Looking for some brilliant science books for kids?
Whether the third lockdown has found you home-schooling again, or your little one is showing an interest in subjects you’re not exactly au fait with, these books should help kickstart your year.
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If these books make you want to dust off the safety glasses and don your lab coat, try these easy indoor food experiments or find out how to help your children learn to code.
The best science books for kids to read in January 2021
What To Look For In Spring

Elizabeth Jenner
We might be in the chilliest months of the year right now, but soon the natural world will start waking up from its winter slumber to burst into life once more. This beautifully illustrated, pocket-sized book guides young readers through the wonders of nature that can be witnessed during spring, including meteor showers, boxing hares and bleating lambs.
Ladybird’s original series of What To Look For books was published in the 1960s, and this modern, child-friendly update is sure to appeal to the new generation of readers.
- Buy now from Amazon UK, Bookshop.org and Waterstones
Marie Curie And Her Daughters

Imogen and Isabel Greenberg
Many of us are familiar with Marie Curie, the brilliant scientist who made game-changing discoveries in the field of chemistry. Yet perhaps less well known are her two daughters, Irène and Ève, who grew up to be just as passionate and independent as their mum. Irène became a great scientist, while Eve was a journalist, war correspondent and humanitarian, who later worked for UNICEF.
This gorgeously illustrated book tells the remarkable story of Marie, Irène and Ève, as they travel the world, save lives during WWI and WWII and win Nobel Prizes.
- Buy now from Amazon UK, Bookshop.org and Waterstones
Made For Each Other

Joanna McInerney and Georgina Taylor
Sometimes it pays to have a trusted friend close by. In nature, teamwork can make the difference between surviving another day or becoming someone else’s lunch.
This stunning book, illustrated by debut artist Georgina Taylor, takes us on a tour through some of the most intriguing partnerships in the wild world. Whether they help each other to ward off predators, remove parasites, reproduce or feed, the organisms featured in this book have learnt how to work together to successfully co-exist.
- Buy now from Amazon UK, Bookshop.org and Waterstones
What’s The Weather?

Fraser and Judith Ralston
At a time when extreme weather is becoming more common, it makes sense to get clued up on the science behind it. This colourful book tells us about clouds, the climate and global warming, reveals how the weather has changed over Earth’s entire history, what it could be like in the future, and teaches us how we can predict the weather.
What’s The Weather? is jam-packed with bite-sized facts and cute illustrations that reveal intriguing titbits of information, such as the different names for snowflake structures and how lightning storms form. A great one for learning at home.
- Buy now from Amazon UK, Bookshop.org and Waterstones
The Awesome Power Of Sleep

Nicola Morgan
Teenagers today have to struggle with excessive amounts of screentime, pressure from social media, school stress, late nights, and worries about friendships. It’s no wonder they aren’t getting enough sleep! Nicola Morgan, an expert on the adolescent brain, explores the importance of sleep for teenage health, wellbeing and development, and reveals why a good night’s rest is so crucial.
With plenty of scientific evidence conveyed in an accessible and authoritative way, this helpful guide is a fascinating read for both teenagers and adults alike.
- Buy now from Amazon UK, Bookshop.org and Waterstones
30-Second series

A great series of books for revision, there are books on GCSE topics such as biology, chemistry and physics, but also specific titles including the study of genetics, the writings of Shakespeare and the science of Earth’s climate. Condensing each topic into 50 fundamental facts, these short books make learning straightforward and (dare we say it) interesting!
Also in the series are books aimed at adults, so if you’re a parent wanting an understanding of whisky or wine, classical music or even Paris, check out Quarto’s full collection.
- Search titles in the series to buy on Amazon UK and Waterstones
How Science Works

Although this book is primarily aimed at adults, it is full to brimming with easy to understand diagrams, illustrations and infographics that will spark the imagination of anyone that picks it up, young or old.
Teens cramming for an exam will love the fact that every page is dedicated to a specific part of science (think the quantum world, machines, special relativity or the carbon cycle), while for the rest of us this is probably the best science book if you need a quick refresher.
- Buy now from Amazon UK, Foyles and Waterstones
I Want to be… Series

Becky Davies, illustrated by Richard Merritt
£6.99, Little Tiger
These books for babies and toddlers make the perfect introduction to people’s jobs and what their daily life is like. Share stories of what an astronaut might do out in space, or explain what your role as a doctor involves. Where is that firetruck going? I Want to be a Firefighter can help answer your little one’s questions.
- Buy I Want to be an Astronaut from Amazon UK, Bookshop.org and Waterstones
- Buy I Want to be a Doctor from Amazon UK, Bookshop.org and Waterstones
- Buy I Want to be a Firefighter from Amazon UK, Bookshop.org and Waterstones
Turn and Learn: Our World

Isabel Otter, illustrated by Hannah Tolson
If you’ve been watching Sir David Attenborough’s new series as a family, why not explore more of the Earth with this interactive book for young readers? You’ll meet the people who live in the Arctic, the creatures that live in the desert, and see the world from a new perspective through Hannah Tolson’s detailed illustrations.
By the same author and illustrator is Turn and Learn: Weather, to help you explain how rain and the Sun, thunder and snow, come to be outside our window.
- Buy now from Amazon UK, Bookshop.org and Waterstones