Simple little card sort activity, ideal for use as a paired starter activity. Can be done without cutting the cards out if you’re in a rush. Gives a range of simple every day examples of reversible and irreversible changes.

Making Magnesium Oxide - worksheet to guide students through the classic chemistry practical.

Making Sense of Chemical Formulae - a quick starter or plenary activity. Students are shown some ball and stick molecular models and they need to identify the atoms present. Can be done against the clock to add a bit of competition.

Molecular models and formulae. A simple little starter or settler activity, which can be shown to the whole class on the board or printed for individual students.

Scientific Investigation Template and Check Sheet - the zipped archive contains an investigation template and guidance notes, which can either be typed into directly or printed off. It also contains a check sheet, for students to confirm that their write-up includes all the important features.

Separating sea salt. A pairing and gap fill activity, ideal as a quick starter, plenary or knowledge retrieval exercise.

A crossword and word search activity summarising key ideas from the KS3 chemistry chemical reactions topic. Could be used as either a starter or plenary activity. Both activities have the same answers, so less able students can use the word search to help scaffold their answers to the crossword. More able students can do the crossword alone.

Hazchem symbol cards with their meanings and examples, which can be used as the basis of a card sort (if you have time) or gap filler activity (if you don’t). A quick and simple starter or plenary activity. Also a useful discussion point about hazards in the lab and the wider world.

Salt solubility data and graphs. The zipped file contains a spreadsheet and presentation containing solubility data and graphs for several different ionic salts (sodium acetate, sodium bromate, sodium formate, sodium chloride, sodium bicarbonate) and sucrose. Can be used alongside some questions as a quick starter or plenary activity to practice students’ data interpretation skills.

Properties and uses of metals combined crossword and word search activity, ideal for reinforcing key scientific vocabulary in a starter, plenary or homework.

Bundle of Hassle-Free Chemistry Investigations - contains presentations for five simple chemistry investigations that work first time and require very little preparation. The investigations are: Investigating how temperature affects the rate sugar cubes dissolve; Investigating how speed of stirring affects the rate sugar cubes dissolve; Investigating how temperature affects the rate of lateral diffusion; Investigating how temperature affects the rate of a chemical reaction (sodium thiosulfate and hydrochloric acid redox); Investigating how concentration affects the rate of a chemical reaction (sodium thiosulfate and hydrochloric acid redox). Each presentation contains instructions, diagrams, outline results table, outline graph.

Writing molecular formulae. A presentation that guides students through the process of writing the molecular formula for a compound from its molecular (ball and stick) diagram. For an activity I usually print out the 10 different ball and stick diagrams included in the presentation and stick them around the classroom. I then get students to rotate around them identifying and counting their atoms against the stopwatch.

Preparing salt. Presentation to guide students through the practical preparation of salt from hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide.

Elements, compounds and mixtures literacy task. Students are presented with several pieces of text, which they need to analyse and rearrange into the most appropriate order. They could then interrogate the text to pick out key scientific vocabulary, nouns, verbs etc.

Elements and compounds crossword, ideal for end of topic revision, as a knowledge retrieval exercise or as a homework activity.

Students rearrange the cards to make the word equations of four different chemical reactions. They then add the correct description card with each element or compound.

Using chemicals safely card sort and gap filler. Three starter or plenary activities in one. Students sort the cards into the correct groups of chemical name, hazard symbol and examples. Best done working in pairs. Students are given a chemical safety grid with some gaps, which they need to fill. Could be printed out or done on the board with the whole class. Students are given a risk assessment template to complete, based on their knowledge of chemicals they have used previously.

Viscosity Guided Investigation - presentation that guides students through the process of planning and carrying out an investigation into how temperature affects the viscosity of washing up liquid. Presentation includes structured planning questions, risk assessment template, method and diagrams, outline results table, outline graph and structured conclusion questions. I use this as an introductory practical for KS2 children getting into the science lab for the first time.

Renewable & Non-Renewable Energy Fact Cards - eleven brightly coloured fact cards each detailing the advantages and disadvantages of different renewable and non-renewable energy resources. Each card also gives a brief summary of how that particular energy resource is harvested and utilised.