Guess Who? for the Chemistry Classroom

Oct 9

One of the biggest challenges in teaching chemistry is keeping students engaged while reinforcing key concepts. But what if you could turn your classroom into a game zone where learning is both fun and effective? One creative way to bring excitement to chemistry lessons is by incorporating a chemistry-themed version of the classic game "Guess Who". This activity not only livens up the atmosphere but also reinforces critical thinking and content mastery.

What You’ll Need

Template for Making the Cards
Cardstock
Laminating Pouches
Guess Who? Game Board or Guess Who? 2.0 Game Board

How to Play "Guess Who" Chemistry Edition

In the classic version of Guess Who, players ask yes or no questions to deduce the identity of a mystery character. In the chemistry version, students use the same strategy but with chemistry concepts and elements. For example, you could set up the game with different nuclear notations (²³Na or ²⁴Mg) and students could ask questions such as “is your element an alkali metal” or “does your element have 2 valence electrons.”

Setting Up a Classic Guess Who Game

For this version, you need a traditional Guess Who? Game board, which you can find here. You would need to find a Guess Who template that you could add the desired content to. If you can find a Canva template, you can easily drop in desired images and change the text as desired. Check the size of the cards in the game you purchase first before finding a template! Different versions of Guess Who? Have different card sizes.

All cards (blue, red, and yellow) will contain the same information. For example, if you are using the nuclear notation on your cards, the nuclear notation ²³Na should be on a yellow card, a blue card, and a red card. There are usually 24 cards, so you would need 24 different nuclear notations.

Print the cards on cardstock (for durability) and laminate them to keep the cards lasting longer. Remove the face cards from the game board, and insert the blue cards in the blue game board, and the red cards in the red game board. The yellow cards will be the stack the student picks from for their partner to guess.

The advantage of this version is that they are usually easier to find at garage sales, etc. and they are usually cheaper (or might go on sale more often). The disadvantage to this version is that if you want to switch out the cards for a different game later in the year, you have to take out all of the cards from all of the slots.

Setting Up a Guess Who? 2.0 Game

The newer, 2.0 version, of Guess Who? has one sheet that slides into the back. The card the student picks for their partner to guess is up at the top of the board, and they slide a picker over their selection. The windows for the students to guess their partner’s are down at the bottom. But everything is all on one sheet. Which means you could create one sheet, print it on cardstock, and slide it in for the game. If you want to change it out later for a different game during the year, just slide out the one that was in there, and slide in a new paper for the new game.

I would suggest finding a template for this as well. If you can find a Canva template, you can easily drag and drop images into the proper places in Canvas. For this version, the bottom images can be the same, but I would rearrange the top images (where the student selects what their partner is trying to guess). If they are in the same spot on each sheet, the student might be able to see the window selector’s location and figure out which one it is based on its location.

How to Play

Pair up students and hand each pair a board with the full set of Guess Who cards. Each player chooses a card (without revealing it) that their partner will try to guess. In the original Guess Who? game, this would be a yellow card. In the Guess Who? 2.0 game, they will slide a selector over the card they want to pick.

Players take turns asking yes/no questions to narrow down the possibilities.

The game continues until one player correctly identifies the card their partner is holding.

Why "Guess Who" Works in the Chemistry Classroom

Reinforces Content Knowledge: Whether it's periodic trends, element properties, or common compounds, students must actively engage with the content in order to ask and answer meaningful questions.
Develops Critical Thinking: The yes/no question format forces students to think strategically, breaking down complex information into simple clues.
Fun and Interactive: Games are an excellent way to make learning feel less like a chore and more like an enjoyable challenge. Students will be more motivated to participate and review key concepts.

Adaptations for Different Topics

You can modify the game to fit any chemistry unit you’re covering. Here are a few ideas:

Atomic Structure
Groups on the Periodic Table
Bond Types and their Properties
Intermolecular Forces
VSEPR (shape, bond angle, etc.)

Conclusion

Using "Guess Who" in the chemistry classroom is a great way to engage students while reinforcing key concepts. It’s interactive, adaptable, and promotes critical thinking — all while making learning fun. Whether you're teaching elements, bonding, or periodic trends, this game is an excellent addition to your educational toolkit.

Give it a try in your next lesson and watch your students embrace chemistry in a whole new way! Thanks for reading. If you try out a game of Guess Who in your classroom, let me know how it goes on Instagram.