Our Chemistry Matching Pairs game arrived this week and we have already been using it and I love it. For only £4.99 what you get is excellent value for money. There is no way I could reprint all these images (75 cards with images and another 75 cards with the matching definitions) for this price, plus the time to try and find matching images and create cards like this, yip very good value for money.

The game arrived in the same format as the typical Oaka Topic Packs.

When you open up the pack you get an answer booklet and the cards are in this sheet format, all you need to do is pop the cards out.

You will now have 5 groups of different coloured cards. For each definition card there is a matching picture card. The cards are NOT laminated, which I actually like. I have seen one person comment on this and for us it is not an issue, I am using these with two kids aged 10 and 12, the cards last fine. We got our first set (the Biology matching game about 10 months ago and the cards are still fine.)

You can use these as a memory game or as a straight forward matching activity. We tend to do matching activities. I select some of the cards and then set out the images on one side of the table and the definition cards on the other side. My daughter then matches the images to the definitions (places the images on top of the definition cards).

Now, some of the definitions may not be word for word what your kids “text book / study book” uses. But please think about this, are you wanting your kids to just parrot-fashion learn a definition without understanding what it means? Or should they be able to read a definition which is worded slightly differently and figure out what it means for themselves? I am definitely of the second opinion. Yes some of these definitions are a bit different to what our main Science books says. But I actually like that because my daughter has to apply a bit of thinking and it actually shows me if she understands what the definitions mean.

I like the idea of a Chemistry matching activity because the kids do need to know certain Chemistry words and learning what they mean by using cards is just a lot nicer then using worksheets. Its as simple as that. Plus with the cards we can use them over and over again. I tend to sort through the cards beforehand and select a group and each time I select the cards I include different cards so there is a bit of variety. It works for us and it gives my daughter a nice break from worksheets.

I also find that for people who have kids of different ages or different abilities using the cards is an activity that both kids can do (you just sort through and give the youngest the cards which are slightly easier or cards that they have already learnt about). And as a home educating mom of two kids of different ages I love activities where I can do this (use it with both kids).

I think this Chemistry matching activity is a great addition to our Chemistry resources and one we will be using over and over again.