Foamed ceramics were prepared using perlite tailings as main raw material and SiC micro powder as foaming agent. The effects of temperature, heating rate, holding time, foaming agent content, raw material granularity, and SiC particle size on density, apparent porosity, compressive strength, and pore structure of foamed ceramics were studied. The results show that with the appropriately increase of temperature, holding time, SiC content, and the decrease of raw material granularity and SiC particle size, the sample density and compressive strength decrease, and the apparent porosity increases. When SiC reaction is excessive, black centers appears in sample. At 1 250 ℃, with a heating rate of 8 ℃/min, a holding time of 1 h, an external addition of 0.6%(mass fraction) SiC, and a raw material particle size D₃₂ of 7.51 μm, the prepared foamed ceramics has the best comprehensive performance, with density of 462.77 kg/m³, apparent porosity of 1.26%, compressive strength of 8.1 MPa, and average pore diameter of 0.33 mm.