The periodic table is one of those things students have seen for years before they ever really understand what they’re looking at. It’s been hanging on the wall of every science classroom they’ve walked into. They’ve maybe used it to look up an atomic mass or two. They know it’s an important chemistry thing. But for most students, that’s about it.
That’s one of the reasons I love teaching my periodic table unit. Along with lighting a Bunsen burner for the first time, I think learning how to actually use and understand the periodic table makes students feel like real chemists. Suddenly, this giant colorful chart they’ve been staring at for years isn’t so mysterious anymore.
My periodic table unit is usually about 10 class days, including the unit test, and I like to mix direct instruction and independent practice with plenty of activities and games. My unit moves through the history of the periodic table, groups and regions, periodic trends, nuclear charge and shielding, and finally electron configuration. Here are some of my favorite periodic table activities that I use along the way.
Start by Making Students Think Like Mendeleev
I start the unit with the history of the periodic table. Obviously we talk about Mendeleev. But instead of just telling students that Mendeleev organized the elements based on patterns in their properties, I want them to get a little taste of what that actually means.
After the lesson, students complete my Mendeleev’s Periodic Table Lab. Students are given anonymous element cards that represent real elements from Groups 1, 17 and 18 of the periodic table. Their job is to look at the information they’re given and figure out how the cards should be organized.
In other words, they’re essentially trying to recreate part of the periodic table without being handed the periodic table. I like doing this so early in the unit because students immediately start seeing that the periodic table isn’t just a chart someone arbitrarily designed. There are patterns in the properties of the elements, and those patterns are the entire reason the periodic table works. It’s also the key to looking at ANY ELEMENT on the table and knowing something about it, even if you’ve never heard of that element before. This activity is included in my Year-Long Chemistry Lab Manual as well as the smaller, Mini Chemistry Lab Book.
Color-Code the Periodic Table
Once students understand why the periodic table exists, we can start figuring out how to read it. We learn about groups and periods, metals, nonmetals and metalloids, and the major families of the periodic table.Then students color-code their own periodic tables.
This is technically included as a “lab” in my lab manual, but if we’re being completely honest, most chemistry teachers would probably call this one an activity. Students color-code the different regions of the periodic table and then answer questions about the patterns and information they’ve identified.
It’s simple, but that’s kind of the point. I want students to start getting comfortable looking at the periodic table and immediately recognizing things like:
- Where are the metals?
- Where are the nonmetals?
- Where are the metalloids?
- What does a group tell me?
- What does a period tell me?
- Where are the alkali metals, halogens and noble gases?
They’re going to use the periodic table constantly for the rest of chemistry. This is where we start making it feel familiar.
Play Periodic Table Battleship
This is probably one of the easiest ways I’ve found to get students to spend a ridiculous amount of time staring at a periodic table without realizing they’re practicing. It’s basically Battleship on a periodic table. Students place their “boats” directly onto elements on the periodic table. They have to place three boats in specific areas of the periodic table. Then they play!
Instead of calling out something like “B7,” students use groups and periods to locate their opponent’s boats. It’s not the most rigorous activity ever created, but it does get students looking at the periodic table, distinguishing between metals, metalloids and nonmetals, identifying groups and periods, and growing more familiar with navigating the table. And in my book that’s important, even if it’s not “rigorous.”
The activity also includes follow-up questions that bring students back to the chemistry, with questions about properties of the different regions and periodic trends. My students always loved the games in this unit, and I loved that they were getting more comfortable with the periodic table every time they played one. Periodic Table Battleship is also included in my Year-Long Chemistry Lab Manual and the Mini Chemistry Lab Manual.
Teach Periodic Trends, But Make Sure Students Understand Why
Once students know their way around the periodic table, we move into periodic trends. We talk about atomic radius, ionization energy, electronegativity and metallic character and learn how each property changes as you move across a period or down a group.
But I don’t want students to just memorize a bunch of arrows, or even the “Lucky Corners.” That’s why I follow my periodic trends lesson with nuclear charge and shielding. Students need to understand why those trends exist.
My regular rhythm throughout this unit is pretty straightforward: Lesson → independent practice → application
I teach each lesson using my Periodic Table Guided Notes, and students have Quick Practice to complete independently after each lesson. There are games along the way, with plenty of standard chemistry questions that keep them learning. But I’m all for it. Sometimes students just need to sit down and practice chemistry independently or with a partner.
Use a Chemistry Mystery to Practice Periodic Trends
This is an activity I’ve added since leaving the classroom, but it’s exactly where I would put my Periodic Table Trends Chemistry Mystery if I were teaching this unit tomorrow. After learning periodic trends, students have to actually use them.
Rather than answering another page of isolated questions, students work through chemistry questions to uncover clues and solve a mystery. This would fit perfectly after my periodic trends lesson or as review once we’ve covered nuclear charge and shielding. It gives students another opportunity to apply concepts like atomic radius, ionization energy and electronegativity before moving on.
As the students answer the questions, they narrow down a list of suspects to a single culprit in The Mystery of the Missing Mascot. There’s enough suspects that you can assign them to your students and they can role play a bit. It’s a lot of fun!
Play Periodic Table Guessing Game
This is another student favorite and you can grab this one for free! Periodic Table Guessing Game works pretty much exactly how you’d expect it to. Instead of a giant board containing all 118 elements, I’ve selected a smaller group of elements that I actually want students to become familiar with.
Students each choose an element and then take turns asking their opponent yes-or-no questions.
- Is your element a metal?
- Is your element in Period 3?
- Is your element a noble gas?
As they get better at navigating the periodic table, they can eliminate possibilities until they figure out their opponent’s element. But I didn’t want the activity to stop at simply guessing correctly. Students ultimately have to identify 16 different properties of both their element and their opponent’s element.
So they’re playing a familiar game, but they’re also repeatedly using the periodic table to pull information about individual elements. This activity comes from my lab manual, but I also give Periodic Table Guessing Game away completely FREE.
Keep Some Easy Periodic Table Practice on Hand
When you have just ten or fifteen minutes left in class, or you have some early finishers, I have an easy periodic table activity ready to go. It also makes great homework, if that’s your thing.
My Find the Elements Pixel Art has students identify elements from clues about their properties and location on the periodic table. This one could easily fit near the beginning of the unit once students have learned the basic layout of the periodic table, or it could be assigned for homework.
I also have element name and symbol practice that works well for extra practice, early finishers or unit review. I don’t expect my students to memorize the entire periodic table, but I do want them to become familiar with the elements they’re going to encounter over and over again in chemistry. This is a great mix of periodic table activities that can be used throughout your periodic table unit wherever you have the time to squeeze it in.
In fact, the list of elements I actually have students memorize is also free, right here.
Build a Giant Periodic Table for National Chemistry Week
If your periodic table unit happens to land anywhere near National Chemistry Week, this is a fun one! I have a printable periodic table that can be assembled into a giant classroom display, and rather than simply coloring the individual element squares, I like to make things a little messier.
We use shaving cream and food coloring to marble the elements. Students can still use different colors to represent the different regions or families of the periodic table, but the shaving-cream marbling makes each element unique and turns the finished periodic table into something that’s actually fun to display, and brings life to your classroom. (Spray the shaving cream on a desk or tray, then drop in some food coloring and swirl with a popsicle stick. Then stick your paper in face down to dye it. Then either squeegee the paper, or rinse it with water. Set it out to dry and you will have tie-dye or marbled paper!)
It’s a great National Chemistry Week activity, but you could really do it anytime you want a collaborative periodic table display for your classroom.
What Do I Actually Want Students to Learn From the Periodic Table?
I don’t need my students to memorize 118 elements. In fact, I think that’s kinda silly. I have a bachelor’s in chemistry and I don’t know the whole table by heart. I want them to memorize the elements that we use all the time in high school chemistry. For the rest of the elements (roughly 2/3s of the table), I want students to be able to look at the periodic table and get information from it.
I want them to understand why the elements are organized the way they are. I want them to recognize the major groups and regions. And I want them to use an element’s location to predict its properties! I want them to understand periodic trends rather than simply memorizing which direction an arrow points.
Most importantly, I want the periodic table to stop looking like a giant wall of boxes. Students have been looking at this thing for years. Now they finally understand what they’re looking at. And between the games, labs, activities and finally understanding this giant symbol of chemistry that’s been hanging on classroom walls forever, this is one of those units where students really start to feel like chemists.
