Matter Solids Liquids and Gases

I reach for these images when "matter" feels too abstract for young scientists. The set shows a student scientist, ice cube, wooden block, rock, glass of water, juice box, balloon, steaming kettle, melting ice pop, melting snowman, rain puddle, fluffy cloud, and a clear states-of-matter diagram. It fits kindergarten through grade 5 units on properties, solids, liquids, gases, heating, cooling, melting, freezing, evaporation, and condensation.

A simple classroom use is a three-column sort. I'd hand out the color pictures, ask teams to place each object under solid, liquid, or gas, and save the change-of-state pictures for a second round. Students can then draw arrows from ice to water to vapor and write what caused each change. I'd save the blackline art for color-coding, particle labels, or recording an observation from a melting-ice investigation. That gives the same pictures two jobs without making the science harder to follow.