Periodic Table Bingo: Engaging, interactive, and can be played with social distancing!
I took a survey in the end of 2020 and teachers overwhelmingly told me they need engaging and interactive ways to work with students in their classroom AND online. My goal of 2021 is to create these types of experiences for teachers and ultimate periodic table bingo was born!
This versatile set can be used in several different specific times during the year for learning. The Bingo Cards themselves have the following options that could suit teachers with students at different skill levels.
Periodic Table Bingo Card Options
As I worked on these, I thought about the ways teachers might want to use it. In a basic level class or a middle school class, teachers might want to work with only the first 36 elements or a bunch of commonly seen elements (which are the first 20 plus some metals like gold, mercury, and iron). In a regular or honors level class, teachers might want to work with more transition metals and use the set that has 54 elements. And then in an AP class, teachers might want to really challenge students and work with all 118 elements in a bingo game that works with electron configurations! So I included a ton of options to help each teacher teach different levels of classes.
Here are the options included:
1. Set of 40 Bingo Cards that contain a random set of chemical symbols from elements 1-118
2. Set of 40 Bingo Cards that contain a random set of chemical symbols from elements 1-54
3. Set of 40 Bingo Cards that contain a random set of chemical symbols from elements 1-36
4. Set of 40 Bingo Cards that contain a random set of chemical symbols for forty one of the most common elements seen in chemistry class.
Each of these 4 also comes with a black-and-white print edition, a color edition, and a colorful digital version! Teachers can send students a 40-slide Periodic Table Bingo Card Google Slides file and students can pick which card they could like to play! There are even digital bingo markers to drag and drop onto their squares.
Teacher Calling Card Options
There are several different periodic table bingo games you can play with this set; here are only a few included options:
Calling Card Categories and Corresponding Games (each comes with the 36, 54, 118, and common element options for you to easily print out and cut by themselves).
* Chemical Symbol and Element Names Bingo! In the beginning of the year, you could use these as a fun way to match chemical symbols with names. You can use the element name calling cards and give students each a bingo card.
* Chemical Symbol and Atomic Number Periodic Table Bingo! After you teach atomic numbers, you can use the atomic number calling cards and give students each a bingo card. They can have a periodic table in front of them and look up the chemical symbol for the atomic number that you call out to see if they have a matching chemical symbol.
* Chemical Symbol and Mass Number Bingo! After you teach mass numbers, you can use the mass number calling cards and give students each a bingo card. They can have a periodic table in front of them and look up the mass number on the table and find the appropriate chemical symbol on their bingo card.
* Chemical Symbol and Electron Configuration Periodic Table Bingo! After you teach about electron configurations, you can use the electron configuration bingo calling cards and give students each a bingo card. They can have a periodic table in front of them to help them figure out the electron configuration and matching chemical symbol on their bingo card.
* Valence Number/Element Type/Element Group, etc. You could use calling cards “metal”, “nonmetal”, and metalloid, and students could pick which chemical symbol on their page they want to pick as their match for that particular type! This adds some strategy to the game and also encourages them to use their periodic tables to identify a matching element for a particular category.
Additional Tool for Teachers teaching Digitally: Digital Bingo Calling Record Sheet
Alongside the printable calling cards for each of these corresponding games, I’m including a visual “calling card record sheet” on Google Slides. That way, teachers can also show students what is being called on the card. They can mark the items already called, so that students who step into the class late or don’t hear a particular call can just look and see what was called in what order. Teachers could use this so that students at home with glitchy internet or students who get distracted for a particular moment can still follow the game along from home.
You can find this set on Teachers Pay Teachers here or here in my own website store. Hope your students love it!
