Chemistry for Kids
Chemistry is the study of what things are made of and what happens when you mix
them, heat them or leave them alone for long enough. This course runs from Kindergarten to Grade 12
in twelve steps, each building on the one before, with a labelled diagram, a note written for the
grown-up, the first twenty elements of the periodic table, and worksheets that generate fresh
questions every time rather than repeating.
Open the course free →
How the course is built
- It climbs. Unit 1 is what chemistry even is, taught through bread rising and a nail
going rusty. Unit 12 is the chemistry you can point at in your own kitchen, by which point a
child can name the atoms doing it. Each rung assumes the one below it.
- The worksheets never run out. Every unit generates new questions on every press, and
the answers are computed rather than stored, so the answer key cannot drift.
- No element fact is typed by hand. Every symbol, name, atomic number and atomic mass
comes from a data table built from PubChem and cross-checked against Wikidata. Our tests
recompute more than a thousand generated answers against that table on every change.
- Every equation balances. The atoms are counted on both sides automatically, so an
unbalanced equation fails our tests rather than reaching a child.
- Where school books simplify, we say so. The rule that a shell holds eight electrons
is genuinely useful for the first twenty elements and stops being true after that, so the
lesson says exactly that instead of leaving a child to be corrected later.
- Every unit has a note for the grown-up, usually naming the misconception to listen
for. In chemistry these are predictable: that a gas is not really there, that dissolving is
the same as melting, and that atoms are tiny balls you could see with a good enough
microscope.
The first twenty elements
These are the twenty a grade-schooler is actually
expected to know. The small number is the atomic number, which is how many protons the atom has,
and the number underneath is the atomic mass. Print this page for a reference sheet. The full
table of all 118 elements is inside the course itself.
Reading it: rows are called periods and columns are
called groups. Elements in the same column behave alike, which is the whole point of
arranging them this way. Group 1 are very reactive metals, group 17 are the halogens, and group 18
are the noble gases, which hardly react at all.
⚗️ 1 · What Is Chemistry?
Kindergarten to Grade 2
Chemistry is the study of what things are made of, and what happens when you mix them, heat them or leave them alone for long enough. Every single thing you can touch is chemistry, including you.
What it teaches
- Everything around you is made of matter, and matter is what chemistry studies.
- Chemists ask three questions: what is it made of, what does it do, and what does it turn into.
- Cooking is chemistry. So is a nail going rusty, a candle burning, and your dinner being digested.
- Chemists test things carefully and write down what happened, including when it did not work.
- Safety is part of chemistry, not an extra. Never mix cleaning products, and never taste anything in an experiment.
For the grown-up: Chemistry has the worst reputation of the sciences and the best everyday examples, so lead with the examples. Bread rising, ice melting, an apple going brown. A child who notices those as chemistry has understood the subject better than one who can recite the definition.
Try it at home: ⚗️ Kitchen Chemist: put a spoonful of bicarbonate of soda in a cup and add a splash of vinegar. Watch, then write down what you saw, heard and smelled. That is a lab report, and it is a real chemical reaction.
Sample questions and answers
1. What does chemistry study?
Answer: What things are made of and how they change
2. What is everything around you made of?
Answer: Matter
3. Is cooking chemistry?
Answer: Yes
4. Is a nail going rusty chemistry?
Answer: Yes
5. Name one thing a chemist does.
Answer: Tests carefully and writes down what happened
6. Should you ever taste something in an experiment?
Answer: No
7. Should you mix cleaning products together?
Answer: No, never
8. Is your body chemistry too?
Answer: Yes
Worksheets in this course are generated fresh, with new questions every time you press New Worksheet, and every answer is computed rather than stored.
🧊 2 · Solids, Liquids and Gases
Kindergarten to Grade 3
Matter comes in three everyday states. What makes them different is not what they are made of, but how tightly the tiny particles are packed and how freely they can move.
What it teaches
- In a solid the particles are packed tightly in place. A solid keeps its own shape.
- In a liquid the particles are close but can slide past each other. A liquid takes the shape of its container and can be poured.
- In a gas the particles are far apart and moving fast. A gas spreads out to fill whatever it is in.
- The same substance can be all three. Water is ice, water and steam.
- Gases are still matter even though you cannot see them. Air has weight, which you can feel by waving a fan.
- Heating gives particles more energy so they move more. Cooling takes it away.
For the grown-up: The word gas causes trouble, because children often hear it as meaning smelly or dangerous. Air is a gas, and it is all around them right now. Blowing up a balloon and feeling its weight change is the demonstration that fixes it.
Try it at home: 🧊 One Substance, Three Ways: put an ice cube in a warm pan and watch it become water, then steam. Draw the particles at each stage as dots: packed, then loose, then far apart and flying about.
Sample questions and answers
1. Which state keeps its own shape?
Answer: Solid
2. Which state takes the shape of its container?
Answer: Liquid
3. Which state fills the whole container?
Answer: Gas
4. In which state are particles packed tightest?
Answer: Solid
5. In which state are particles furthest apart?
Answer: Gas
6. Name the three states of water.
Answer: Ice, water and steam
7. Is air matter?
Answer: Yes
8. What does heating do to particles?
Answer: Makes them move more
Worksheets in this course are generated fresh, with new questions every time you press New Worksheet, and every answer is computed rather than stored.
🧱 3 · Materials and Their Properties
Grades 1 to 4
A property is something you can observe or measure about a material. We choose a material for a job because of its properties, which is why windows are glass and saucepans are not.
What it teaches
- Useful properties include hard or soft, bendy or stiff, see through or not, and whether it floats.
- Some materials conduct heat and electricity well. Most metals do. Wood, plastic and rubber do not, which is why they are used for handles and cable covers.
- Absorbent materials soak up water, like a towel. Waterproof ones keep it out, like a raincoat.
- Materials can be natural, like wool and wood, or made by people, like plastic and glass.
- The best material depends on the job. There is no best material in general.
- Many materials can be recycled, which uses far less energy than making them from scratch.
For the grown-up: Push past listing properties into choosing. Ask why a saucepan has a metal base and a plastic handle, and let them work out that one material is doing two different jobs. That is real reasoning rather than recall.
Try it at home: 🧱 The Property Test: pick six things from around the house. For each, test whether it floats, whether it bends, and whether water soaks in. Make a table and mark each one. Then say which would make the best umbrella and why.
Sample questions and answers
1. What is a property?
Answer: Something you can observe or measure about a material
2. Name a material that conducts heat well.
Answer: A metal
3. Why are saucepan handles plastic or wood?
Answer: They do not conduct heat well
4. What does absorbent mean?
Answer: It soaks up water
5. Name a waterproof material.
Answer: Plastic or rubber
6. Name a natural material.
Answer: Wood or wool
7. Name a material made by people.
Answer: Plastic or glass
8. Why do we recycle materials?
Answer: It uses far less energy than making new ones
Worksheets in this course are generated fresh, with new questions every time you press New Worksheet, and every answer is computed rather than stored.
🔥 4 · Changes: Melting, Freezing and Dissolving
Grades 2 to 5
Some changes can be undone and some cannot. Telling the two apart is one of the most useful ideas in the whole of chemistry.
What it teaches
- A physical change alters how something looks or is packed, but it is still the same substance. Melting, freezing, boiling and dissolving are all physical.
- Pure water freezes at 0 degrees Celsius and boils at 100 at sea level.
- Dissolving is not disappearing. The sugar is still there in the tea, which you can prove by tasting it or by evaporating the water.
- A chemical change makes a new substance, and it usually cannot be undone. Burning, rusting and cooking an egg are chemical.
- Clues that a chemical change happened: a gas bubbles off, the colour changes, heat is given out, or a solid appears in a liquid.
- You cannot unburn toast or uncook an egg, and that is the difference.
For the grown-up: Dissolving is the one children get wrong, because it looks exactly like vanishing. Stir salt into water, then leave the dish on a windowsill for a few days. When the salt reappears the point makes itself far better than any explanation.
Try it at home: 🔥 Undo It Or Not: try four changes. Melt some chocolate, dissolve salt in water, burn a piece of paper with a grown-up, and freeze some juice. For each one, decide whether you could get back exactly what you started with.
Sample questions and answers
1. What is a physical change?
Answer: A change where it is still the same substance
2. Is melting physical or chemical?
Answer: Physical
3. Is burning physical or chemical?
Answer: Chemical
4. At what temperature does pure water freeze?
Answer: 0 degrees Celsius
5. At what temperature does pure water boil at sea level?
Answer: 100 degrees Celsius
6. When sugar dissolves, has it disappeared?
Answer: No, it is still there
7. How could you get dissolved salt back?
Answer: Evaporate the water
8. Name a clue that a chemical change happened.
Answer: A gas, a colour change, or heat given out
Worksheets in this course are generated fresh, with new questions every time you press New Worksheet, and every answer is computed rather than stored.
🧴 5 · Mixtures and How to Separate Them
Grades 3 to 6
A mixture is two or more substances jumbled together but not joined. Because they are not joined, you can always get them apart again if you pick the right method.
What it teaches
- In a mixture each substance keeps its own properties. Iron filings in sand are still iron and still sand.
- Sieving separates by size, such as stones from gravel.
- Filtering separates a solid that has not dissolved from a liquid, such as sand from water.
- Evaporating separates a dissolved solid from its liquid, such as salt from sea water.
- A magnet separates magnetic materials such as iron from a mixture.
- Chromatography separates dissolved colours, which is how you show that black ink is really several colours.
For the grown-up: The choice of method is the skill, not the method itself. Give a mixture and ask which technique and why. If a child says filter for dissolved salt, they have not yet separated dissolving from suspending, and that is exactly what to work on.
Try it at home: 🧴 Split the Ink: draw a thick dot of black felt tip near the bottom of a strip of kitchen paper. Stand it in a shallow dish of water so the water reaches below the dot. Wait. The colours climb at different speeds and separate.
Sample questions and answers
1. What is a mixture?
Answer: Substances jumbled together but not joined
2. How would you separate sand from water?
Answer: Filtering
3. How would you separate salt from salty water?
Answer: Evaporating the water
4. How would you separate iron filings from sand?
Answer: With a magnet
5. How would you separate stones from gravel?
Answer: Sieving
6. What separates the colours in ink?
Answer: Chromatography
7. In a mixture, do substances keep their properties?
Answer: Yes
8. Why can a mixture always be separated?
Answer: The substances are not joined together
Worksheets in this course are generated fresh, with new questions every time you press New Worksheet, and every answer is computed rather than stored.
⚛️ 6 · Atoms and Elements
Grades 4 to 7
Everything is built from atoms, and there are only about a hundred different kinds. A substance made of just one kind of atom is called an element.
What it teaches
- An atom is the smallest piece of an element that is still that element. Atoms are far too small to see.
- An atom has a tiny nucleus in the middle holding protons and neutrons, with electrons moving around it.
- Protons are positive, electrons are negative, and neutrons have no charge. In a normal atom the protons and electrons balance out.
- The number of protons decides which element it is. That number is called the atomic number, and no two elements share one.
- Each element has a symbol of one or two letters. The first is always a capital and the second is always lower case, so it is Co for cobalt but CO for carbon and oxygen together.
- Some symbols come from Latin names, which is why sodium is Na and iron is Fe.
For the grown-up: The capital letter rule genuinely matters and takes two minutes to teach. Co is cobalt; CO is carbon monoxide. Getting into that habit early prevents a surprising number of later mistakes, and it gives a child something concrete to be careful about.
Try it at home: ⚛️ Build an Atom: use dried peas for protons, sweetcorn for neutrons and pinheads of paper for electrons. Build carbon: 6 protons, 6 neutrons and 6 electrons. Then add one proton and look up what you just made.
Sample questions and answers
1. What is the smallest piece of an element called?
Answer: An atom
2. What is in the middle of an atom?
Answer: The nucleus
3. Which two particles are in the nucleus?
Answer: Protons and neutrons
4. What charge does a proton have?
Answer: Positive
5. What charge does an electron have?
Answer: Negative
6. What charge does a neutron have?
Answer: None
7. What decides which element an atom is?
Answer: The number of protons
8. How is a two letter symbol written?
Answer: Capital first, then lower case
Worksheets in this course are generated fresh, with new questions every time you press New Worksheet, and every answer is computed rather than stored.
🧪 7 · The Periodic Table
Grades 5 to 8
The periodic table is chemistry's map. Every known element has a square, and the arrangement is not decorative: where an element sits tells you how it will behave.
What it teaches
- The elements are laid out in order of atomic number, starting at hydrogen with 1.
- A row across is called a period. A column down is called a group.
- Elements in the same group behave alike, because they have the same number of electrons in their outer shell.
- Group 1 are soft, very reactive metals. Group 17, the halogens, are reactive non-metals. Group 18, the noble gases, hardly react at all.
- Metals sit on the left and in the middle, non-metals on the right. There is a staircase of in-between elements called metalloids.
- The first twenty elements are the ones worth knowing by heart. Hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, neon, sodium, magnesium, aluminium, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, chlorine, argon, potassium and calcium.
- A shell holding eight electrons is a useful rule for those first twenty, and it stops being reliable after that. School books simplify here, and it is worth knowing that they do.
For the grown-up: Do not ask for the whole table to be memorised. Twenty symbols and the shape of the thing is plenty, and understanding why group 18 is unreactive is worth more than reciting fifty names. The full interactive table is in Additional Learning Materials if your child wants to explore.
Try it at home: 🧪 Twenty Squares: draw a blank grid of the first twenty elements and fill in the symbols from memory, checking against the table afterwards. Do it once a week. Most children have all twenty inside a month without ever sitting down to learn them.
Sample questions and answers
1. What are the elements arranged in order of?
Answer: Atomic number
2. What is a row across called?
Answer: A period
3. What is a column down called?
Answer: A group
4. Why do elements in a group behave alike?
Answer: They have the same outer electrons
5. Which group hardly reacts at all?
Answer: Group 18, the noble gases
6. What are the group 17 elements called?
Answer: The halogens
7. Where are the metals on the table?
Answer: On the left and in the middle
8. Which element is number 1?
Answer: Hydrogen
Worksheets in this course are generated fresh, with new questions every time you press New Worksheet, and every answer is computed rather than stored.
🔗 8 · Molecules and Compounds
Grades 6 to 9
Atoms rarely sit alone. They join up, and when two or more different elements join chemically the result is a compound, with properties of its own.
What it teaches
- A molecule is two or more atoms joined together. O2 is a molecule of one element. H2O is a molecule of a compound.
- A compound is not a mixture. Sodium is a metal that reacts violently with water and chlorine is a poisonous gas, but sodium chloride is table salt.
- A chemical formula says which atoms and how many. The small number after a symbol counts the atoms of that symbol, so H2O is two hydrogens and one oxygen.
- A number in front multiplies the whole thing. 3H2O means three water molecules, which is six hydrogen atoms and three oxygen atoms.
- Atoms join by sharing electrons, called a covalent bond, or by giving and taking them, called an ionic bond.
- The properties of a compound have nothing to do with the properties of the elements in it, which is one of the strangest and most important facts in chemistry.
For the grown-up: Salt is the example to reach for, and it is genuinely startling: a violently reactive metal plus a poisonous gas gives you the thing on the dinner table. If your child finds that surprising, they have understood what a compound is.
Try it at home: 🔗 Formula Detective: find five packets in the kitchen and look for chemical formulas on the labels. Work out how many atoms of each element are in one unit of each. Sodium chloride and sodium bicarbonate are good ones to start with.
Sample questions and answers
1. What is a molecule?
Answer: Two or more atoms joined together
2. What is a compound?
Answer: Two or more different elements joined chemically
3. Is a compound the same as a mixture?
Answer: No
4. In H2O, how many hydrogen atoms are there?
Answer: Two
5. In H2O, how many oxygen atoms are there?
Answer: One
6. What does 3H2O mean?
Answer: Three water molecules
7. How many hydrogen atoms are in 3H2O?
Answer: Six
8. What is the formula for carbon dioxide?
Answer: CO2
Worksheets in this course are generated fresh, with new questions every time you press New Worksheet, and every answer is computed rather than stored.
💥 9 · Chemical Reactions
Grades 6 to 9
In a chemical reaction, atoms are rearranged into new combinations. Nothing is created and nothing is destroyed, which is why an equation has to balance.
What it teaches
- The substances you start with are the reactants. The ones you finish with are the products.
- Atoms are never made or lost in a reaction, only rearranged. This is called conservation of mass.
- That is why equations must balance: the same number of each kind of atom on both sides.
- Signs a reaction has happened: bubbles of gas, a colour change, heat given out or taken in, or a solid forming in a liquid.
- Reactions that give out heat are exothermic, like burning. Reactions that take heat in are endothermic, and feel cold.
- Burning something in air is called combustion, and it usually needs oxygen. Take the oxygen away and the fire goes out, which is how a fire blanket works.
For the grown-up: Balancing is easier with objects than with symbols. Use buttons of two colours on the table and physically move them from one side to the other. A child who has done that understands why you cannot change a small number inside a formula to make it balance, which is the classic error.
Try it at home: 💥 Trap the Gas: put a spoonful of bicarbonate of soda in a bottle, add vinegar, and quickly stretch a balloon over the neck. The balloon fills with carbon dioxide. The atoms did not appear from nowhere; they were in the vinegar and the powder.
Sample questions and answers
1. What do we call the substances you start with?
Answer: The reactants
2. What do we call the substances you end with?
Answer: The products
3. Is any matter created in a reaction?
Answer: No
4. What is that rule called?
Answer: Conservation of mass
5. Why must an equation balance?
Answer: The same atoms must be on both sides
6. What is a reaction that gives out heat called?
Answer: Exothermic
7. What is a reaction that takes heat in called?
Answer: Endothermic
8. What gas does burning usually need?
Answer: Oxygen
Worksheets in this course are generated fresh, with new questions every time you press New Worksheet, and every answer is computed rather than stored.
🧫 10 · Acids, Bases and pH
Grades 7 to 10
Acids and alkalis are opposites, and the pH scale measures where a substance sits between them. It runs from 0 to 14, with 7 in the middle.
What it teaches
- A pH below 7 is acidic. A pH of exactly 7 is neutral. Above 7 is alkaline, which is also called basic.
- Pure water is neutral at pH 7. Lemon juice and vinegar are acids. Soap and baking soda solution are alkalis.
- An indicator changes colour to show pH. Universal indicator gives a whole range, and red cabbage water works surprisingly well at home.
- When an acid and an alkali are mixed they cancel each other out. This is called neutralisation, and it makes a salt and water.
- This is why indigestion tablets work: they are alkaline and they neutralise excess stomach acid.
- The pH scale is not evenly spaced. Each step is ten times stronger, so pH 3 is ten times more acidic than pH 4.
For the grown-up: The step of ten is the part usually skipped, and it is the part that makes the scale make sense. It also explains why very low pH values are dangerous rather than just a bit more acidic. Strong acids belong in a lab, not a kitchen.
Try it at home: 🧫 Red Cabbage Indicator: simmer chopped red cabbage in water, let it cool, and keep the purple liquid. Add a little to vinegar, to water, and to a spoonful of bicarbonate of soda dissolved in water. Pink means acid, purple neutral, green or blue means alkali.
Sample questions and answers
1. What pH is neutral?
Answer: 7
2. Is a pH of 3 acidic or alkaline?
Answer: Acidic
3. Is a pH of 11 acidic or alkaline?
Answer: Alkaline
4. What is the pH of pure water?
Answer: 7
5. Name a common acid.
Answer: Lemon juice or vinegar
6. Name a common alkali.
Answer: Soap or baking soda solution
7. What happens when an acid meets an alkali?
Answer: They neutralise each other
8. How much stronger is pH 3 than pH 4?
Answer: Ten times
Worksheets in this course are generated fresh, with new questions every time you press New Worksheet, and every answer is computed rather than stored.
📊 11 · The Mole, Formulas and Equations
Grades 9 to 12
Atoms are far too small to count one at a time, so chemists count them in moles. A mole is simply a very large number, in the same way that a dozen is a small one.
What it teaches
- One mole is about 6.022 x 10^23 particles. It is a counting word, not a mass.
- The relative atomic mass of an element, taken from the periodic table, is the mass in grams of one mole of its atoms.
- So one mole of carbon atoms weighs about 12 grams and one mole of oxygen atoms weighs about 16 grams.
- The formula mass of a compound is the masses of all its atoms added up. Water is about 18, being 2 hydrogens at about 1 plus one oxygen at about 16.
- To balance an equation, change only the big numbers in front. Never change the small numbers inside a formula, because that changes what the substance is.
- Moles let you predict amounts: how much you need, and how much you will get.
For the grown-up: The rule about never changing the small numbers is the one to enforce, because breaking it turns water into hydrogen peroxide without the student noticing. Say it as a rule with a reason attached, not just a rule.
Try it at home: 📊 Weigh a Mole: work out the formula mass of water, salt and carbon dioxide using the periodic table. Then weigh out 18 g of water. That is one mole, and it is about a tablespoon, which contains more molecules than there are stars in the observable universe.
Sample questions and answers
1. About how many particles are in one mole?
Answer: 6.022 x 10^23
2. Is a mole a mass or a number?
Answer: A number
3. About what does one mole of carbon weigh?
Answer: About 12 grams
4. About what does one mole of oxygen atoms weigh?
Answer: About 16 grams
5. What is the formula mass of water, roughly?
Answer: About 18
6. When balancing, which numbers may you change?
Answer: The big ones in front
7. Why must you not change the small numbers?
Answer: It changes what the substance is
8. What do moles let you predict?
Answer: How much you need and how much you get
Worksheets in this course are generated fresh, with new questions every time you press New Worksheet, and every answer is computed rather than stored.
🍞 12 · Chemistry Every Day
Grades 9 to 12
The last rung is not new theory. It is looking at ordinary things and seeing the chemistry that was there all along.
What it teaches
- Baking: bicarbonate of soda reacts with an acid to make carbon dioxide, and the bubbles make the cake rise.
- Rusting: iron reacts with oxygen and water to make iron oxide. Take away either one and it does not rust, which is why paint and oil work.
- Soap: one end of a soap molecule grabs grease and the other grabs water, so the grease is carried away.
- Photosynthesis: plants use light to turn carbon dioxide and water into sugar and oxygen. Respiration in your body does very nearly the reverse.
- Cooking: heat changes the shape of proteins permanently, which is why a boiled egg never becomes raw again.
- Batteries: a chemical reaction pushes electrons round a circuit, and the battery is flat when the reactants run out.
For the grown-up: This unit works best as conversation rather than study. Ask what the chemistry is while you cook, or while a bike is being oiled. A student who can spot the chemistry in a kitchen has the thing this whole course was for.
Try it at home: 🍞 Chemistry in One Meal: cook something together and write down every chemical change you see. Bubbles, browning, thickening, setting. Then pick one and find out what is actually happening to the molecules.
Sample questions and answers
1. What gas makes a cake rise?
Answer: Carbon dioxide
2. What two things does iron need to rust?
Answer: Oxygen and water
3. Why does paint stop rust?
Answer: It keeps air and water off the iron
4. How does soap remove grease?
Answer: One end grabs grease, the other grabs water
5. What do plants make in photosynthesis?
Answer: Sugar and oxygen
6. Why can a boiled egg not become raw again?
Answer: The proteins changed shape permanently
7. What makes a battery go flat?
Answer: The reactants run out
8. Is respiration roughly the reverse of photosynthesis?
Answer: Yes
Worksheets in this course are generated fresh, with new questions every time you press New Worksheet, and every answer is computed rather than stored.
Safety, in one line
Nothing in this course needs a chemical you would not already have in a kitchen. Even so:
never taste anything in an experiment, never mix cleaning products, and do the heating steps with
a grown-up. Safety is part of chemistry rather than an add-on, and the course says so from unit 1.
Please note: BrightSprouts Academy is a supplemental learning resource for
families. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or a replacement for any official school
curriculum, school district, state education agency, or the U.S. Department of Education. Our
lessons follow widely used US scope-and-sequence guidance as a helpful reference only. Always
follow your child's school, district and state requirements.