Materials

3 colors of clay or marshmallows or a soft candy
Toothpicks or other form of small plastic stick

Instructions:

Students will make an atom from the period table. Atoms with lower numbers should be used to start depending on knowledge and time.

Example: Hydrogen is 1 electron, 1 proton and zero neutrons.

Helium is 2 electrons, 2 protons and 2 neutrons.

Roll the pieces of clay into balls. The red and green balls should be the same size and relatively larger than the orange balls.

Recommended colors (can change, but remain consistent for all):

Orange for electrons

Red for protons

Green for neutrons

Join the red and green balls together, either by pressing them together or by placing toothpicks between them. In the atomic model.

Push three toothpicks into the bottom of the red and green clay balls once they’ve been joined together, inserting them at angles to form a tripod on which the model will stand.

Place one orange ball onto the tip of a toothpick for the helium atom model. Push the other end of the toothpick into the top of one of the other balls of clay. This will represent the electrons within the atom’s electron cloud.

A model of helium (2), for example, would consist of two red balls, two green balls, and one orange ball.