Chemistry Meets Geology

Our old friend Aluminum is a mineral.

Here are a couple of activities we did when our children were ages 4 and 6.

Activity #1:

Putting protons, neutrons, and electrons into place on a basic atomic model. We drew the circles of a Bohr's model for Aluminum on a piece of paper. We used beads as protons, neutrons, and electrons on our diagram.

Activity #2

Reading about the minerals that make up rocks in our Brittanica encyclopedia for kids, and finding each of them on the Periodic Table. The word "mineral" is written in blue and red letters. Consonents are in blue and vowels are in red.  We have element cards sitting out on the table with the names of elements that are minerals, like gold, copper, zinc, nickel, and lead. There is a small periodic table as well. We found each element within the table.

Here is an image of what our activities looked like when we set them up on our kitchen table.

Here are links to our other chemistry lessons:

Elements and their families: http://steamma.blogspot.com/2021/10/elements-and-their-families.html

Combustion Chemistry: http://steamma.blogspot.com/2021/09/fan-flame-combustion-in-space.html

Crafty with Carbon: http://steamma.blogspot.com/2021/06/get-crafty-with-carbon.html

Chemistry is for Kids:

http://steamma.blogspot.com/2021/06/chemistry-is-for-kids-building-with.html