A range of experiments in heat conduction suitable for upper level undergraduate laboratories are described. The experiments progressively cover situations of increasing theoretical complexity. The experiments are relatively easy to perform and make use of heat sensitive liquid crystal film to measure temperature contours. The initial experiments cover examples of situations where Laplace’s equation is applicable and can be used to complement experiments in electrostatics using resistive paper. The remaining experiments extend the investigations to situations where Poisson’s equation and the diffusion equation are applicable. In these latter two cases the liquid crystal film serves as the heat conduction medium in addition to its function as a temperature sensor. For the diffusion equation situation a video camera is used in conjunction with the liquid crystal film.