Investigating Solids, Liquids, and Gases with Toys

Twenty-four creative, teacher-tested experiments entice students in grades 6 through 8 to explore firsthand the properties of the three states of matter--and the concepts of the changes of state between them--using toys and other everyday materials. While learning about the properties of solid, liquid, and gas, students will attempt to get a balloon into a bottle, watch a marshmallow expand and contract inside a syringe, boil water with ice, and much more. Developed with funding from the National Science Foundation, these ready-to-use, reproducible activities are designed to meet--and are clearly referenced to--the National Standards for Science Education.