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Light Maze
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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.
Bent Toward Science: Refraction
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This is an activity about the behavior of light. Using simple, everyday objects, learners will discover that light moves in straight lines until acted upon by another object.
Pictures From Light
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Did you know that using a lens one can bend light to make pictures of the world? It's true!
Paper Whites
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Learners observe different paper samples under ordinary room light and under a black light to learn some of the chemical differences between different types of paper.
Soap-Film Interference Model: Get on our wavelength!
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By making models of light waves with paper, learners can understand why different colors appear in bubbles.
On the Fringe (formerly Bridge Light)
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In this activity, learners trap a thin layer of air between two pieces of Plexiglas to produce rainbow-colored interference patterns.
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.
Shadow Puppets
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In this activity, learners will create their own simple shadow puppets, and experiment with light and shadow while playing with them.
Reflecting on Diffraction
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With a laser pointer and some household items, learners can create their own laser light show. They can explore diffuse reflection, refraction and diffraction.
Big Wave
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This is an activity about waves. Using marbles, paper clips and rubber bands, learners explore how waves behave.
Dirty Oil, Oily Dirt
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In this activity, learners discover how sediment is affected in an oil spill. Learners investigate the differences between heavy and light oil as well as the differences between different sediments.
Light Combinations
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In this activity about magnetism (page 17 of the pdf), learners experiment with magnets, exploring the concept of diamagnetic materials by seeing how a grape reacts to a magnetic field.
Aluminum-Air Battery: Foiled again!
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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
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In this activity, learners will create an optical illusion top. Learners will explore color mixing, physics and design through this activity.
Seeing 3D
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Create 3D glasses and use them to explore color, light and optics. Fool your brain into 'seeing' three dimensions on a flat surface!
Pringles Pinhole Camera
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An ordinary camera has a lens that makes an image on film. In a pinhole camera, a small hole replaces the lens.
Tie Dye Painting
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This is an activity exploring color and color mixing.
Circuit Sense
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In this activity about electricity, learners identify closed and open circuits. First, learners examine and label diagrams of open and closed circuits.
Our Place in Our Galaxy
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In this fun and simple hands-on astronomy activity, learners construct a model of our place in the Milky Way Galaxy and the distribution of stars, with a quarter and some birdseed.
Eye Spy
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This fun activity uses simple materials such as milk cartons and mirrors to introduce the ideas of optics and visual perception.