There are worksheets and other notes for fun activities suitable for a closely supervised Chemistry club. Select an activity from the tabs on the right or the drop-down menu above to find out more. The student worksheets are in full colour and include teaching notes. Abbreviated versions of these resources are also available on the web pages.
Commercial copying, hiring, lending is prohibited. Permission is granted to reproduce for personal and educational use only. For example, you can download, copy and use the worksheets at home, school or in college; but you may not sell them or present them as your own work.
Health and Safety
When considering carrying out a practical activity with your class, you must check your local health and safety rules. Make an appropriate risk assessment and try the activity yourself first.
Anodising is an electrolytic process in which the surface of aluminium is prepared to take up dyes. Used soft drinks cans are an inexpensive source of aluminium sheet, which can then be dyed permanently using fabric dyes or fountain pen ink.
It is relatively easy to make blueprinting paper. Objects put on top of the paper block sunlight. Where sunlight can get to the paper, an intense blue colour develops. After washing, you get a white image of the object on a blue background.
In the days before people learnt how to make artificial dyes, the only way to dye cloth was using natural dyes. This activity involves making some vegetable dyes using simple laboratory methods. The dyes can then be used to dye some cloth.
We all know that if you let go of an inflated balloon it flies around the room. But can we use a balloon in a more controlled way to power a 'rocket' guided on a piece of string? You have to think carefully if you want to make a fast, long distance rocket.
We haven't got time to build a real lighthouse, but given one hour and some simple materials, we can build a model one. However, this needs team work and vision, as the winning lighthouse will not only be tall, but it will have a working light and it will have an elegant design.
It is easy to take your own fingerprints, though it's a bit messy with the ink. With enough care, you can find out what sort of fingerprints you have. You can also identify your friends from their fingerprint.
Different metal salts give off characteristic colours when heated in a Bunsen burner flame. In this activity, you can discover the different coloured flames made by metal ions, and work out which ones are in some 'unknown' salt solutions.
Doctors can learn a lot about a patient from their urine. Some simple chemistry is used in this activity to mimic the look and smell of urine. Different types of urine are made and tested for colour, odour, pH, and the presence or absence of protein and glucose.
Sodium nitrate solution can be painted onto absorbent paper and left to dry. A smouldering taper will set the paper on fire where the dried sodium nitrate is, and the paper will burn along the lines you have painted. Lots of fun, lots of smoke, and very smelly!
Face masks can be made using plaster of Paris bandages, available from craft shops. These can be modified and decorated in many ways. The activity will fit into three consecutive days, but it could also be done over several weeks as part of a club activity.
