🔬 Starnook Science: Exploring the States of Matter with Dry Ice!

🔬 Starnook Science: Exploring the States of Matter with Dry Ice!

This week at Starnook, we brought science to life—literally! We got our hands on some dry ice, and it turned into one of the most exciting and hands-on science projects we’ve done so far.

Kristy and Brooke were completely mesmerized watching the dry ice bubble, smoke, and swirl in a bowl of warm water. It wasn’t just fun—it was a perfect opportunity to talk about one of the core concepts in early science: the three states of matter.

🧪 What We Learned: The Three States of Matter

In just one experiment, we got to see all three states of matter happening at once:

• 💧 Liquid – the warm water in the bowl

• 🧊 Solid – the dry ice itself (which is frozen carbon dioxide!)

• 💨 Gas – the foggy smoke that forms as the dry ice sublimates

We learned that sublimation is when a solid turns straight into a gas without becoming a liquid first. That’s exactly what dry ice does—and it looks like magic when it happens!

🧠 Why It’s a Great Homeschool Project

This experiment checked all the boxes for an engaging and educational science day:

• 🌡 Simple materials (just dry ice and warm water)

• 👀 Immediate visual results

• 📚 Easy to connect with foundational science concepts

• 🧒 Fun and safe with supervision

We even talked about how this relates to the water cycle, weather, and the science behind fog and clouds.

💡 Pro Tip for Parents

We made sure to:

• Use gloves or tongs when handling the dry ice (it's -109°F!)

• Do the experiment outside so the fog could drift and swirl safely

• Let the girls describe what they saw in their own words and draw it in their science journals