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This is a quick activity/demonstration that introduces learners to the concept of index of refraction. Learners place stirring rods in a jar of water and notice they can see them clearly.

Align four color transparencies, each one a single color (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black), and see a beautiful full color image.

In this activity (1st on the page), learners find their blind spot--the area on the retina without receptors that respond to light.

In this activity about light and perception, learners discover how a flash of light can create a lingering image called an "afterimage" on the retina of the eye.

In this activity, learners explore light, color and rainbows by making their own rainbow glasses.

In this optics activity, learners examine how a transparent material such as glass or water can actually reflect light better than any mirror.

In this activity, learners use earthworms as "unknown creatures" from the South American jungle to find out how animals use senses.

Create an illusion where it appears that your hand has a hole in it. You'll see the results from when one eye gets conflicting information.

Look at pictures through different color filters and you'll see them in a new way. People have used color filters in beautiful photography or sending secret messages.

This science activity demonstrates the dominant eye phenomena. What does your brain do when it sees two images that conflict?

If you had a long tube with a 5 millimeter wide slit, would you see the entire Golden Gate Bridge?

Do you have a hard time matching paint swatches with your furniture? When you consider human perception, color is context dependent.

In this activity, learners conduct a simple test to find their blind spot.

In this activity, learners control the (apparent) size of a hole with their brain.

In this activity, learners explore how and why rainbows form by creating rainbows in a variety of ways using simple materials. Learners create rainbows indoors and outdoors.

Create 3D glasses and use them to explore color, light and optics. Fool your brain into 'seeing' three dimensions on a flat surface!

In this optics activity, learners use paint thinner to make a small jar seem to disappear inside a larger jar.

In this optics activity, learners use everyday materials to make a color wheel. When learners spin the wheel like a top, they will be surprised to see all the colors mixing together to appear white.

Make a big canvas of iridescent color with pvc pipe! In this Exploratorium Science Snack, you'll need to cut and assemble some PVC pipe, but the pay-off, the soap-bubble canvas, is big.

In this optics activity, learners discover how they can make glass objects "disappear." Learners submerge glass objects like stirring rods into a beaker of Wesson™ oil to explore how the principles of