Summary

In this project, students will study the chemistry behind a toy or novelty item of their choosing. They will look at the parts that make up their item and determine what materials each part is made of; the types of atoms, molecules, and bonds present in those materials; and their physical and chemical properties.

Grade Level

Middle School, High School

NGSS Alignment

This project will help prepare your students to meet the performance expectations in the following standards:

• MS-PS1-1: Develop models to describe atomic composition of simple molecules and extended structures.
• MS-PS1-3: Gather and make sense of information to describe that synthetic materials come from natural resources and impact society.
• HS-PS2-6: Communicate scientific and technical information about why the molecular-level structure is important in the functioning of designed materials.
• Scientific and Engineering Practices:
  • Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information

Objectives

By the end of this project, students should be able to:

• Describe the materials (elements and/or compounds) that make up a toy/novelty item and the properties that make them work.
• Describe the types of bonds (ionic or covalent) and intermolecular forces present in the final product.

Chemistry Topics

This project supports students’ understanding of:

• Elements and Compounds
• Physical and Chemical Properties
• Ionic and Covalent Bonds
• Intermolecular Forces

Time

Teacher Preparation: 10 minutes
Lesson: 50 to 60 minutes of class time, additional time as homework as needed.

Materials

• Computers with internet access
• Student handout
• A toy/novelty item for each student or pair of students

Safety

• No specific safety precautions need to be observed for this activity.

Teacher Notes

• This project would best be used after the following topics have been covered in class: elements/compounds and their properties, ionic and covalent bonding, and intermolecular forces. To adapt this activity to middle school or a less advanced class, you can remove the requirement about the types of bonds/intermolecular forces and have students focus instead on just the types of elements and compounds used in their item and their respective properties.
• Students should be given time to obtain their toy/novelty item if they do not already own it. You may want to have some options available for students who are unable to obtain one on their own or allow students to work in pairs/small groups. Some things are fairly inexpensive or can be made with materials commonly found around the home (such as oobleck, silly putty, Play-Doh, and even Shrinky Dinks using #6 plastics from certain food containers). Pairs or small groups may be ideal so that you can avoid having toys used more than once.
• Teacher approval is required for students’ toy selections so you can be sure they are school-appropriate and will have enough chemistry behind them to warrant researching for this project. The following list includes some examples of toys that can be used, though it is not an exhaustive list:

• Students may need some assistance thinking about the physical and/or chemical properties that make the toy function. Depending on the toy, it may be helpful to think about a material’s hardness/softness, stretchiness, smoothness, melting/boiling point, vapor pressure, density, solubility, conductivity, whether it is hydrophobic or hydrophilic, reactivity with a certain chemical, etc. Not all of these will necessarily be relevant to every toy, and there might be others to include as well. For example, vapor pressure would be particularly relevant to the drinking bird and hand boilers, density and solubility would be important for the lava lamp, and the smoothness/low friction of ball bearings in fidget spinners and yo-yos would be worth noting.
• Resources students can use to create digital infographics include Canva, Piktochart, and Venngage. You can also provide students with this article for some tips on designing a good infographic (many of which can also apply to posters).
• Students should be turning in the student handout, the final poster/infographic, and a complete reference page that lists all the resources that they used for their project, properly formatted.
• The last phase of the project is to provide feedback to another student. You can have students choose who they want to provide feedback to, or you can assign them yourself, but make sure that every student gives feedback and receives feedback from a classmate. The feedback sheet is available for download. Include the project name at the top of the feedback sheet for each one.
  • If you would like to have a class discussion after students view one another’s projects, you could have students respond to some of the questions posted on the feedback sheet.
• The extension part of the project could help students think about the design process and could tie into experimental design, especially if students are able to actually create prototypes of the alterations they suggest (though this might not be possible for all of the toys students select).