States of Matter Real-Life Application

Before Christmas break, we were learning about states of matter in first grade science. For Christmas, my husband bought the family a Soda Stream machine. As I played around with it, I thought, "This will be great for a real-life example of solids, liquids, and gasses."

The Soda Steam uses water and flavoring syrup (liquids), you need a cup to drink from, a bottle to hold the soda, and the machine itself (solids), and finally, the most important item to make the soda, a CO2 canister (gas).  It literally encompasses all three states of matter.

I took it to school this past Friday and used this worksheet to go along with the actual making of the soda.  First, we talked about and examined all the necessary items for making the pop.  Then we went through the actual demonstration.  The kids saw the water go from flat to fizzy and understood it was because of the CO2 that was injected into the water.  They saw how the liquids took the shape of their containers, and how they lost their shape when the inevitable spill happened.  I also made this little worksheet to go along with the demonstration.  After the taste testing was finished, the kids completed the worksheet.

If you have a Soda Stream Machine, feel free to grab this little freebie.  It was a memorable day in first grade science!