12 Fun and Engaging Periodic Table Activities

In addition to teaching math classes, I have also taught physical science and chemistry at the high school level. The majority of these activities were designed by me to introduce my high school students to the periodic table of elements in an interesting way.

Hopefully you find some fun activities to help fill out your lesson plans and make learning science exciting.

Activities for Learning the Names and Symbols for the Elements

The following set of activities are designed to help familiarize students with the element names and other basic information about each element such as the element symbols before you move on to other periodic table basics.

Memorizing the names and elements can be quite a boring and tedious task, so combining it with a fun activity or two is advised!

How Many Chemical Elements Can You Name Quiz

This quiz is perfect for the beginning of any unit on the periodic table. Test your students to see how many elements of the periodic table they can name!

Element Bingo Game

element bingo card with bowl of bingo chips

I had my chemistry students take weekly element quizzes until they have the symbols of the first 36 elements memorized. To help them practice, we played a few rounds of Element Bingo to help them practice remembering the symbol for each element.

This activity doesn’t take super long, so you can combine it with several other activities to make up a single class period. A deck of cards is included to help you keep track of which elements you have called.

Element Quiz Generator

Chemistry teachers: do you want to give your students weekly element quizzes to test their knowledge of chemical symbols? Check out this template I made in excel to generate as many versions as you want! Good news – it also auto-generates an answer key!

Periodic Table License Plate Project

This Periodic Table License Plate Project gives students a chance to show their creativity while learning how to read the periodic table and understand what each number on the periodic table stands for.

Understanding the Periodic Table

These activities focus on moving past memorizing the names of elements and symbols to actually understanding how the periodic table is arranged and how it can be used.

How the Periodic Table Really Looks Activity

what the periodic table really looks like activity

I created this How the Periodic Table Really Looks Activity a few years ago when I was teaching chemistry. I wanted my chemistry students to understand that our modern day periodic table is structured the way it is because we want it to print nicely and be easily readable. This lesson is a great chance to fit in some history of the periodic table.

How to Read the Periodic Table Poster

This How to Read the Periodic Table Poster provides a quick overview of what is found in each square on the periodic table including atomic number, atomic mass, and chemical symbol. It includes helpful reminders that the atomic number tells us both the number of protons and number of electrons that an atom of that element has and that the mass number is the average mass of all the isotopes of that element.

How to Read the Periodic Table Foldable

This How to Read the Periodic Table Foldable is very similar to the poster linked above, but it is designed for students to keep in their interactive notebooks.

Periodic Table of the Elements Project

close-up of non-traditional periodic table with text "periodic table project"

I was really inspired by this Periodic Table of the Elements Project I saw in a classroom while attending Ed Camp Tulsa. Students were assigned different elements to research and create an element tile for. Then, these element tiles were assembled to create a giant periodic table display in the classroom.

Periodic Table of Mistakes Dry Erase Activity

text: periodic table of mistakes activity; image: periodic table with three red x's on it

At first glance, it looks like a regular periodic table, but there are actually 25 mistakes hidden within the table. Can you and your students find them all?

This is a free download from AACT (American Association of Chemistry Teachers).

Comparing Elements using the Periodic Table

Elements Odd One Out Chemistry Activity

I created this odd one out chemistry activity to give my students practice determining how the placement of an element on the periodic table tells us about how an element will likely behave.

I like to think of these as mini “periodic table puzzles.”

Sweet 16 Periodic Table Tournament

Which element will win the Periodic Table Tournament? My students had a blast with this activity! You could definitely modify this activity to include more complex topics such as ionic radius, number of valence electrons, or other chemical properties that you want to practice identifying.

Periodic Table War Game

colorful periodic table close-up with text of "periodic table war"

This Periodic Table War game features a deck of element cards which students deal out to one another. Students compete based on different properties of their element. It can be easily adapted to practice whichever concept you are currently studying.