creouts
Five test tubes colored from red through purple to green beside a bubbling beaker and four periodic table tiles for hydrogen, carbon, oxygen and iron, with the words kitchen chemistry.

Field Notes

Kitchen Chemistry: A Free Periodic Table and Safe Experiments to Try at Home

2 min read
  • Science
  • Chemistry
  • Free printables

Chemistry is the science of what things are made of and how they change. You do not need a lab to see it happen: a kitchen has acids, bases, salts and water. We made a free chemistry set of printables: a periodic table, 12 element spotlights and 12 safe experiments, each on one illustrated page.

Safety first

  • Children should do these with a grown-up nearby, and an adult handles anything hot or sharp.
  • Never taste experiments, and never mix cleaning products.
  • Wear safety glasses for anything that fizzes, and never seal a fizzing reaction in a closed bottle.

Try it: the red cabbage color test

The red cabbage color test printable: five test tubes from red to green, a list of what you need, four numbered steps, a what is happening box and a safety box.
The red cabbage color test page.
  • Make the indicator: a grown-up soaks chopped red cabbage in hot water for 10 minutes and lets it cool. The purple liquid is your test solution.
  • Split it: pour it into three clear cups.
  • Add an acid: a little lemon juice turns one cup pink or red.
  • Add a base: baking soda stirred into water turns another cup blue or green. Plain water stays purple.

Why it works: red cabbage contains a natural dye that changes color with acidity. Acids turn it pink or red, and bases turn it blue or green. A dye like this is called an indicator. Do not drink the test liquids.

A periodic table you can print

The Carbon element page: a large tile for element 6, an illustration of a pencil and a diamond, three places where carbon is found, what it does, a fun fact, a mini periodic table showing its place and a safety note.
An element spotlight, with a mini table showing where the element sits.

The periodic table shows all 118 elements, colored by family, with a second page listing every name. Each spotlight, such as carbon, helium and copper, shows where you find the element, what it does for us and how to stay safe. Elements in the same column behave alike, which is why the table is arranged that way.

Games mentioned

Physical Science: Circuits, Motion and Density Escape Rooms, a Boom Learning bundle cover

Physical Science: Circuits, Motion and Density Escape Rooms

Eight self-checking decks for Grades 6 to 10. This bundle covers circuits, motion, forces and density, not chemistry.

See it on Boom Learning

Digital download: nothing is shipped.

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