One of my favorite quotes about the relationship between humanity and the universe comes from Carl Sagan (and made even more famous by Neil deGrasse Tyson). He said, “We are all made of stardust.” Not only are humans made of stardust but practically every single atom in the known universe (we’ll skip our discussion on the dark matter for now). Just take a moment, look around, take in your surroundings, and realize that everything we see and experience came from the death of a star (or the Big Bang or Cosmic Ray fission).

I love teaching the periodic table and its elements. One of the most interesting periodic tables I have ever seen is The Origin of the Solar System Elements. Jennifer Johnson created this periodic table with some images from NASA. It does an excellent job of categorizing where different elements came from during the Big Bang fusion. The elements came from cosmic ray fission, merging neutron stars, exploding massive stars, dying low-mass stars, and exploding white dwarf stars. The first two elements came from the Big Bang, and several smaller elements appeared from cosmic ray fission. Many heavier elements come from exploding massive stars, super-dense neutron stars crushing onto themselves, or super-dense white dwarfs exploding. Dying low-mass stars slowly shed off their particles as it decays, and those particles slowly spread throughout space (as we know, some of them made it to Earth).

This game helps build strategy and teamwork and is fast-paced and fun. The students will leave your PE class having a better understanding of the origin of the elements and be exhausted from all the exercise this game provides.

Materials: 

·      A large play area (a gym works best, but can be played outside)

·      Lots of homemade cards of different elements (use only the elements found on The Origin of the Solar System Elements periodic table)

·      Lots of cones

·      Lots of polydisc dots

·      Four hula hoops (works best if you have a yellow, orange, green, and blue hoop)

·      A printout of The Origin of the Solar System Elements periodic table for every team (which is usually four teams)

Minimum Number of Students Needed: This game needs at least four students to play. This game works best when you play with increments divisible by far. Still, it is not a deal breaker if you have uneven teams as long as they are adjusted by athletic ability.

Age: Upper Elementary and Middle School