Posts Tagged writing tips

STEM Tuesday– Chemistry– Writing Tips & Resources

By on February 17, 2026   /   Chemistry, STEM Tuesday  

Chemistry Love & The Power of (Word) Attraction

February

Can the month of love be the perfect month for a STEM Tuesday post on chemistry? 

Yes, it can. 

Love = Attraction

Chemistry = Attraction 

Chemistry = Love!

Creating a STEM-themed piece of writing or any other creative endeavor that readers love means creating an attraction, or chemistry, with the reader. Sound simple enough, right? But as we all find out one way or the other, creativity, like relationships, is anything but simple. 

So, how can we use chemistry to become more effective creators? Chemistry, in a nutshell, is the study of matter and how matter interacts. By knowing how our own creative matter interacts, we can create more satisfying work.

 

La Sorbonne. Amphithéâtre de chimie. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Building better bonds

Chemistry is dependent on the bonds formed between atoms. The quantum attractions and repulsions between atoms hold matter together in an almost infinite number of possible configurations. Different atoms form unique substances. The unique substances, for example, sodium and chloride, that react to form table salt, interact to form new substances, themselves unique in their properties.

Writing is a form of chemistry. Letters are our atoms. The way we combine letters in an almost quantum attraction binds the formation of a word. Words combine to form an idea. The ideas become sentences. Sentences become paragraphs. Paragraphs become chapters. Chapters become entire books. The possibilities are infinite!

We become better writers and creators when we learn the best ways to combine words to create the best chemistry with the reader. This is done by practice. It’s done by experimentation. Trying new and different words and combinations, tinkering with the order and meaning to produce the desired chemistry. Just as with the chemist, the process consists of trial and error. Scribbles, brainstorms, and notes become an outline. An outline becomes a draft. The draft is chisled, honed, and polished to a finished piece as we refine the chemical attractions and repulsions of different word combinations.

However, almost every novice or student chemist discovers early on that sometimes (often in my own personal case) the chemistry experiment fails. Sometimes it blows up. Sometimes it yields a stinky mass of goo that clears the laboratory and causes a visit by the local hazmat team. Sometimes it just fizzles out in utter defeat.

Writers experience much of the same with almost every first draft we create. It’s not just a novice creator thing either; it’s part of the process for every piece. And, just as the chemist needs to clean up the mess, analyze what went wrong, and plan for a different (and hopefully more positive) outcome with the next trial, the writer uses the first draft as a springboard to better things. 

The Chemical Attraction!

Writers need to find the chemistry with the reader. They need to create the attraction that keeps the eyes on the page and the reader’s boots on the story world’s ground. One learns how to use the words, sentences, and paragraphs to create an attraction that hooks the reader and then forms a strong bond to keep them reading.

In this STEM Tuesday month of February, use your time to brush up and reboot your writing and creativity by examining the chemistry in your work. Build better results by building better words, sentences, and paragraphs. When a creator uses their words with the right touch of chemistry, they create attraction to their ideas, and they might find they attract new ideas and new readers. 

Be inspired by the month of love and the somewhat questionable holiday of Valentine’s Day to create work where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. 

 

Mike Hays has worked hard from a young age to be a well-rounded individual. A well-rounded, equal-opportunity sports enthusiast, that is. If they keep a score, he’ll either watch it, play it, or coach it. A molecular microbiologist by day, middle-grade author, sports coach, and general good citizen by night, he blogs about sports/life/training-related topics at www.coachhays.com and writer stuff at www.mikehaysbooks.com. Two of his science essays, The Science of Jurassic Park and Zombie Microbiology 101,  are included in the Putting the Science in Fiction collection from Writer’s Digest Books. He can be found roaming Bluesky under the guise of @mikehays64.bsky.social and @MikeHays64 on Instagram.

 

The O.O.L.F Files

This month on the Out Of Left Field (O.O.L.F.) Files, we dig deeper into the chemistry and writing connection with a dive into chemical bonding, chemical education, technical chemistry writing, and some chemistry jokes, because we all know how funny chemistry can be, right? If you doubt it, take a look at my chemistry grades in school. Now those were funny!

 

  • Atomic Hook-Ups – Types of Chemical Bonds: Crash Course Chemistry #22

 

 

 

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STEM Tuesday– Chemistry– In the Classroom

By on February 10, 2026   /   Chemistry, STEM Tuesday  

Cover of How Do Molecules Stay Together?How Do Molecules Stay Together?
by Madeline J. Hayes, illustrated by Srimalie Bassani

How Do Molecules Stay Together? is a picture book that introduces readers to some basic chemistry concepts. This could be a good read-aloud as an introduction to chemistry, although I suspect older students may find the call-and-response phrases a little too childish for their liking.

 

Marie Curie for Kids
by Amy M. O’Quinn

This is a book that’s great for readers who love history and activities. Follow Marie Curie’s life from a bright, young girl in occupied Poland through her Nobel prize winning discoveries. This book is packed from activities that explore a wide range of topics, including geography, culture, and science. I read this book in its e-book version, which had some formatting issues that occasionally made it challenging to absorb. This could be an opportunity to explore those areas with an activity. (See below)

The Radium Girls
by Kate Moore

What happens when people are exposed to light waves emitted from radioactive material? That’s what this book covers, by telling the stories of a group of women who worked with radium. This is not an easy read emotionally, but it tells a very important story. It’s referenced in Marie Curie for Kids, and would be a great follow-on book for that one.

 

Bonus Books:

Werewolf, dressed as an astronaut, standing on a scale. Scale reads: "Matter Meter: 100% Werewolf"Werewolves and States of Matter
by Janet Slingerland, illustrated by Angel Mosquito

For readers who love graphic novels and/or werewolves, this book provides a great introduction to chemistry. It explores the concept of matter, what states it can exist in, and how matter transforms from one state to another.

 

Cartoon character appears to create molecular structure out of sand with the help of another character with a bucket.Explore Atoms and Molecules! (with 25 Great Projects)
by Janet Slingerland, illustrated by Matt Aucoin

If you’re looking for activities that help explore atoms and molecules, be sure to check out this book. It covers lots of different chemistry topics, including atomic structure, the periodic table, and chemical reactions. There’s even a section that introduces readers to Lewis dot diagrams, a great way to visualize how atoms combine.

 

As always, there are lots of different things that can be done with these books. Be sure to check out the activities provided in the books. Some of the books also have educator materials or informative websites associated with them. Here are links to some of them:

There is a website dedicated to The Radium Girls. There is an educator guide linked on this page of the site: https://www.theradiumgirls.com/the-radium-girls-young-readers

The Atoms and Molecules page of my website has some links of interest: http://janetsbooks.com/atoms-and-molecules

There is a classroom guide and a free downloadable activity on the Nomad Press site: https://nomadpress.net/nomadpress-books/explore-atoms-molecules

Some of this month’s books are older, and the web links provided in them no longer work. However, since the authors thought they were worthy of inclusion, exploring them might be a good exercise. If a link no longer works, can you find the same information on another reliable website or page?

Here are some other ideas for activities.

Create a Timeline

As mentioned in the book descriptions, I had some difficulties with the book formatting in Marie Curie for Kids. This was particularly true for the timeline provided in the book. In order to better visualize the timeline, create one of your own. This could be done on a single sheet of paper, or it could be constructed so it wraps around an entire room. This can also be an opportunity to explore the use of technology in presenting a timeline, whether it’s created with a graphic tool like Canva, a slideshow like PowerPoint, or whatever your favorite tool is.

Students can choose what should be placed on the timeline, based on the books they’ve read. Including pictures or illustrations of the events helps everyone visualize the events better. This provides lots of opportunities to practice research skills. This is also an opportunity for students to work together to create it.

Here are some ideas of things that could be included on the timeline:

  • Major life events for the people involved in the science (the Curies, Mendeleev, Bohr, etc.).
  • Important discoveries, including elements, atomic structure, effects of elements, etc.
  • Key dates related to products using chemicals.
  • Major world events like the World Wars.

Get Messy!

Chemistry can be one of the messiest of the scientific disciplines. The books on this month’s book list include lots of experiments that explore chemical reactions. Here are a few popular experiments:

Elephant Toothpaste:

Erupting Soda:

Making slime:

Get Thoughtful

Scientific discoveries often have unintended consequences. The stories of the Curies and the Radium Girls are perfect examples of this. Here is an article from the Society of Physics Studies and the American Institute of Physics that addresses this topic:  https://students.aip.org/radiations/discoveries-unintended-consequences-and-the-values-of-science. After reading it, have some discussions about the topic. Does the scientific process help to address this?

This opens up the topic of the scientific process. This website from UC Berkeley has lots of information on this topic: https://undsci.berkeley.edu/understanding-science-101/how-science-works

Explore (Largely Unsung) Scientists

Marie Curie was the first women to achieve many accomplishments. There are other groups of people who have historically faced huge obstacles to achieving things like college degrees and scientific discoveries. Often, discoveries made by women and minorities were attributed to others.

Explore some of the underrepresented people who have made great discoveries related to chemistry.

Each student could explore a different scientist and incorporate it into the timeline from above.

February is Black History Month. Here are a few lists of scientists to explore (there is some overlap between the lists):

March is Women’s History Month. Here are some lists of women scientists to explore:

Woman with short brown hair and glasses, smiling.Janet Slingerland has written over 2 dozen books for young readers, including Werewolves and States of Matter and Explore Atoms and Molecules! (with 25 Great Projects). To find out more about Janet and her books, check out her website: http://janetsbooks.com

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STEM Tuesday– Forests/Temperate Trees — Writing Tips & Resources

By on January 20, 2026   /   Forests/Temperate Trees, STEM Tuesday  

Hello, and welcome back to STEM Tuesday’s Writing Tips and Resources. I’m Stephanie.

The intersection of trees and writing is a well-traversed one. I’ve been meaning to write about it for years, to really analyze the motif across children’s literature. Trees are symbolic of many nouns… people, places, things, and ideas. At least for me, trees invoke feelings of magic, wonder, stability, and safety. I feel confident in surmising the same is true of others; otherwise, why are they so prevalent in these writings?

As an English major, Sigmund Freud captured my attention because of his essay The Interpretation of Dreams which in my humble opinion—along with The Uncanny—remains his most relevant work informing literary analysis. In the former essay, he explored the significance of dream-elements in proportion to each other. In terms of story (the supposed dream), and in service of the writing craft, how could his insights become writing exercises? That is, if Freud gave writing prompts about symbolism and metaphors, what would they look like?

Writing Exercise 1:

Freud wrote, “What is clearly the essence of the dream-thoughts need not be represented in the dream at all” (322). For this prompt, write a story about a tree without using the word tree. You may use any other tree-related words (branch, roots, etc), but nothing including the letters T-R-E-E in that order. After making a solid effort for at least 15 minutes, what did you find about the exercise? After pushing past the initial frustration of the task, what then? How did avoiding the word “tree” lead to a deeper exploration of it?

Writing Exercise 2:

Freud also wrote, “What appears in dreams, we might suppose, is not what is important in the dream-thoughts but what occurs in them several times over.” To reiterate more simply, not everything in the dream (or story, in our case) is of equal importance. The symbols that recur frequently or intensely are of higher significance. If you’ve never tried a controlling metaphor, one that lasts an entire story, now’s your chance. What does your tree represent? Take your tree story and look for places to reinforce your meanings. Meaning-making requires the discarding of the unlike qualities in favor of parallel groupings, so only bring up details that reinforce, not contradict, your metaphor.

Now if you’ve made it through my Freud-inspired prompts, you’re a trooper. This next one comes from a much more kidlit-friendly source: Writing Magic by Gail Carson Levine.

There’s an old saying about forests and trees—that it’s easy to lose sight of one when focused on the other. To me, this is exactly the trick of storytelling: coordinating details and plot, scene and summary, moments and eons. As writers, it’s easy to get caught up in the metaphorical branches of line editing. But losing sight of the canopy is a consequential mistake. A story made entirely of descriptions of leaves isn’t going to cut it, but neither is a story full of faraway woodlands. To write well is to control pacing and distance.

Writing Exercise 3:

(Revision.) Take a passage of at least four consecutive sentences—any volunteer sentences will do—and revise it two ways. First, slow the pacing to a leaf-level, microscopic exploration of a moment. In painfully minute detail, describe everything. Try to triple or quadruple the number of sentences. Next, speed up the pacing while still retaining some semblance of the details from the original, but building the story out with explanation or context. You can be equally verbose, but the pacing must be quicker.

So, what did you think of today’s prompts? For more writing tips and tricks, check STEM Tuesday’s archives and/or visit me at StephanieWritesforKids.com.

Best,

Stephanie Jackson

With published work in Cricket magazine and the online poetry journal Dirigible Balloon, Stephanie Jackson writes everything kidlit: poems, articles, and board books through YA. In addition to holding an English degree, she regularly attends writing retreats and bookish events including Storymakers, WIFYR, and the Books For Young Readers Conference. She’s been a member of 12×12, Inked Voices, and other such mentoring groups. Current professional affiliations include SCBWI, The Author’s Guild, and NCTE. Personally, her hobbies include genealogy research and teacherly things. She’s a stay-at-home parent of four kids ages 5-14, and plans to teach ELA in secondary schools.

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