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

Learners make bell bracelets, place them on their wrists or ankles, and then dance to the rhythms and sounds the bells make. Many cultures use ankle or wrist bells to make music during dancing.

In this activity, learners explore sound by constructing an instrument toy that buzzes when you swing it.

Design and create an optical illusion toy that makes two pictures appear to become one. This is called a thaumatrope and will allow the learner to investigate the phenomenon of persistence of vision.

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.

In this simple and fun activity, learners discover the relationship between vibration and sound by making a squeaky toy instrument out of simple household materials.

In this activity, learners build a musical drum using a cardboard tube, plastic wrap, and beads.

In this activity, learners develop spatial reasoning skills as they blow bubbles and observe what happens when the bubbles connect.

Learners build pan pipes out of drinking straws by cutting them to different lengths. Then, learners make music by blowing across the straws and playing some well-known songs.

In this activity, learners investigate the reflective properties of light and mirrors as they make a kaleidoscope.

In this activity, learners build inexpensive kaleidoscopes using transparency paper and foil (instead of mirrors).

In this activity, learners build a slide whistle using PVC pipe, bamboo skewer, and piece of foam. Construction of the instrument is relatively simple.

In this activity on page 8 of the PDF, learners make a slimy substance very similar to mucus, and sprinkle it with glitter to imitate the way that allergens are trapped.

This fun activity uses simple materials such as milk cartons and mirrors to introduce the ideas of optics and visual perception.