Ionic Bonding Manipulatives for Students

A set of manipulatives to help students learn ionic bonding.

My friend, a chemistry teacher, wanted some manipulatives to help teach ionic compounds to her students. I found the original model on thingiverse and added some additional pieces that my friend wanted to include for her high school students.

I printed these at 70% scale as suggested in the original make and used a color change in my slicer to make the letters on top a different color.

The positive_ions_# and negative_ions_# files are collections of the manipulatives with amounts that work with the included worksheet.

Blank step and f3d files are included for you to make your own compounds.

Original description from the original creator:

Overview and Background

Manipulatives students can use to make ionic compounds and write their chemical formulas. Print positive and negative ions in different colors. The models pictured were printed at 70% to reduce the printing time. I added blank pieces so you can make additional ions by adding the symbol and charge, or just print the blanks and write them on with a marker.

Lesson Plan and Activity

1. Print out sets of pieces for each group of students (see above). I have the students work in pairs. 
2. Give the students a list of ionic compounds to build. You can download and print the PDF file included here, or create your own.
3. Students will use the pieces to build ionic compounds. Completed compounds should be rectangles, with no open tabs or slots.
4. Students will write the formula for the ionic compound using the symbols and adding subscripts for the number of each ion in the compound. Optional - the students could take a picture of their compound and include it with their formula.

Project: Ionic Bonding

Objective

Construct ionic compounds and write their formulas

Audience

This project was designed for a 7th grade chemistry class

Preparation

This project is intended to be used as part of a unit on ionic bonding. Print out the positive and negative ions in different colors. Use a marker to color the symbol and charge of the ions. Write the names of the ions on the back of the pieces if the students will have trouble recognizing them by their symbols. You can store sets of ion pieces in zip-lock bags for easy storage.

Steps

Print out sets of pieces for each group of students (see above). I have the students work in pairs.

Give the students a list of ionic compounds to build. You can download and print the PDF file included here, or create your own.

Students will use the pieces to build ionic compounds. Completed compounds should be rectangles, with no open tabs or slots.

1. Students will write the formula for the ionic compound using the symbols and adding subscripts for the number of each ion in the compound. Optional - the students could take a picture of their compound and include it with their formula.
2. Give the students a list of ionic compounds to build. You can download and print the PDF file included here, or create your own.
3. Students will use the pieces to build ionic compounds. Completed compounds should be rectangles, with no open tabs or slots.
4. Students will write the formula for the ionic compound using the symbols and adding subscripts for the number of each ion in the compound. Optional - the students could take a picture of their compound and include it with their formula.

Results

This project was successfully used with 2 groups of 7th grade students. Don't mix in polyatomic ions until they get comfortable making balanced compounds and writing formulas.