The 3 Snow Bears Lesson Plan Fractured Fairy Tale STEM Challenge Winter Activity

The Three Snow Bears Fractured Fairy Tale STEM Challenge is a winter-themed STEM and literacy lesson designed especially for elementary STEM teachers who want to integrate hands-on engineering with reading.

This fractured fairy tale STEM challenge invites students to design an “ice raft” that can float and safely carry three polar bears, connecting directly to the book The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett.

Use it in your elementary STEM lab, classroom, or library to reinforce the Engineering Design Process, story elements, and compare-and-contrast skills in a fun, high-engagement way.

What students do:

• Read or listen to The Three Snow Bears (or another version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears).
• Use the Engineering Design Process to plan, build, test, and improve an aluminum-foil “ice raft” that floats and holds all three bears.
• Explore fractured fairy tales by comparing The Three Snow Bears to Goldilocks and the Three Bears using included graphic organizers and writing pages.

What’s included:

• Teacher instructions with suggested materials (foil, printable bears, water tub, craft sticks, tape, and optional book).
• Printable student challenge letter and recording pages (Ask, Imagine, Plan) for the raft design.
• Color and black-and-white Engineering Design Process posters to reinforce STEM vocabulary.
• Story-elements anchor charts for fairy tales and fractured fairy tales (good/evil characters, setting, problem/solution, magic, repeated phrases, etc.).
• Compare-and-contrast pages for The Three Snow Bears and Goldilocks and the Three Bears plus extra lined writing pages.
• Printable bear cards to use as passengers for the raft.

Teacher-friendly features:

• Aligned to NGSS engineering standards (K–5 ETS1), CCSS writing standards for grades 1–5, and TEKS science and ELAR so you can easily connect it to your curriculum.
• Built-in guidance on setting students up for success during STEM challenges, including tips for productive struggle, planning, and redesign time.
• Ready to use for a one-day lesson, STEM center, literacy integration block, or as part of a winter fairy-tale unit.

With this Carly and Adam lesson, you’ll give your students a memorable, hands-on way to explore buoyancy, design, and fairy-tale structure—all in one engaging fractured fairy tale STEM challenge.

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