Learning About the 3 States of Matter

This week in science Big Brother is learning about the 3 states of matter: solid, liquid, and gas.

Here is the very simple project we did!



1.) Solid - To demonstrate the properties of a solid, I had Big Brother get several ice cubes from the freezer and put them in a small saucepan. I showed him how the ice was something he could hold in his hand or place in the pan and it would keep its own shape.



2.) Liquid - We left the ice cubes in the pan at room temperature for a while. I asked him what he thought would happen, and he knew the ice would melt. When we checked back a little later, sure enough our solid had changed to a liquid. I showed him how the liquid water did not really have a shape of its own, but instead it would flow to take the shape of its container.



3.) Gas - Next I told him we could change our water into a gas which was our third state of matter. I asked him how he thought we could do this, and he wasn't sure at first. :) So I turned on the burner on the stove and we watched as the steam (water vapor) began to rise from the saucepan.

(Planning to try this at home? Remember to always supervise a younger child around heat sources!!)

Big Brother really enjoyed this extremely simple, hands-on approach to studying the states of matter!! Over lunch I casually checked his comprehension with a little game by asking him to tell me which state of matter described things like the air he was breathing, the milk he was drinking, and the fork he was using. He was able to identify the air as a gas, the milk as a liquid, and the fork as a solid.

...And that was 2nd grade science for today! ;)

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