We’re making a fun periodic table notes game with kids using a seemingly simple office supply in a great new way-sticky notes. Also, look at my post Homeschool High School Chemistry & Free Reference Sheet and Resources for more ideas.
If you are like me, you’re always trying to find fun ways to turn learning into a game.
Besides, your kids will have great memories of being piled on the couch, or around the kitchen table playing rather than hunched over textbooks.
We are going to take sticky notes and make a fun game that can be played over and over in a few different ways to help your children learn the periodic table.
Do you remember the Jeopardy game board we made from sticky notes?
I just flipped it over to the other side and boom we have a double duty game.
And if you keep it very neutral, you’ll be able to use this for Bingo as well as Jeopardy for any topic you like.
First, look at some of these living books about chemistry for kids.
Living Books About Chemistry for Kids
11 Chemistry Books & Resources for Kids of All Ages
But first here are some resources that are a great introduction and more to chemistry for kids.
Discover fun facts about the greatest scientists from history through Basher's fresh and unique illustration style.
Did you know that Marie Curie used to keep radioactive materials in her pockets? Or that Mendeleyev literally dreamed up his famous periodic table? Superstars of Science tells the stories behind the big ideas in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, mathematics, cosmology, earth sciences, and engineering. Read about 40 great scientists including Newton and Einstein who produced theories that explained the way in which the Universe works, Crick and Watson who uncovered the structure of DNA, and Alexander Graham Bell who had the big idea that became the telephone. Each one of these greats of science has had some vital flash of insight that has changed the way we see the world and the way we live. Come meet the superstars of science!
Discover the secrets of chemistry, and learn about the properties of matter and the ways in which they interact, combine and change. Chemistry is a compelling guide to a community of characters who make up everything around us.
This book is a classic in the field of popular science. Standard reading since the 1930s, it is one of the few histories of chemistry to concentrate on the lives of the great chemists. Through these dramatic and human stories, it gives an authoritative and entertaining account of the great discoveries and advances in this scientific field. After many printings in three previous editions, this book has been newly revised by the author for this fourth edition. Beginning with Trevisan and his lifelong search for the "philosopher's stone," the author narrates the lives and discoveries of such towering figures as Paracelsus and his chemical treatment of disease; Priestley looking for phlogiston and finding oxygen and carbon dioxide, Lavoisier creating a new language of chemistry; Dalton and his Atomic Theory; Avogadro and the idea of molecules, Mendeleeff arranging the table of elements under his Periodic Law; the Curies isolating radium; Thomson discovering the electron; Moseley and his Law of Atomic Numbers; Lawrence and the construction of the cyclotron; and more. Probably the most dramatic chapter in the book, the account of the development of nuclear fission, ends the story of chemistry at its most monumental achievement.
You’ll be amazed at all you can learn from this favorite drink – what’s in it, why it fizzes, what you can do with it, the containers it’s in, and more!
Napoleon's Buttons is the fascinating account of seventeen groups of molecules that have greatly influenced the course of history. These molecules provided the impetus for early exploration, and made possible the voyages of discovery that ensued. The molecules resulted in grand feats of engineering and spurred advances in medicine and law; they determined what we now eat, drink, and wear. A change as small as the position of an atom can lead to enormous alterations in the properties of a substance-which, in turn, can result in great historical shifts.
If you want your child to be able to explore and complete some simple chemistry experiments without running around grabbing all the items an all in on kit is just the thing to add to your chemistry studies.
Why did Gandhi hate iodine (I, 53)? How did radium (Ra, 88) nearly ruin Marie Curie's reputation? And why is gallium (Ga, 31) the go-to element for laboratory pranksters? The Periodic Table is a crowning scientific achievement, but it's also a treasure trove of adventure, betrayal, and obsession. These fascinating tales follow every element on the table as they play out their parts in human history, and in the lives of the (frequently) mad scientists who discovered them. The Disappearing Spoon masterfully fuses science with the classic lore of invention, investigation, and discovery -- from the Big Bang through the end of time.
Chemistry EditionChemistry Fluxx is the perfect compound of chance, skill and strategy-use atoms and laboratory tools to match the current goal of the game and win! The rules are always changing in Fluxx. The Keepers, Goals, Rules and Action cards determine how the game will be played.
For students, DIY hobbyists, and science buffs, who can no longer get real chemistry sets, this one-of-a-kind guide explains how to set up and use a home chemistry lab, with step-by-step instructions for conducting experiments in basic chemistry -- not just to make pretty colors and stinky smells, but to learn how to do real lab work:
- Purify alcohol by distillation
- Produce hydrogen and oxygen gas by electrolysis
- Smelt metallic copper from copper ore you make yourself
- Analyze the makeup of seawater, bone, and other common substances
- Synthesize oil of wintergreen from aspirin and rayon fiber from paper
- Perform forensics tests for fingerprints, blood, drugs, and poisons
- and much more
Written for lay readers, provides an introduction to the principles of chemistry and includes quotations from popular literature to show how chemistry and everyday life intertwine.
If you have ever suspected that "heavy water" is the title of a bootleg Pink Floyd album, believed that surface tension is an anxiety disorder, or imagined that a noble gas is the result of a heavy meal at Buckingham Palace, then you need The Cartoon Guide to Chemistry to set you on the road to chemical literacy.
You don't need to be a scientist to grasp these and many other complex ideas, because The Cartoon Guide to Chemistry explains them all: the history and basics of chemistry, atomic theory, combustion, solubility, reaction stoichiometry, the mole, entropy, and much more—all explained in simple, clear, and yes, funny illustrations. Chemistry will never be the same!
Next, look at some facts about chemistry.
Periodic Table Notes Groups and Facts
There are 118 elements on the periodic table listed by symbols rather than names. Sodium for example is NA. Elements are further arranged vertically and horizontally.
The elements arranged vertically in columns are called “groups,” and elements arranged horizontally in rows are called “periods.”
There are 18 groups and 7 periods. Finally, they are arranged in the increasing order of atomic numbers.
We are focusing on the main 8 families of elements.
- Alkali metals
- Alkaline earth metals
- Rare earth metals
- Crystallogens.
- Pnictogens
- Chalcogens
- Halogens
- Noble gasses
Too, look at these hands-on chemistry activities.
11 More Fun Ways to Teach The Periodic Table
- Another really great game variation is this Periodic Table Game for Kids: Periodic Table Battleship.
- Use fun and colorful books especially for upper elementary through middle school to catch their attention and make learning a breeze like this Basher Science Periodic Table.
- Easy Hands-On Science: Label the Atom Playdough Activity
- Combine art and science in this incredible The Periodic Table: Fun Activities For Kids From You Are an Artist.
- 10 Popular High School Chemistry Homeschool Curriculum
- These Periodic Table Flashcards are free from Thrifty Homeschoolers and make a great tool for visual learners.
- Learn The Periodic Table Song | SCIENCE SONGS for kids that are auditory learners.
- Medieval Chemistry and Homeschool History – Fun Hands-On Activity
- Atomidoodle Chemistry Game App
- 21 Fun Chemistry Homeschool Ideas for Kids
- 2 Fun Chemistry for Kids Experiments & John Dalton Notebooking Pages
A variation on the periodic table notes game is below.
So, call out a material. Then have your child cover the symbol that the item is made from.
For example: table salt would be an example of sodium (Na). Gold bricks would be gold (Au).
Finding 18 different colored sticky notes for the game is going to be difficult and can get rather expensive.
So, in the interest of time and money we are going to use the older version of the periodic table of 8 to make our game.
Before you play your game let your child become familiar with the periodic table by looking it up in a fun reference book and typing out each element and the symbol on the computer (you can use this later for the game.
Periodic Table Notes Game
You will need:
- 8 colors of sticky notes
- Permanent Marker
- A list of 118 elements & symbols
- Large ruler
- White pen or crayon
- Marker to cover, crackers, cookies, plastic lids etc..
- A bowl or other container
It can be a little tricky finding many distinct colors of sticky notes, ours were a combination of Walmart, Dollar Tree, and Amazon.
You could also just use construction paper cut into 3×3 squares or you can not worry about assigning each type its own color and just use a few fun colors.
First, start by finding the center of your board and draw a line across the middle to divide the board in half for each of your two players.
Find the center of the board at either end and make a small mark using a ruler to create a 4×4 grid of 16 squares.
Make them just slightly larger than 3 in square so that your posted notes will fit inside.
Once you’ve written or printed out each of the elements and the symbol to draw from, cut them out, fold or crumple them, and place them into a bowl or other container.
Use a book or some other periodic table for reference and determine which color of sticky notes will go for which elements if you’re going to divide them up by color.
Have your child write the element symbol for each of the 118 elements on the sticky notes or just for the section of the periodic table that you’re working on.
How to Make a Bingo Periodic Table Game
Once done they can choose their 16 elements and place them on to the “Bingo” board.
Pull elements out of the bowl one by one calling out the name of the element and have your child find the symbol on their bingo board and cover it with whatever marker they’ve chosen.
I highly recommend crackers or cookies to combine snack time with science.
When they have 4 in a row in any direction of course they call out “BINGO!”.
And the game can be started new again. Just move the sticky notes around and use new ones.
