The delight of Toca Lab is working outwards from just one element and ending up with a dozen, of finding what happens if you heat something, electrify it, or douse it in colourful chemicals. The premise is still irresistible: here's an empty periodic table and a lab full of exciting toys, perfect for finding new elements. This is a Toca game I'm talking about, inevitably: Toca Lab, which squidged and squelched its way into my life late last year, ostensibly for the child of the house to play with, and quickly became a compulsion for all of us. Four new elements? We found ten over Christmas - one of which involved using the spinny thing, which always puts me on edge. Possibly because the naming committee is unlikely, once again, to use any of my suggestions, but largely because my daughter and I have been discovering elements for ages. In my house, though, we were a bit blase about it.

Those are three of the four new elements that have just been discovered - the four that finish the seventh row of the periodic table! It was strangely heartening news: actual progress! Now on to 119! What's your favourite? Ununtrium? Ununoctium? Ununpentium strikes me as a bit of a rogue.

Toca lab elements online