The properties of methane oxidation were studied in this research over transition metal containing $CeO_2$ (TM/$CeO_2$, TM=Ni, Co, Cu, Fe) with TM content of 5 wt. % at atmospheric pressure. The characteristics of catalysts were investigated by various characterization techniques, including XRD, GC, SEM and EPMA analyses. The catalytic tests were carried out in a fixed Rmix ratio of 1.5 ($CH_4/O_2$) in a fixed-bed reactor operating isothermally at atmospheric pressure. Only the Ni/$CeO_2$ catalysts showed syngas production above $400^{circ}C$ via typical partial oxidation reaction whereas other catalysts induced complete oxidation resulting in the production of $CO_2$ and $H_2O$ in whole reaction temperature range. From the quantitative analysis on carbon deposition after catalytic tests, Cu/$CeO_2$ was found to show the highest resistance on carbon deposition. Therefore Cu can be proposed as an efficient catalyst element which can be combined with a conventional Ni-based SOFC anode to enhance the carbon tolerance.