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In this activity, learners watch a figure "magically" float up through the air.

In this activity, learners design miniature cars. Learners can create a telephone car, soccer car, merry-go-round car, or any other theme car they can imagine.

In this activity, learners create painting machines that can paint moving forwards and backwards.

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

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.

In this activity, learners build a cuica or chirping bird using straw, string, and a bottle cap. Use this activity to explore the interplay of motion and sound.

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 build small animated toys that move.

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 activity, learners build a mini crank machine to make a bird "fly." This engineering activity introduces learners to automata, rotational motion, cranks and cams.

In this hands-on activity, children create their own kites that can fly indoors. Learners are exposed to basic concepts of gravity and air resistance.

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.

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

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

In this activity, learners build their own sound machines and explore the interplay of motion and sound.

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

Make your own "Dance Dance Revolution" dance pad! In this design challenge activity, learners work in teams to build a dance pad that lets you use your feet to sound a buzzer or flash a light.

In this activity, learners construct a traditional handicraft toy that illustrates a motion commonly associated with violins and earthquakes.