From Chalk to Chemistry: Grade 7s Become Renaissance Alchemists!

As an art and science teacher - I was once told that arts and sciences don't go hand in hand. Well, my students have proven this idea wrong. Grade 7 students took a creative leap into the world of chemistry—by becoming alchemists and artists all at once!

As part of our Substances and Mixtures Unit, students explored the properties of elements through a hands-on art activity that blended science with history. Using coloured chalk to represent pure substances—blue for cobalt, yellow for sulphur, and red for iron—they crushed the chalk and mixed it with glue and water to create their own paint.

This wasn’t just any paint—it was tempera, a traditional medium used by Renaissance artists!

In this experiment:

• Glue stood in for egg yolk, a classic binding agent.

• Water helped achieve the perfect paint-like consistency.

• The chalk pigments symbolized elements from the periodic table.

Through this process, students learned that while elements can be mixed, they don’t always form new compounds—an important concept in chemistry. They also discovered how science and art have long been intertwined, especially in historical practices like paint-making.

The result? A vibrant, memorable introduction to chemistry that sparked curiosity and creativity. Students didn’t just learn about elements—they experienced them—while learning a bit of colour theory along the way.