The Periodic Playground™
Where every element is a character, every family a story.
A story-driven science collection that turns the periodic table into a cast of loud, quiet, sparkly, shy, and wildly reactive friends. Children meet the elements the way chemists wish they had ~ as personalities, not points on a grid.
More Than the Periodic Table
This collection helps children understand the elements as living characters with jobs, personalities, and places in the world. The periodic table stops being a poster on a wall and starts being a neighborhood children can walk through.
As children meet each element inside a story, they begin to see the invisible scaffolding of their own lives ~ the air they breathe, the water they drink, the metal in their bike, the salt on their dinner ~ and science becomes a way of noticing.
✨ Did You Know?
Children who eat together with family at least 5 nights a week have stronger vocabularies, better grades, and lower rates of depression in adolescence. Mealtime is brain time.
What This Collection Does
Most children meet the periodic table as a wall of symbols that chemistry class warns them they’ll eventually have to memorize. The Periodic Playground was built for a wildly different beginning ~ one where every element is a character, every family has a personality, and learning chemistry feels more like meeting a cast than memorizing a chart.
Children begin to see chemistry as a story about relationships ~ which elements like to react, which ones stay calm, and why atoms behave the way they do.
Parents and caregivers gain an on-ramp to early STEM that doesn’t require a chemistry degree ~ and that turns every kitchen, every garden, and every thunderstorm into a science moment.
Classrooms discover chemistry taught through narrative ~ where understanding precedes memorization and curiosity lasts longer than a test.
✨ Did You Know?
Children form 5 working hypotheses an hour during free play. They are scientists already. We just give them the lab in story form.
Why Science Identity Forms Before Science Class
By age 5, scientific identity is already forming. A child either thinks “I am the kind of person who notices things and asks why” or quietly decides they are not. That single belief, formed in early childhood, shapes career trajectories, problem-solving habits, and lifelong curiosity.
Children exposed to scientific vocabulary in story by age 3 score higher on 8th grade science assessments than children who receive after-school tutoring later. The earliest exposure is the most durable.
Children are natural scientists already. They form roughly 5 working hypotheses an hour during free play. Stories that honor that instinct, instead of teaching around it, raise children who keep noticing, keep asking, keep discovering. For life.
For 50 Years, Researchers Have Asked Children To Draw A Scientist. The Answers Are Slowly, Heartbreakingly Changing.
In 1983, researcher David Wade Chambers gave 4,807 children, every reader, a single instruction: “Draw a scientist.” Fewer than 1% drew a woman. The study has been replicated dozens of times since. The most recent meta-analysis (Miller et al, 2018) tracked 50 years and 78 studies. The trend is hopeful, but the gap remains.
Children draw what they have seen. Every science textbook with no women, every TV show with one balding scientist, every classroom poster of the same six men ~ stacks up. By age 16, the stereotype has done its work. The kids who could have been scientists have stopped seeing themselves on the page.
“Children draw what they have been shown. Show them more, and they draw more.”
Miller et al. · Child Development · 2018
How To Reverse The Picture A Child Carries In Their Head
Identity calcifies early. The good news in this 50-year dataset is that EVERY decade has seen the percentage of women and people of color rise. Books, shows, and adult voices are doing the work. We can do more.
For Parents
You are the casting director of which scientists your child sees.
- Stock the bookshelf with diverse scientist biographies. Mae Jemison, Katherine Johnson, Marie Tharp, Tu Youyou. The names matter.
- Watch shows and documentaries together that feature women, immigrants, and scientists of color. Representation is exposure.
- Visit science museums, planetariums, nature centers. Make it normal to BE around science.
- When you encounter a “scientist looks like ___” stereotype, name it gently and counter it. “Lots of scientists look different from that picture.”
- Use “your scientist brain” as everyday language. “Your scientist brain noticed something interesting.” It plants identity.
For K-5 Teachers
You are the gatekeeper of which faces appear on the classroom wall.
- Audit your classroom posters, books, and curriculum images. If 80% are men, you are the curator of the stereotype.
- Tell story-form biographies of underrepresented scientists every month. “Here is a person who saw something nobody else did.”
- Use “scientists” as a plural noun in everyday classroom talk. “Today we are scientists. We are going to observe…”
- Rotate which student leads experiments. The kids who get picked become the kids who picture themselves picked.
- Bring real working scientists into the classroom virtually. A 15-minute Zoom with a chemist who looks like the kids changes their drawing for life.
For STEM Mentors
You exist. Let kids see you. That alone moves the needle.
- Volunteer for school visits. The “scientist who looks like me” effect is enormous and well-documented.
- Talk about your work in plain language. “I figure out why things break” is more accurate AND more memorable than your job title.
- Bring your tools, your sketches, your failures. Mystery decreases self-efficacy; transparency increases it.
- Mentor specifically across difference. Be the adult someone needed to see.
- Post your face online. Kids can find you. Be findable.
For School Librarians
You shape which biographies a child reads in their first decade. That curation matters.
- Audit your biography section. If the math/science shelves skew male and white, advocate for budget to fix it.
- Display new diverse-scientist titles prominently. Front-of-shelf placement matters as much as having the book at all.
- Run “scientist of the month” displays in elementary libraries. The face on the wall becomes the face in the head.
- Recommend by interest, not by demographic. “If your kid loves stars, here is the woman who mapped the ocean floor.”
- Partner with science teachers to align the books on display with classroom units. Reinforcement compounds.
A Scientist On Every Page Who Looks Like A Different Child.
Every Periodic Playground story is, deliberately, an answer to the Draw-A-Scientist gap. Different ages. Different bodies. Different cultures. Different curiosities.
A child who reads these books from age 3 grows up with a mental Rolodex of scientists who look like everyone they know. That is how the picture in their head changes. Not through one-off lessons. Through stories absorbed before stereotypes can calcify.
The scientist in your child’s mental picture is the scientist you put there.
Inside the Playground
Each book brings one element to life as a character with a name, a job, and a favorite way of showing up in the world. Within each of the ten family series, children meet the elements together ~ as neighbors, teammates, and characters who share a personality. Three of the main families also have Synthetics sub-mini-series for the lab-born members of the group.
Over time, the periodic table stops feeling like a grid of facts and starts feeling like a group of friends children would recognize in a crowd.
✨ Did You Know?
Children who personify scientific concepts ~ elements as friends, atoms as characters, reactions as conversations ~ retain 4x the content into adulthood. Story rewires science.
Ten Families, 118 Elements
EACH FAMILY OPENS A NEW DOORWAY INTO MATTER
Series ONE
Alkali Metals
The splashy, reactive crew ~ soft metals that flame and fizz the moment water shows up. 6 books.
Series TWO
Alkaline Earth Metals
The strong-bones brigade ~ metals that build skeletons, ring bells, and hold the world upright. 6 books.
Series THREE
Transition Metals
The everyday workhorses ~ iron, copper, silver, gold, and 25 more. 29 main + 9 synthetic = 38 books.
Series FOUR
Post-Transition Metals
The bendy metal mission ~ foil, cans, solder, and the pliable everyday. 7 main + 4 synthetic = 11 books.
Series FIVE
Metalloids
The in-between wonder ~ neither metal nor non-metal. Silicon leads the shape-shifters. 7 books.
Series SIX
Reactive Nonmetals
The life-spark labs ~ hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and the builders of every living thing. 7 books.
Series SEVEN
Halogens
The salty-savvy solution ~ salt-makers, disinfectants, and tooth-guardians. 5 main + 1 synthetic = 6 books.
Series EIGHT
Noble Gases
The quiet superpower ~ gases that float, glow, fill light bulbs, and stay calm. 7 books.
Series NINE
Lanthanides
The rare-earth rendezvous ~ magnets, phone screens, and the unsung heroes of modern life. 15 books.
Series TEN
Actinides
The powerful energy pact ~ uranium, plutonium, and the elements that light cities and split atoms. 15 books.
Start the Journey
Every book opens one more element into your child’s world. Start with the Alkali Crew and watch them see the universe a little differently.
How The Magic Works
The Science Behind the Stories
01
Meet The Element
Each element becomes a character with a name, a face, and a job. Oxy. Ferro. Carbo. These aren’t symbols on a chart ~ they are entry points into real scientific literacy.
02
Watch It Work
Stories show the element doing its real job in the world ~ filling a lung, lighting a match, rusting a fence, shining a coin. Children see how the tiny builds the everyday, one element at a time.
03
Spot It In Real Life
When the elements show up in real life, children finally have friends for them. They can say “that’s Oxy’s job” or “that’s Ferro doing his thing,” and suddenly science becomes a language they already speak.
✨ Did You Know?
Children exposed to rhyme and song in early childhood show stronger phonological awareness, the single biggest predictor of reading success.
Extend The Learning
Additional materials designed to support and deepen understanding beyond the story.
Every book in the series comes with companion resources designed to deepen understanding and spark conversation.
Printable Activity Packs
Hands-on activities that reinforce learning through drawing, writing, and creative play.— one per book.
Reflection Prompts
Thoughtful prompts that help children connect each story to their own experiences and emotions.
Parent & Educator Guides
Conversation starters and context for adults to guide children through each story's themes.
Free Companion Worksheets
Character cards, Quotes, & Coloring Sheets that help the lesson land and last. hese are included in the Paid for Activityy Packs.
✨ Did You Know?
By age 5, scientific identity is forming. A child either decides “I am a scientist” or does not. The right story decides.
When It Starts To Click
As children engage with the stories, they start noticing elements in the world around them. The copper pipes, the aluminum can, the oxygen they breathe. Matter becomes meaningful. And somewhere along the way, chemistry becomes a language children realize they already speak.
✨ Did You Know?
A child’s working vocabulary at age 3 is one of the strongest predictors of academic success at age 18. Every word read aloud is a vote cast for that child’s future.
For Parents & Educators
“When a child points at a loaf of bread and says ‘there’s carbon in here,’ the periodic table has stopped being homework and started being the world. And the world, suddenly, is a more wondrous place to live.”
~ MAISEL McLAULA
This collection was built for the adults who believe chemistry should start with wonder, not warning. The ones who want their children to look at the world and see how it’s made. Each story is grounded in accurate chemistry, shaped by character and story, and told with the joy of someone who has watched a child realize that everything ~ everything ~ is made of friends they just haven’t met yet.
Thank You For Letting Them Make A Mess.
Whether you are the parent who lets a 5-year-old mix vinegar and baking soda for the third time, the teacher who builds science around questions instead of answers, the museum docent answering 100 follow-ups from one curious 7-year-old, or the chemistry mentor who showed a child what they could become ~ thank you. You are growing the next generation of scientists, one experiment-shaped puddle at a time.
Children exposed to scientific vocabulary in story by age 3 outperform peers on 8th-grade science assessments. Decades later. The earliest curiosity is the most durable.
You are not just teaching science. You are giving a child the radical permission to wonder how things work, to test, to be wrong, to try again. That habit becomes a career. Or just becomes a beautiful way of being in the world.
Stay In The Loop.
Subscribe to the NextGen Learners Newsletter for stories from Maisel, behind-the-scenes peeks at upcoming books, free printable surprises, and the occasional very gentle reminder that bedtime stories are still the best technology ever invented.
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