Liquid-free cryogenic devices are acquiring importance in basic science and engineering. But they can also lead to improvements in teaching low temperature and solid-state physics to graduate students and specialists. Most of the devices are relatively expensive, but small-sized equipment is slowly becoming available. Here, we have designed several simple experiments which can be performed using a small Stirling refrigerator. We discuss the measurement of the critical current and temperature of a bulk YBa[subscript 2]Cu[subscript 3]O[subscript 7 - [delta]] (YBCO) sample, the observation of the levitation of a magnet over a YBCO disc when cooled below the critical temperature and the observation of a phase transition using ac calorimetry. The equipment can be easily handled by students and also used to teach the principles of liquid-free cooling. (Contains 10 figures and 8 footnotes.)