Graphic Organizer About Matter – Solid, Liquid and Gas

How it works

This graphic organizer about matter gives solid, liquid and gas a row each and asks the same things of all three, so the answers can be compared down the page. Each row has a space to draw the particles.

Read the full guide

Two questions sort all three

Does it keep its shape? Does it keep its volume? A solid keeps both. A liquid keeps its volume and takes the shape of its container. A gas keeps neither: it spreads out to fill whatever holds it.

Draw before you write

Sketch the particles as small circles before writing a word, and add short arrows to show how they move. The answers for the box come easily from the drawing.

Air is a mix of gases, so it works as the gas example even though it cannot be seen.

Questions and answers

What is matter?

Anything that has mass and takes up space. Every object that can be touched is matter; light and heat are not.

How do particles move in a solid, a liquid and a gas?

In a solid they are tightly packed and only vibrate in fixed positions. In a liquid they stay close together but move around one another. In a gas they are far apart and move freely.

What is the difference between evaporation and boiling?

Both turn a liquid into a gas. Evaporation happens at the surface of the liquid. Boiling involves the whole liquid and begins when it is heated to its boiling point.

Is a change of state a physical change?

Yes. A change of state is a physical change, not a chemical one: ice, liquid water and water vapor are all made of the same molecule.

All 14 organizers

Solid, liquid, gas 8

Four states of matter, with plasma A box each for solid, liquid, gas and plasma, for a class that studies the fourth state.
Graphic organizer about matter: solid, liquid and gas A row for each state of matter: a box for its shape and volume beside a box to draw its particles and say how they move.
Matter exit slips, two to a page Half sheets to cut apart, three short boxes each: one state of matter, its shape and volume, and how its particles move.
Matter or not matter? Two lists and a rule A box for things that are matter, a box for things that are not, such as light and heat, and a box at the foot for the rule that sorts them.
One state of matter on a page One state named in the middle, with a space to draw its particles and boxes for its shape and volume, how its particles move and examples.
Solid, liquid or gas? Eight statements to tick Eight statements about shape, volume and particles. Tick every state each one is true of; some are true of two.
Solid, liquid, gas: draw an example of each For younger grades: three boxes on wide primary lines, each with a space to draw one example over a line to name it.
States of matter chart: three states, five questions A column for each state and a row each for shape, volume, how close the particles are (spacing), how they move (motion), and an example.

Show all 14 organizers (6 more)

Changes of state 3

Changes of state I have seen Six rows for changes noticed at home or outdoors: what was seen, the states it went from and to, and the name of the change.
Six changes of state: name each one A box for each change between solid, liquid and gas, set in pairs that undo each other. Write the name of the change and an example.
Water in three states, joined by arrows Ice, liquid water and water vapor in three boxes with an arrow from each to the next: name the state, then the change that leads on.

Samples and answer key 3

Answer key: solid, liquid or gas The eight statements ticked. Five are true of one state and three of two.
Sample organizer about matter, filled in The six boxes of the opening sheet written in. The drawing spaces are left empty for the student.
Sample: the six changes of state named The six boxes of the changes sheet, each with the name of its change and one example.

How this list was compiled: Our own layouts and wording; no publisher's organizer is copied. What matter is, the shape, volume and particles of each state, the names of the six changes of state and the examples in the samples were checked against the Wikipedia articles Matter, State of matter, Solid, Liquid, Gas, Melting, Freezing, Vaporization, Boiling, Evaporation, Condensation, Sublimation and Deposition (phase transition), and against NASA Glenn Research Center's page Phases of Matter, read October 14, 2026. Licence: own work