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 periodic 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.

You can choose any colors, just remain consistent for all. We chose:

Blue for electrons

Green for protons

Red 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 hydrogen (1), for example, would consist of zero red balls, one green ball, and one blue ball.

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