The kids and I worked on the periodic table a few weeks before our vacation. We did this years ago, and Mavi was excited to work on this activity again. This is a continuation of our Great Lessons, and if you are new to this post, you can revisit the first and second parts of the activities here: (1) Experiments on the Laws of the Universe and (2) The Volcano.
After our discussions on the planets and solar system, we immediately moved to learn about the elements. My main goal here is to familiarize ourselves and be aware that the elements exist in our surroundings and are present in our daily lives. When I say familiarization, this includes being able to name a few aspects of our household. Yes, some of these are just within our reach! For this lesson, here are my objectives:
- Understand what elements are.
- Identify the solid, liquid, and gaseous elements in the Periodic Table.
- Identify the metal and non-metal (or organic).
- Identify the elements that can be found in your home.
First, I bought Mavi this book, The Elements, from Amazon. Also, we again used our element cards from this website, which I printed years ago. These are the cards you see in my previous post, Introducing Periodic Table To Kids.
The first thing we did wawas talk about the periodic table and how the elements are organized. Then we used the book to discuss the details and why there is a periodic table. After our discussion, I showed the cards to Mavi and reintroduced each element. The cards are color-coded, so it is child-friendly and easy for them to identify and sort out details. Mavi insisted on arranging the cards based on the Periodic table.
After the walkthrough of the elements, I asked Mavi to look around the house for the features described in the cards. This was the most exciting part of the activity. Vito also joined in, following his brother everywhere in the house in search of the objects that could match our cards. This is what Mavi came up with.
As you can see, most of the elements are straightforward; they’re so easy to find around the house! I love how the kids can learn about features using concrete materials rather than memorizing them from the periodic table of elements.
After gathering elements in the household, we discussed each of their properties. For example, we talked about phosphorus, read the properties in the book,, and then tested it (it is flammable, and required ADULT SUPERVISION).
Please note ADULT SUPERVISION is required at all times here. Enjoy!
Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google Plus, Instagram, or Twitter for updates! More learning materials at Pinay Homeschooler Shop.
Pin this for later!
This look so fun! Printing our cards now, thanks for the great post!
ReplyDeletenice
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing this post with us.
ReplyDeleteWonderful post
ReplyDelete