Search Results
Showing results 1 to 20 of 75

Penny Rubbing
Source Institutions
In this art-related activity, learners make a coin rubbing—a process similar to what archeologists may do with ancient artifacts. This activity can be used in connection with a history or art lesson.

Painting a Picture with Air
Source Institutions
Create a painting by blowing air out of a straw. Push liquid acrylic paint around on some watercolor paper by aiming short bursts of air onto the paint puddle.

Magnets on the Move
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners investigate the behavior of magnets. Learners create a "wonder wand" with a magnet so they can move a skater around.

Super Shrinkers
Source Institutions
In this activity on page 14 of the PDF (Rethinking the 3 R’s: It’s Easy to be Green), learners turn plain pieces of recycled plastic into shrunken works of art.

Spinning Blackboard
Source Institutions
Create beautiful spirals by drawing a straight line. This sounds crazy, but you can with a turntable (a record player or lazy susan), paper, and pen.

Motion Picture
Source Institutions
During this hands-on activity, learners are briefly exposed to moviemaking and animation, when they create their own thaumatropes.

My Insect
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners use information gathered from a variety of sources to design and make their own insect.

Food Chains and Webs
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners investigate feeding relationships. Learners complete a food web and then make a mobile to represent a food chain.

Make Your Own Rainstick
Source Institutions
In this activity, leaners build their very own rainsticks, an instrument filled with pebbles and seeds that create sounds like falling rain. Save costs by using material found around the home.

Disappearing Statues
Source Institutions
In this activity (on page 8), learners model how marble statues and buildings are affected by acid rain.

Shrinking Polymers
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners discover that some plastics will shrink when you get them hot. Learners bake polystyrene in a regular oven and discover what happens.

Butterfly Life Cycle Optical Illusion
Source Institutions
This activity is a fun way to show two stages in a Monarch butterfly's life cycle. Learners will create an optical illusion that can be flipped from caterpillar to butterfly.
Press Seaweed
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners will collect, dry and press seaweed over the course of four days in a similar way that artists/crafters press flowers.

Wear a Chimp on Your Wrist
Source Institutions
Learners construct a bracelet containing two strands of beads, which represents a double strand of DNA that codes for a gene. They match beads to the bases in a section of a chimp's DNA code.

Mint Your Own Coin
Source Institutions
Coins are everyday objects which tell a lot about the people who use them.

Simple Pop-Up Mechanisms
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners construct three quick and simple mechanisms to start building a pop-up book. Learners fold, cut, and glue paper to make a bird beak, parallelogram, and V-fold.
Six Squares: Geometry and Design
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners take a turn contributing a closed figure made of six squares to a large grid; each must be different from all the others on the grid so far.

Phenakistascope
Source Institutions
In this optics activity, learners build an animation tool to make mini movies. When you spin a phenakistascope, the pictures move so quickly that your eyes and brain can't separate the images.
Needlework Designs
Source Institutions
In this math activity, learners create symmetrical designs for paper models of special blouses known as huipiles.

Bearings for Your Whirligig
Source Institutions
Experiment with friction and make bearings for a whirligig! This activity is a nice introduction to friction and bearings and demonstrates why bearings are useful for spinning.