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Light Maze
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners will explore light with reflective surfaces. Learners will make predictions and share their observations as they experiment with directing a beam of light.

The Old White Sheet Trick: Light and Insect Behavior
Source Institutions
In this outdoor, nighttime activity, learners gather around a brightly lit, white surface and study the behavior of nocturnal animals attracted to the light, particularly night fliers.

Make a UV Detector
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners use tonic water to detect ultraviolet (UV) light from the Sun and explore the concept of fluorescence.

Slide Projector Activities
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This resource contains several mini-explorations using a slide projector as a light source to investigate light and the properties of images.

On the Fringe (formerly Bridge Light)
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners trap a thin layer of air between two pieces of Plexiglas to produce rainbow-colored interference patterns.

Phantom Phlame
Source Institutions
In this trick, hold your hand over a burning candle without getting burned, by reflecting and transmitting the light of two candles. This activity is best suited as a demonstration.

Make a Prism
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners will make their own prism and use a glass of water to separate sunlight into different colors.

Up Periscope!
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This activity provides instructions for building a mirrored tube--a smaller and simpler version of a submarine's periscope--that lets you see around corners and over walls.

Big Wave
Source Institutions
This is an activity about waves. Using marbles, paper clips and rubber bands, learners explore how waves behave.

Benham’s Disk
Source Institutions
In this activity (on page 2 of the PDF under GPS: Light and Color Activity), learners will see the illusion of colors produced by a rotating black and white image known as Benham’s Disk.

Seeing Your Retina
Source Institutions
In this quick optics activity, learners use a dim point of light (a disassembled Mini MagLite and dowel set-up) to cast a shadow of the blood supply in their retina onto the retina itself.

Build the Big Dipper
Source Institutions
Learners use simple materials to construct a model the Big Dipper. Learners hang the model from a doorway or ceiling and look up at it to see the constellation as seen from Earth.

Measure the Sun's Size
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners make their own pinhole viewer in order to measure the size of the sun.
Multiple Reflections
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners explore how mirrors reflect light and change the way we see things.

Aluminum-Air Battery: Foiled again!
Source Institutions
Construct a simple battery that's able to power a small light or motor out of foil, salt water, and charcoal. A helpful video, produced by the Exploratorium, guides you along on this activity.

Opti-Top
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners will create an optical illusion top. Learners will explore color mixing, physics and design through this activity.

Pringles Pinhole Camera
Source Institutions
An ordinary camera has a lens that makes an image on film. In a pinhole camera, a small hole replaces the lens.

Tasty Buds
Source Institutions
In this activity (1st activity on the page), learners explore their sense of taste and the structure of the tongue by taste-testing various foods.

Properties of Dust
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners carry out a scientific investigation of dust in their classroom. Learners produce an analysis on graph paper of the dust they collect over the course of a few days.

Tools of Magnification
Source Institutions
In this activity related to microbes, learners use water drops and hand lenses to begin the exploration of magnification. This activity also introduces learners to the microscope.