Elementary Chemistry unit

I had great plans for our homeschool science this year, I was going to cover chemistry.  Then my daughter reminded me, not so patiently, it was HER turn to pick science and she wanted to study animals.  So, I’m going to satisfy myself with making this elementary chemistry unit for you.

Why make an elementary chemistry unit?

Aside from the fact chemistry is fun?  I loved studying chemistry in high school, balancing formulas, mixing stuff.  I also remember being given a chemistry set in 5th grade and promptly mixing every single item together and being immensely disappointed nothing happened.

Chemistry is easy to demonstrate, and it’s an easy way to build a love of science in your kids.

{I received a free copy of Eddie the Electron and was compensated for my time.  All opinions and ideas are mine.  This post contains affiliate links marked with a *.  For more information read my disclosure page}

Elementary chemistry unit resources

• Eddie the Electron*- I like this book for introducing the atom and the different parts.  It’s very basic, but this is an elementary chemistry unit.  Give me a few years, and we’ll be doing all sorts of dangerous stuff.
• Icing Writer Tube*- the price here is horrid, but it lets you know what I bought
• icing and sugar cookies- use whatever your favorite recipe is, mine is from our Santa cookies
• M&MS Milk Minis*- I used full sized ones and it really made both activities harder
• Be Amazing Toys Test Tube Adventures*- This is the best chemistry inspired kit I’ve found

 

Elementary Chemistry Unit Lesson plans

First, read Eddie the Electron, this will give you a great introduction to atoms and how they work (It’s a shame I’m nowhere near the author, she has a really cool workshop to go with the book, my co-op would love it)

Of course, in my world, you have to make really sure they understand the topic, and I’ve been getting better at kitchen lessons not going horribly wrong, well I can make sugar cookies, so we made sugar cookie atoms.

Which led us to the next activity.  I found an amazing chemistry game to explain atoms and isotopes and how they interact.  Of course, any game that involves large amounts of M&Ms is wildly popular.

(PST, I’m interrupting this post to tell you, check out Amberjack Publishing’s writing tips Pinterest board, they have some great tips for older writers, I now return you to your regularly scheduled post)

Finally, we tried out one of the experiments from the kit I linked up above and talked through how the atoms were interacting with each other produce the effects we saw.

 

All in all, we had fun with our elementary chemistry unit, and it delayed my need to teach chemistry for a little bit.  As I’m typing my kids are busy continuing to work with the kit I linked to and talking about all they learned from Eddie the Electron.

Get Eddie the Electron

While you can purchase it from my Amazon link up above, if you buy it from Amberjack Publishing and use the code ihomeschool10 you’ll get 10% off if used before October 31, 2015.  I’d highly recommend this book if you’re wanting to introduce your kids to the world of atoms, it’s fun and engaging and right at the perfect level for elementary kids.  I’m hoping she makes another book about molecules and the atoms combining together.  It would be a perfect follow-on to this book, fingers crossed she writes it.

 

More science ideas to try