Periodic Table Shows What Elements are Used for

If you’re teaching science, sometimes it is hard to talk about the elements because many of them seem like things that don’t really affect our daily lives.

That’s what’s so cool about this interactive periodic table of the elements designed by Keith Enevoldsen. Each element shows something that it is used for. When you click on it you’ll see more information.

For example, you’ll learn that strotium is a soft metal that is used in red fireworks, flares and as a medical diagnostic tracer, among other things. It’s an alkali earth metal, which is not found free in nature and is soft and brittle in its pure form.

This is such a great tool for making science more real for kids. Check it out!

[Photo via elements.wlonk.com.]

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Celebrate Earth Day with Kids

I love the idea of unit studies, which can be done at school, in a homeschool environment or just for fun at home as a way to learn about something specific your kids might be into (or maybe that you are interested in and want them to know more about).

Simply Learning Together put together a homeschool unit study on the Vikings, which sounds like a lot of fun, first off, but it also walks you through the process of how she develops a unit study for her kids so you can do it, too.

It’s a pretty simple process that involves going to the library, reading and researching yourself, then developing some activities and lessons based on what you have learned.

This unit study for the Vikings, for example, shares the books she read and how she planned out the activities. In the post you’ll find a link to a printable map they used, and she talks about different activities they did including baking bread, having a super cute Viking lunch (a sandwich with banana horns to make it look like a Viking helmet!), working with runes, having a snack in “Viking horns” (waffle cones) as well as music, language arts and notebook activities they did.

You could definitely build off these ideas using the books available in your local public library or through doing your own research to find more information and activities your kids might be interested in depending on their age. You could throw in some Viking mythology, for example (I love Norse Mythology for Smart People as a source). Add some STEM with this how to build a Viking ship activity from Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus, or make a Viking shield out of cardboard with this idea from This Crafty Family. There are tons of great ideas out there once you start looking!

[Photo: Simply Learning Together]

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