Crater Lab: Learn Elements

Crater Lab is a science lab on the rim of Crater Lake, Oregon. Mazzy is a Mazama newt, the newt that lives only in Crater Lake, and Mazzy is your child's lab partner. Every lab your child finishes earns Mazzy a new piece of lab gear: goggles first, a full scientist's kit by the eighth.

Crater Lab teaches children aged 6 to 12 the periodic table, one small step at a time: all 118 elements, from hydrogen to oganesson. At every stop your child meets a few elements, each with its symbol, its number, its family and where it is found in real life. Then they play with what they learned: drag protons and electrons into place to build an atom, find an element on the full periodic table with a looking glass, drop two elements into the beaker and watch what they really make (water, rust, a bar of bronze, or nothing at all), snap atoms together into water, salt and carbon dioxide, slide a thermometer to melt and boil an element, and hunt for elements hiding in a kitchen, a phone, a bike, a car, the human body, the sky and a fireworks show. Every lab ends with a little picture book, read aloud.

REAL SCIENCE, CHECKED
- All 118 elements with the symbol, atomic number and family used in school, checked against published reference tables
- Ten element families, each with its own color, the same color everywhere in the game
- Eight labs: the first ten, salt and sand, the metal shop, silver and sparks, gold and heavy metals, the lanthanides, the superheavies and the actinides
- Over 570 facts and 8 picture books
- About 150 real mixes, each drawn as what it really makes, and 66 molecules to build in their real shapes
- Anything dangerous is "scientists only": watched from behind safety glass, with no steps and no amounts
- Nothing is asked before it has been taught

LEARNS WITH YOUR CHILD
- A spaced-practice engine keeps track of every element and fact, brings back the shaky ones and moves on from the strong ones
- The Practice button builds a lesson from exactly what your child needs
- A Daily Experiment: one short mixed lesson a day
- A wrong answer is never punished: Mazzy helps, and the question comes back a little later

A PLACE TO EXPLORE
- Every lab has its own room and its own view of Crater Lake: sunrise mist at Rim Village, the boat dock, the forge, the fire tower at sunset, the lantern-lit vault, the star deck, the snowy atom smasher hall and the moonlit dome
- Seven hand-drawn hunting scenes full of real things to tap

LOTS OF ENCOURAGEMENT
- Spoken praise, streaks, stars, a sticker for every stop, medals, badges and a trophy shelf
- A collection board that fills in the whole periodic table, one element tile at a time
- A girl or boy scientist in five skin tones, so every child can pick the one that looks like them, with a matching narrator voice and a wardrobe of outfit colors
- Up to three players on one device, each with their own progress

FOR GROWN-UPS
- A grown-ups area (behind a multiplication question) shows each lab's progress and what is worth practicing next
- Sound, music and voice switches, and a reset for each player

SAFE FOR CHILDREN
- No ads, ever. No accounts, no sign-in, no chat, no links out
- No data is collected: progress and an optional first name stay on this device only
- Works fully offline

TRY IT FREE
Lab 1 (the first ten elements: 13 stops and the first picture book) is free. One single purchase, made by a grown-up inside the grown-ups area, unlocks Labs 2 to 8 for good. No subscription.

Recent changes:
First release! Meet all 118 elements with Mazzy the newt in eight labs at Crater Lake. Build atoms, mix elements, snap molecules together, melt and boil, and hunt for elements hiding all around you. Every lab ends with a picture book read aloud. Lab 1 is free. No ads, no accounts, works offline.