The end of the school year is upon us (thank goodness!) And now the kids are going absolutely stir crazy. It’s so hard to keep them focused, especially with those final exams coming up! To keep morale high at the end of the year, I like to use fun chemistry labs.
These labs aren’t just fun, they’re great for reviewing and revisiting old content you’ve covered. I like them for getting in some final grades and lab reports. Or, just doing some fun labs that you weren’t able to get through at the “correct” time during the year.
Flame Test
You can read more about the flame test lab here.
There was one year that at the time we should have done the flame test lab, I felt that my class was too immature to handle the open flame of the Bunsen burners, even after Bunsen burner training. They instead got to watch me do the lab, and they wrote it up. But by the end of the year, this class in particular had earned my trust. They actually wound up being the class I trusted the most. It was a matter of taking the time to build it over the school year. Even though we had already done the lab technically, it’s always more cool to be able to do it yourself.
So I soaked the wooden splints in the metal chloride solutions and let them really do the lab. They had a great time! It was also AMAZING for reviewing content ALL THE WAY BACK from the Atomic Unit. While atomic structure is referenced all year round, electron excitation doesn’t get the same attention.
Ice Cream
You can read more about the ice cream freezing point depression lab here.
Time to welcome those hot summer days with some ice cream! When I usually teach Solutions, I love to do this freezing point depression lab activity. But that usually falls in February or March. And that can sometimes be tough. I mean, some of my students wind up eating ice cream for breakfast on cold winter mornings. Most teenagers don’t have an issue with that though! I think it makes a great end of the year chemistry lab.
The lab is so much fun, but it really is a lot of work on the teacher end. You have to coordinate food in your classroom: bowls, spoons, baggies, ice and much more. It can really be a huge project. Something that could easily be pushed back to the end of the school year when you (maybe) have a little bit more mental space to deal with the project. And potentially are more willing to get your students eating large amounts of sugar…
Collision Theory Glow Sticks
You can read more about the glow sticks Collision Theory Lab here.
For me, kinetics is usually taught in March. But because it counts as applied chemistry, it’s totally fine to teach it any time in the second semester, by my judgment. In this lab, you turn off the lights, and crack glow sticks. You can make this into a fun time, if you want. Decorate your classroom with glow in the dark stars! If not, the glow sticks will do a fine job on their own.
Students crack lots of glow sticks. They will be in different sizes and be put under different conditions. This ultimately will teach them:
- the higher the concentration, the faster the reaction occurs (size of glow sticks)
- the hotter the system, the faster the reaction occurs (hot bath vs. ice bath)
- if the system is stirred, the reaction will happen faster (crack and shake vs. crack and leave still)
Red Cabbage Indicators
You can read more about the red cabbage indicator lab here.
As much as I don’t like the smell of cabbage, this is a great lab activity. Students will create a standard using cabbage juice as an acid base indicator and solutions of known pH. They then use that standard to determine the pH of unknown solutions.
Not only is this great for building early college prep chemistry skills, but it’s an easy, and (kind of) low chemical lab activity. (And this is why it’s one of my favorite end of the year chemistry labs!) You can make the cabbage juice indicator by soaking the cabbage in water overnight. Then all students will have the same indicator concentration for their lab. You can also have students heat some cabbage in water extracting the juice. Each group will have a slightly different concentration, giving them some color variation, although not much. Choice is yours. (You can make adjustments based on what materials you have in your lab available to you.)
Slime
You can read more about the polymerization slime lab here.
Students obviously love this lab even though your custodial department may not. That’s why it might be a end of the year chemistry lab. I also teach Organic at the end of the school year, so this chem lab sort of falls right in place for me without trying.
Students will polymerize white school glue using sodium borate, or Borax. When this happens they make slime! It’s tons of fun. When you incorporate food coloring and glitter (if you’re brave) students make all kinds of customized slimes. I like to make slime too – then I use it to dust my car! As long as it’s not too sticky, it will pick up all the crumbs from inside your cupholders the vacuum just can’t get a hold of!
Using these Labs
All five of these labs and more are available in my full year chemistry lab manual. You can get that here. If you don’t need a whole year’s worth of labs, check them out individually:
- Flame Test
- Ice Cream Freezing Point Depression
- Collision Theory Glow Sticks
- Red Cabbage Indicator
- Slime
Prepping for Next Year?
Check out my free end of the year student survey. Students can share what they loved (and hated) about your class this year, so you can tailor it and be even better next year. I’m sure you’ll hear some things you wouldn’t have heard otherwise. I love giving mine each year.
