Grades 3–5
Keep It Cold Challenge
Wrap ice cubes in foil, cloth, newspaper and nothing, check them every 15 minutes and find the best insulator.
Science worksheet · Heat and temperature
Which Spoon Gets Warm?
An experiment: put metal, plastic and wooden spoons in warm water and find out which carries heat best.
- Grade level
- Grades 3–5
- Time
- About 30 minutes
- Topic
- Heat and temperature
- Answer key
- Not needed: answers vary
- Kids practice
- Heat and temperature, Conductors and insulators, How heat moves
What kids do
Printed on the sheet:
- You need: a mug of hot tap water (a grown-up pours it), a metal spoon, a plastic spoon, a wooden spoon and a tiny dab of butter for each handle. Do it: stick a dab of butter near the top of each handle. Stand the spoons in the water and watch which butter melts first.
- My prediction: 1st, 2nd or
- Minutes until the butter
- Which spoon carried heat the best? It is a good heat conductor.
- Why do many pots have plastic or wooden handles?
Words on this sheet
SpoonslidMetalPlasticWood
Teacher tip
Use warm tap water, not hot, and let kids feel the handles.
How to use it
- Let kids feel a metal spoon and a wooden spoon in warm water.
- Read a thermometer together before and after.
- Let partners compare answers and settle any differences with a book or a video.
Watch for
Coats don’t make heat. They keep body heat in.
Talk about it
- Which material kept the ice coldest?
- What evidence helped you choose your answer?
Take it further
Design a lunch box that keeps food cold the longest.
US Letter, prints well in black and white. Free for home and classroom use: print as many copies as you need.
More heat and temperature worksheets
Grades 4–5
Conduction, Convection or Radiation?
Learn the three ways heat moves, then sort nine examples.
Grades 1–3
What Gives Off Heat?
Color the seven things that give off heat, X the five that do not, then fill in a sentence about friction.
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