Melting Ice= Solid to Liquid

This is the world’s most simple demonstration of a solid turning to liquid, but the kids enjoyed it and it helped them understand the concept.  We started by dying water to freeze in ice cube trays.  This demonstrated that liquid can turn to a solid.

 I bought these cute heart ice cube trays at my favorite place : Target.  🙂

I placed them in the freezer and in a couple of hours we were able to see that a liquid can turn to a solid. There were two activities that I did with the ice.  First, we put several pink ice cubes into a jar to watch and see what would happen if we left the solid ice cubes sit in the sun.  I set the jar in the window and every once in awhile I would lift up the jar and we would describe the changes that we noticed.

The second activity, was drawing with the ice.  As the ice started to melt, the food coloring would show on the paper.  I had never done this activity before and the actual drawings were not that bright, but the students liked painting with the cold ice cubes.  I also didn’t think about how the food coloring would dye their fingers, so last minute I decided to have them use plastic baggies as gloves to protect their little hands.  It worked well!

It was a great day of exploring liquids and solids for everyone!  And they really understood how water can change back between a solid and liquid!