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22 Unique Chemistry Teacher Gifts (for 2024)
What chemistry gift should I get my chemistry teacher or professor?
Chemistry teachers and professors love to get new chemistry gifts that help display their passion for chemistry! That's why our top picks are this chemistry pocket tool and chemistry word magnets - both of which will let them celebrate chemistry in their every-day lives!
This list ties together our favorite gifts for scientists from around the internet. Some are our own Genius Lab Gear inventions and some we’re just jealous we didn’t think of first! Some links in this page contain affiliate links, which means that any purchase of the items after clicking the link will result in a small monetary referral fee paid back to Genius Lab Gear at no cost to you. We appreciate your support which allows us to continue inventing and testing the best tools for chemists on the planet!
Last updated: September 8th, 2024
1. The Pocket Chemist - Molecule Stencil and Chemistry Pocket Reference
If you've already spent hours looking for gifts for chemists, chemistry teachers or chemistry students, you can stop here.
"This would have made my life 10x easier!" - said one chemist during our first Instagram giveaway. The only solvent-proof and wallet-sized organic chemistry stencil available, this little tool will help your favorite chemistry teacher or professor draw beautiful chemical reactions and save them time referencing important physical constants.
Not sure? It was even featured in the 2019 Holiday Gift Guide from the authority Chemical & Engineering News magazine!
You can also add a custom logo to this for events, networking, or promotional giveaways! Custom orders start at 100 pieces - just email us for more info.
To see how it's used, check the 45-second video below:
Get it with free shipping from our website or on Amazon using the links below!
The Pocket Chemist at Genius Lab Gear
The Pocket Chemist from Amazon
How to use The Pocket Chemist – Full Feature Guide
2. Chemistry Word Magnets for the fridge or fume hood
Science-themed gifts are rarely as entertaining and enduring as our science-themed word magnet sets! We recently launched these to encourage creativity and self-expression in labs, classrooms and offices. Each specialty pack comes with 144 tiles carefully designed by a PhD in that field for technical accuracy and tacit absurdity.
The Chemistry Word Magnet set was designed with help from professional chemists and chemistry teachers, who chose words to make it both science-y and humorous. These are just plain fun!
Also now available on Amazon.
3. Ion: A Compound Building Game for Chemists (2nd Edition)
From the same makers of the original "Covalence" board game for chemists, this 2nd edition of Ion has some gameplay improvements! This is more the inorganic chemistry version. We've had a ton of fun nerding out on this game in the office. It's a card-based deck-building game for 2-7 players and in our experience you should give it about 30 minutes per game.
I recommend it as a perfect for a lunch break in the teacher lounge! The game will be well-loved by any chemistry teacher or professor who would love to play it with their family, friends or your chemistry club!
4. Periodic Table of Elements Lanyard
Take your lanyard to the next level with this colorful and fun element theme! The lanyard's black background lets the periodic table of elements pop on each side. It's a little sciencey splash for your next conference or keeping your badge safe around the office.
5. Pipette Ninja or Marie Curie stickers
Are they a pipette ninja? Someone who deftly transfers precise volumes of liquids to and from a chemical reaction? Designate them an official Pipette Ninja with our Pipette Ninja sticker!
Marie Curie was a Nobel prize-winning chemist (and physicist) who shattered the glass ceiling and stayed true to her passions for scientific discovery. This Marie Curie silhouette sticker coveys a cute but meaningful message - "Stay Curie-ous" in honor of her life and mission.
Both of these are perfect for adding to a laptop, thermos or notebook!
6. Chemistry-themed necklace with engraved caffeine molecule
A nerdy gift for women in chemistry who love jewelry but also love molecules! This sterling silver engraved chemistry molecule is a subtle way to show your passion in chemistry outside of the laboratory. The atomic orbit version would also be a great option for the inorganic and solid-state chemists out there!
7. World's OKAYEST Chemist - Chemistry Mug
For the chemistry teacher or professor with a great sense of humor, the World's OKAYEST Chemist mug will surely get a laugh and some good use. It's slightly oversized at 15 oz to hold a full day's worth of coffee and of course dishwasher/microwave safe.
8. Culinary Reactions: The Everyday Chemistry of Cooking
This book finally made cooking enjoyable for me. It's always been one of those imprecise arts where you just follow the directions and hope to get it about right. As a scientist, understanding what I'm doing is paramount. This cookbook walks you through the chemistry behind your every-day cooking recipes so you can make adjustments and improvements by logic, not guesswork! Any chemistry teacher or professor would love to have this book to apply their advanced knowledge of chemistry to something they do every day.
9. Galileo Thermometer and Globe Barometer desk ornament
My AP chemistry teacher used to have one of these on his desk! It's a classic demonstration of barometric pressure and the density of liquids which makes for a fantastic classroom decorative item that will get students asking questions.
The coolest part to me is the little colored liquid spheres. They move up and down depending on the room temperature, and they each have metal tags to let you know what the temperature is! The globe fills up to different liquid levels depending on the atmospheric pressure - essentially telling you when a storm is coming! So it's not just a cute ornament, it's actually a device to detect temperature and weather changes.
Check Price on Amazon
10. The Chemistry Book by Derek B. Lowe
This is a wonderful book for anyone who loves chemistry. It chronologically steps you through 250 major achievements in chemistry with a single-page essay and accompanying image or artwork. It's a way for someone to relive the discovery and cheer on chemists of the past as the author winds you from the Bronze Age to modern times. Consider this an essential reference book for any chemistry educator's bookshelf.
11. Periodic Table Engraved Bamboo Cutting Board
Cooking has a lot of similarities to chemistry, and many chemistry teachers love to cook for the same reason. This Periodic Table Engraved Bamboo Cutting Board is specifically made for chemistry fans to use in the cooking experiments! We love that you can use the blank side to chop food then use the engraved side as a fun serving tray. Also, it is made of 100% natural bamboo so it’s more sustainable than other hardwoods.
12. Chemist's Spice Rack
This rack will spice up their life This chemistry spice rack comes with a 14-piece set that contains 9 test tubes for spices, 4 Erlenmeyer flasks for sugar, salt, pepper, and oil, and a carrying tray. It also comes with 36 stickers that label a variety of potential ingredients in a periodic table style, ranging from cinnamon (Ci) to turmeric (Tu), making it ideal for a culinary wizard.
13. Desktop Periodic Table with Real Elements (color-changing)
The Periodic Table is the most revered part of chemistry fundamentals, and chemists nearly worship its simplicity and usefulness. This desktop Periodic Table includes 83 real nuggets and vials of elements inside! I love this newer version because it includes color changing LEDs to give a cool science-y glow for those late night work sessions. On a chemistry teacher's desk, it's guaranteed to capture the attention of students!
14. Rocketbook Matrix cloud-connected reusable paper notebook
This is my favorite clever invention. It was inevitable. Rocketbook finally solved the problem of merging your hand-written notes into your favorite digital services. You simply use their app to take a photo of your pages of notes and the QR code and marked symbols on each page trigger the app to send the digitized page to any of the 9 pre-set digital destinations you choose. This includes OneNote, Evernote, Google Drive, Dropbox and even specific emails. Want a shortcut to send notes via email straight to your colleague or boss? This is what you’re looking for.
The Rocketbook Matrix is my personal favorite because it's designed for more technical work. It's got 30 pages of graphing paper and one regular lined page for taking notes, plus a built-in ruler on the inside cover. Did I mention they are reusable? Use their "Pilot Frixion" pens and then wipe the page with a damp cloth after uploading your notes to use it all over again (and win one for the environment!).
Check the price on Amazon.
15. Lab Coat Pocket Protector
The venerable Pocket Protector became a geeky cultural icon in the 1960's and 1970's, but somewhere along the way people forgot about them. Scientists and chemistry teachers need these to stay organized, stay efficient, and protect their lab coats. So we researched and tested every type ever made to methodically solve each problem and come up with this refreshed design.
Available in spruce green, sapphire blue, and faded pink - the top 3 colors voted on by our fans! You can even get it from our Amazon page if that's easier.
Check the price on Amazon.
16. Chemistry molecule-themed metal bookends
Most chemistry teachers and professors have quite a book collection. (Some from this list, probably!) Keeping them neatly organized can be a challenge, but bookends can help. My favorite are these simple metal bookends with the serotonin molecule (the molecule of happiness)!
17. Valence card game for introducing kids to ionic charges
Another chemistry-themed card game with a different goal - with Valence you make your own chemical compounds to win!
A chemist in a neighboring lab recommended this to me as a fun game to get kids familiar with the charges (valences) on atoms which cause them to form molecules like H2O and CO2. You really just collect cards that add to zero, but learn a ton of chemistry while you do it! It takes 2-4 players, ages 8+ and about 20 minutes per game.
18. Elemental Dice Set - made with real elements!
If you know a chemistry teacher who also plays board games, this is a premium, unique gift they will geek out over. These elemental dice sets are each either made with or contain the element of the Periodic Table shown on it!
I personally prefer the all-metal ones over the clear ones because the dice values are easier to see, but you can also collect them all!
There are 5 sets available on Amazon but 6 on their website, with different availability. It's worth checking their website first to buy directly if you can!
19. Molecules: The Elements and the Architecture of Everything
From one of my favorite science communicators Theodore Gray, Molecules is the 2nd book in a 3-book series about the building blocks of our world. (Elements was Book 1). These books come with gorgeous full-color photography and illustrations of molecules and the "stuff" that they form.
I personally love how the photos make otherwise invisible molecules tangible, and tie them to the world we live in. The book has range too - it's approachable enough to get my 8 year old nephew interested, but technical enough for a chemistry teacher to use as a reference for high school students.
20. Reactions: An Illustrated Exploration of Elements, Molecules, and Change in the Universe
Following the Molecules book above, Reactions is another illustrated chemistry book that shows what "stuff" we can form when molecules get a chance to react! In the last book of this triology, Theodore Gray shows the more dynamic side of chemistry.
As a sort of inside joke, he even includes a section about the most boring reactions - like those that cause paint to dry and grass to grow. I highly recommend this affordable trilogy as a fantastic bookshelf or coffee table addition for any level of chemistry teacher!
21. New 100% Cotton Lab Coats designed for Chemists
Chemistry teachers run lab classes and demonstrations all the time, and most of them we polled don't really love their lab coats. That's why we spent 3 years designing and modifying a lab coat that chemists love! Released in 2024, the Louis and Curie lab coats are consistently reviewed as "the best lab coat I've ever had".
For chemistry teachers specifically, the tapered knit cuffs are especially important for protecting wrists from chemicals keeping clunky oversized cuffs from knocking over expensive glassware. We also made sure to use 100% cotton, which is typically required in chemistry laboratories. The two versions are tailored to fit male and female builds differently, with a wide size range and adjustable belt so chemistry teachers can finally feel great in their lab coat when showing off in the classroom.
This is one to clue them in about beforehand so you can get the sizing right! Or, you can grab a refundable $75 gift card to let them grab their own lab coat plus a pocket protector!
22. Chemistry Gift Bundle
If you can't decide by now, I can still help! Consider this decision made. I put together a Chemistry Gift Bundle just to make it easy for you. It includes the Pocket tool and Word Magnets from above, plus a few fun science stickers. You'll save over 20% by bundling them together, so consider this decision made!
- Chemistry Word Magnets
- Science Basics Word Magnets
- Starter Word Magnets (144 tiles of connector words)
- The Pocket Chemist Organic Chemistry Stencil (Homework Edition)
- The Pocket Chemist Organic Chemistry Stencil (Exam Edition)
- Pipette Ninja sticker
- Science is for Everyone sticker
- Stay Curie-ous Marie Curie sticker
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):
What do you buy a chemistry professor?
Chemistry professors are hard to buy gifts for. But no matter how old and stodgy they are, they will love a good chemistry stencil. They can carry The Pocket Chemist in their wallet and whip it out anytime they need to sketch a reaction to teach or for research. It's one of those "What is that??" moments!
What should you get a chemistry student?
Any chemistry student is going through a challenging course load. The most appreciated gift would be The Pocket Chemist, which can help them get through homework faster and turn in spectacularly neat chemical reactions! It's basically a pocket tool for chemists.
What do you buy a science teacher?
Any general science teacher will love this set of Science Word Magnets that they can display in their classroom, laboratory or even on their fridge at home! There are sets for every type of science so the word selection can be tailored specifically to their background. They are a ton of fun and perfect for any teacher to geek out with their creativity!
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