip to Content

11 of the Best STEAM Books for Elementary Kids

If you love STEAM activities as much as we do, you’re always looking for new STEM activities to try! And when you’re searching for STEM gifts, you can’t forget books!

If you’re looking for the best STEAM books, this list of the top 11 STEAM books for kids will give you and your children tons of inspiration to create and complete your own STEAM projects.

Encourage a love of STEAM activities in your kids with these top STEAM books! Each STEM book is filled with hands-on STEAM activity ideas that kids will love. The perfect gift guide for STEM lovers and gift ideas for kids who love STEAM! #stemactivities #steam #handsonlearning #scienceexperiments #giftguide

These activities can be done at home to boost STEM skills, or you can adapt the activities to use in the classroom!

Best of all, these books make excellent gifts!

The Best STEAM Books for Elementary Kids

If you are looking for STEM activity books to try, you won’t want to miss these amazing picks!

free science lesson plans

The Best STEAM Books that Kids Will Actually Want to Read and Try!

These books contain fun STEAM activities that will inspire a love of STEM in kids in elementary.

THE MASON JAR SCIENTIST: 30 JARRING STEAM-BASED PROJECTS

Get out those mason jars and start experimenting! This book provides dozens of creative experiments and activities using a simple mason jar. Easy-to-follow instructions plus colorful photos foster the fun and engaging experiments while also allowing for creative discussion. Perfect for ages 7-11.

STEAM PLAY AND LEARN: 20 FUN STEP-BY-STEP PRESCHOOL PROJECTS ABOUT SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, ART, AND MATH

Fun open-ended projects for the young learner who’s not quite reading, but can follow colorful illustrations and images. Written to allow for play, mistake-making, and fun problem-solving, this book will allow your preschooler to get creative with these 20 projects.

TINKERLAB: A HANDS-ON GUIDE FOR LITTLE INVENTORS

Kids love to tinker and this book is perfect for sharing 55 playful experiments to encourage curiosity and creative thinking. This book is about creative experiments, in all fields, that help kids explore the world.

This book was written to help parents and teachers of babies, toddlers, and preschoolers understand and tap into this natural energy with engaging, kid-tested, easy-to-implement projects.

SIMPLE STEAM: 50+ SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, ART, AND MATH ACTIVITIES

Award winning STEAM book that helps prepare young learners for kindergarten. This book provides a excellent way to help parents guide young learners with problem solving while also remaining actively engaged with the material themselves.

Older children will also enjoy the projects in this book as well as helping to guide younger children. This book works well in the classroom as well as in the home.

Do your kids love STEAM activities? Encourage a love of learning and exploring in your kids this Christmas with these STEAM books for kids! The best STEAM books are filled with hands-on STEAM activities that will delight kids of all ages. Encourage a love of STEM in your house with this gift guide of top 10 STEAM books for kids! #stemactivities #steam #handsonlearning #scienceexperiments #giftguide

ART LAB FOR KIDS: 52 CREATIVE ADVENTURES IN DRAWING, PAINTING, PRINTMAKING, PAPER, AND MIXED MEDIA

This book contains a year of weekly hands-on art lessons including drawing, painting and printmaking, as well as paper collage and mixed media.

Lesson styles are referenced and related to contemporary artists. Because the lessons are open-ended, each lesson can be repeated with different results.

The exercises are engaging and will foster the creativity of the learner.

CLAY LAB FOR KIDS: 52 PROJECTS TO MAKE, MODEL, AND MOLD

These weekly projects introduce kids to a range of cognitive and manual skills while making figurative models. Projects use kid-friendly, no-kiln clay (air-dry, homemade, and polymer) and water-based paints.

These lessons work well in both home and classroom. Kids are limited only by the imagination in what they can create with these clay projects!

STEAM KIDS IN THE KITCHEN: DELICIOUS, HANDS-ON SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, ART, AND MATH PROJECTS FOR KIDS

Cultivate your very own sous chef in the making with this fun STEAM book full of delightful kitchen activities and recipes. Step-by-step activities help kids explore how and why food ingredients change and react under different conditions.

Appropriate for ages 4-10 and coded with difficulty indicators. Bon appetit!

BEDTIME MATH: THE TRUTH COMES OUT

Let math be fun with these kid-friendly problems to solve. Using their favorite things as subjects in math problems, kids will enjoy exploring these fun challenges in an adventurous way.

Instead of a story book at bedtime, use this book to share and explore fun mathematical concepts. Bust through any fear of numbers with these topics.

Three different levels of challenge are available so there’s something for everyone in this book.

STONE PAINTING FOR KIDS: DESIGN TO SPARK YOUR CREATIVITY

Beautiful color photographs spark inspiration while letting kids create gorgeous painted stones.

Written by an archaeologist and artist, this book presents step-by-step instructions for simple projects. Learn how to find and choose stones, how to select kid-safe tools and materials, how to set up a workspace, and simple art techniques and tips.

This activity allows kids to engage with patterns, shapes, designs of humans, animals, numbers, letters and other motifs. Storytelling with painted rocks is also covered.

THE ZOOM, FLY, BOLT, BLAST STEAM HANDBOOK: BUILD 18 INNOVATIVE PROJECTS WITH BRAIN POWER

Appropriate for ages 6 to 10, this handbook presents 18 engaging projects for kids and parents to build together. You’ll build amazing creations that can fly, race and blast off!

You’ll even build a working vacuum cleaner! These projects are kid-tested and parent-approved.

WENDY, WHERE DOES OUR WASTEWATER GO?

This is a fun tour of wastewater for kids that also has fun water-themed STEM activities in the back! If you’re looking for a blend of a science lesson with activities to go along, you can’t beat this book.

And best of all, it’s created by a non-profit in Washington, DC.

free science lesson plans

More STEM Gifts for Kids!

10 Best Science Experiment Books

STEM Gifts for Kids

Top 10 STEM Gifts for Girls who Love Science

Gifts for Space Lovers

Share this project with a friend!