Chemistry is usually the science subject most kids first encounter in school because this is where they first are exposed to what science is all about, measurement and observation, laboratory technique, calculation, scientific method, etc. Other sciences, like astronomy, geology, and biology, might be a lot more fun to talk about, but until you actually start making hypotheses and drawing conclusions from real measurements and calculations easily repeated by anyone else, its not science, its just show and tell. In chemistry, you can ask and anwer these questions with simple materials and tools. Great insights can be derived by very simple methods.

I always hated chemistry and its “cookbook” procedures (I still do, its why I chose astronomy over my other love, marine biology) but it is here where you are first introduced to physics and math, the queen and king of the sciences. When I first realized that you could prove the world was made up of invisible atoms of a handful of elements, and that you could learn how they would combine in certain proportions in chemical reactions, all with equipment and techniques available in any kitchen, I realized how powerful science really was.
You were looking into an invisible world and describing exactly what was going on.