LearnLearn Guide for parents
How to teach kids the periodic table (without memorizing it)
The best way to teach kids the periodic table is to skip memorizing all 118 elements in order. Start with a handful of elements they already touch, like the sodium and chlorine in table salt, show them how the table is laid out, then let them practice names through play.
I'm a dad, not a chemistry teacher, and I came at this from a simple place: my two sons were happily learning hundreds of made-up monster names from card games, so I knew they could learn names. I wanted the names to be real ones. The plan below is the order I'd use with any elementary school kid. It needs no worksheets, just a few minutes at a time.
What should kids know about the periodic table first?
Kids should first know that everything around them is made of elements, and that the periodic table is the list of all of them. Three sentences cover it:
- An element is one pure kind of atom. Gold is all gold atoms. Oxygen is all oxygen atoms.
- Everything is made of elements, usually several locked together. Water is hydrogen and oxygen.
- The periodic table is the map of all 118 known elements, arranged so that elements that act alike sit near each other.
That's enough to start. Atoms, protons and electrons can come later, once the names mean something.
How do you teach the periodic table step by step?
Teach it in six short steps: everyday elements, the map, families, compounds, then a small set of names practiced through play. Do one step per sitting, ten or fifteen minutes each, and go back to earlier steps whenever you like.
- Go on an element hunt at home. Find elements in things you own: aluminum foil, copper wire, the helium in a party balloon, carbon in a pencil (pencil "lead" is graphite, a form of carbon), calcium in milk and bones. Kids remember an element better when they've held something made of it.
- Read the map, not the names. Show a printed table. Rows run left to right, and the number on each square goes up by one each time. That number is the atomic number: it counts the protons in the center of the atom. Hydrogen is 1, helium is 2, and the table ends at 118.
- Point out the neighborhoods. Most of the table is metals. The far left columns are very reactive metals. The far right column is the noble gases, which almost never react. The column just before it is the halogens, the salt-makers. A zigzag line near the right side splits metals from nonmetals.
- Mix two elements into something real. Sodium plus chlorine makes table salt. Hydrogen plus oxygen makes water. Iron plus oxygen makes rust. This is the moment kids see why elements matter: nearly everything is a combination.
- Pick a small set of names to own. Start with the elements from the hunt, then grow toward the first 20 elements a few at a time. Five names a kid really knows beat fifty they've recited once.
- Practice through play. Use the names in a game where knowing what an element does helps you win. That's the reason I built Elemon.
Why not just memorize the periodic table?
Memorizing the table in order gives kids a list without meaning, and lists fade. A kid who can recite "hydrogen, helium, lithium" may still not know that helium floats or that lithium is in phone batteries. A kid who knows those two facts has hooks to hang the names on.
There's a place for songs and mnemonics, especially for the first 20 elements if a class requires it. I'd just put them after the kid already knows what a few of those elements are. Order is easier to learn once the names are familiar.
Which elements should kids learn first?
Start with elements kids can find in daily life, then add their neighbors on the table. This set works well because every one has a story a kid can retell:
| Element | Symbol | Where kids meet it |
|---|---|---|
| Hydrogen | H | In every drop of water |
| Helium | He | Floating party balloons |
| Carbon | C | Pencil graphite, diamonds, and all living things |
| Oxygen | O | The air we breathe, and what fire needs |
| Sodium | Na | Half of table salt |
| Chlorine | Cl | The other half of table salt, and the pool smell |
| Aluminum | Al | Foil and soda cans |
| Calcium | Ca | Bones, teeth, chalk |
| Iron | Fe | Steel, magnets, and the red in blood |
| Copper | Cu | House wires and the green Statue of Liberty |
| Gold | Au | Rings that never rust |
| Neon | Ne | Glowing signs |
Ask about symbols that don't match the English name, like Na, Fe and Au. Kids love that these come from old Latin names, and it makes the symbols stick.
How do you teach element families to kids?
Teach families as teams with a personality: the fizzy metals, the salt-makers, the gases that won't react, the sturdy metals in the middle. Personalities are easier to remember than group numbers, and the real names can follow.
In Elemon, those teams are the nine battle types, like Blast for the fizzy metals, Acid for the halogens and Noble gas for the gases that won't react, and each one is a real region of the table. I wrote a separate post on how Elemon's types match the real element families, including the places where the game simplifies.
How can a game help kids learn the periodic table?
A game gives kids a reason to come back to the same names again and again, and to care what each element does. That's the practice step most plans skip.
Here's how to fit Elemon into the plan:
- Before the first match, open the Elemondex together and look up the elements from your element hunt.
- Play Solo on Easy first. Read the move facts aloud as they come up. Each move's "why" is one true sentence about that element.
- Ask one question after each match: "Which element won it for you, and what's its real-life job?"
- Build a team on purpose. Choose five lets your kid hand-pick elements. Try building a team around a compound, like Sodium and Chlorine for table salt, since bond pairs help each other in battle.
- Move up to Normal or Hard, or play a friend on a second device, once the type matchups click.
Keep sessions short and stop while it's still fun. The point is that next week, when your kid hears "potassium" in class, it's an old friend instead of a new word.
Frequently asked questions
What age should kids learn the periodic table?
Kids in elementary school can start with element names, everyday examples and the basic layout. The deeper ideas, like electron shells, usually come later in middle or high school science. Elemon is made for the elementary school stage.
Do kids need to memorize all 118 elements?
No. The periodic table is a reference you can always look at. Understanding the layout and knowing a few dozen common elements well is far more useful than reciting the whole list.
How do kids learn the first 20 elements?
Learn them a few at a time, starting with the ones found at home (hydrogen, helium, carbon, oxygen, sodium, aluminum, chlorine, calcium), then fill in their neighbors. A song or mnemonic can help with the order once the names are familiar.
Is Elemon a good way to practice the periodic table?
It's designed for that: every card is a real element, every move is a real fact, and the nine types follow real parts of the table. It works best alongside the steps above, not instead of them. For the game itself and how its nine types work, see the other guides on the Learn page.
Ready for the practice step? Start a solo match or browse the Elemondex together.