Search Results

In this engineering design challenge, learners animate a facial expression and make a machine (zoetrope) that plays the animation back.

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 activity, learners make an optical illusion toy from the 1800s to explore persistence of vision.

In this activity, learners create a traditional Mexican noisemaker (a matraca) using cardboard, craft sticks, and a wooden dowel.

In this hands-on activity, learners build their own kaleidoscopes and explore how light can reflect of off surfaces such as mirrors, to produce beautiful patterns.

In this activity, learners explore sound by constructing a simple piano out of wood and craft sticks.

In this playful, goopy activity, learners mix two liquids to create a solid (that sometimes acts like a liquid ), using basic household materials such as borax and glue.

In this activity, learners build a figure that moves and "comes to life" when they pull its string.

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

Break open that used musical toy and squish some Play-Doh over the circuit boards, and you will hear some weird and distorted sounds the manufacturer never intended!

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

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.

The goal of this activity is to design, build and test a house or toy for an animal.

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

In this Bob the Builder(TM)-themed activity, learners explore the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) by rotating through several activity stations.

In this activity, learners construct three optical illusion toys to examine how our brains play tricks on what we see.

In this activity, learners make a Benham Top to explore visual illusions and optics.