Books About Rocks for Young Kids

In addition to the books we already have in our collection, we checked out over 20 more books about rocks to go along with our R is for Rocks theme. We do a lot of reading to go along with our themes, and I like to have a good amount of books in bins around the house for the kids to look at.

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More Resources for Little Book Lovers

The best way to encourage a love of reading is to provide kids with many opportunities to engage with a wide variety of books that are of interest to them. That’s why we share so many books lists on Fantastic Fun and Learning. We want to make it easy for you to find great books your kids will love. Over the years we’ve also discovered some helpful tools for connecting kids and books.

Digital libraries are one very handy way to do this. Epic! is one of our favorite online libraries. It’s full of over 25,000 books, learning videos, quizzes and more for kids 12 and under…and it’s free for educators. Click here to learn more and sign up.

Book Boxes are another fun way to get kids excited about reading. What kid doesn’t love to get a special delivery in the mail?! The crew over at Bookroo finds the best little known books that you won’t already have in your library, and they send them to you each month. Take a peak inside a Bookroo Box here.

Book-Based Activities are also a lot of fun for kids. Jodie over at Growing Book by Book has saved us all a ton of time and created a full year of Book-Based Activity Calendars so that you can extend the fun with a special book each week.
There were a few books that really stood out and grabbed the attention of my preschoolers.

Books about Rocks

Geology Rocks!: 50 Hands-On Activities to Explore the Earth is not a read aloud, but it is a wonderful resource. There are many activities to choose from. Some of them are appropriate for preschool, and others would be best to use with older kids. This is definitely a book that we will refer to again and again as we focus on different topics about rocks and geology in general. Some of my favorite activities that preschoolers would enjoy are:

• Using tweezers to excavate gold (chips) from Earth (a cookie)
• Making and comparing sugar glass and a sugar stick to learn about how rocks cool
• Creating a sandstone sculpture with three common ingredients
• Learning about how caves form with the candy caves experiment

If You Find a Rock tells about discovering different kinds of rocks but the classifications are different from the norm. Along the way kids are introduced to a chalk rock, a wishing rock, sifting rocks, a worry rock, a hiding rock, and more. Reading the book on its own may be a little abstract for younger preschoolers, but if you have a collection of rocks for them to hold and discuss then the book becomes a wonderful tool for learning and conversation. This is a great book to read before heading out on a nature walk. Since reading it my oldest daughter continually tells me what kind of rocks she is finding when we are out and about.

Roxaboxen is a personal favorite of mine. It tells of a special place across the road from a child’s home. It is a sand lot with old rocks and boxes , but over the years it becomes a cherished play space for the local kids. This is based on a true story. And it is a wonderful story that reminds me of the magic of childhood. We made the story come alive by collecting some small boxes, stones, marbles, and small Playmobil and Lego people. Then the kids had fun creating their own “Roxaboxen” in our sand box.

In Milo and the Magical Stones the main character lives on an island in the middle of the sea. There he discovers a magic, glowing stone. After making this discovery the reader gets to decide how the rest of the story goes as the story splits in two sections (pages are split into a top half and a bottom half). We read both versions to see how the choices the mice make impact everyone. Then the kids talked about which version they liked and why. We also talked about what lessons can be learned from the story. Older kids could also write their own endings to the story.

The main character in Everybody Needs a Rock  shares ten very specific rules for finding a rock, not just any rock but that one special rock. This is a fun story to read before going out rock collecting.

There were also a few books that I wanted to include. The books in the widget below might be useful if:

1) You have a preschooler who is particularly intrigued by rocks and wants to know more.

2) You are teaching kids of different ages and want to study the same theme at the same time.

3) You like to have extra books on hand to help research questions that come up during your theme. (I like to be able to show the kids how to find the answer to a question they ask.)

Do you know of any books about rocks that would be great for preschoolers?

You can find more activities and ideas for teaching kids about rocks on my Pinterest boards.

Get a full week of playful rock theme ideas!

Save time and get right to the playful learning with our printable lesson plan sets. Each set includes over 30 playful learning activities related to the theme, and we’ve provided different versions for home preschool families and classroom teachers so all activities are geared directly toward your needs.

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Home Preschool  Rocks Theme Lesson Plans

Preschool Classroom Rocks Theme Lesson Plans

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