Tuesday 25 August 2015

The Periodic Table

It seems I can't hold L off any longer.  I've been promising to start chemistry as soon as we finished DNA and genetics, however L was just too curious about this whole periodic table thing to wait any longer.

The great thing about learning chemistry these days is that there are so many incredible resources out there.  This post will be mainly about sharing all of these amazing resources that we are using.

The first thing that I think is a must is this fantastic free periodic table printable.
You can download it here.



You can also print off cards to go with each element.  They are perfect for different card games, organizing elements by different groups etc.  Even though the cards have the atomic symbol on them I printed them out again for L to match.  One note is that they take an incredible amount of ink.  I only printed out about half of them and we are now out of ink so the rest of the cards are "pending".

I think my all time favourite resource is this super catchy periodic table song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUDDiWtFtEM

L has taken it upon herself to learn it all!  She's about a 3rd of the way through at the moment.  If you google words for the song you can print them out which makes learning it a lot easier.  Of course this is if you can handle hearing it 24/7!

Another resource that is not absolutely necessary but super cool is an app called The Elements.  It is an interactive periodic table.  You can click on each element and there is a write up plus different real life examples of the element.  I can't do the greatest job explaining it but check out this youtube video


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy5spdfugx4

I went for the full bundle and got Elements, Molecules and In Action.  I also got the free app goReact in which you can choose different elements and make your own chemical reactions.  Very cool.  L enjoys exploring the different elements and seeing how they react with each other.

We also got the book The Periodic Table: Elements with Style by Simon Basher out from the library.  L is not a fan of the illustrations at all but has flipped through it a bit.  Others who are in to this kind of comic book type style might really dig it.

Learning chemistry is so different from the days when I was in high school and things were as boring as could be!

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