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Splitting White Light
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In this optics activity, learners split white light into all its component colors using three household items: a compact disc, dishwashing liquid, and a hose (outside).
Transparent Gelatin
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In this optics activity, learners explore how they can make gelatin stop light, but not stop them from seeing fruit suspended within.
The Bent Pencil
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In this optics activity, learners explore how light bends and affects what we see.

Make Money Appear Before Your Eyes
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In this optics activity, learners use water to make a coin "appear" and "disappear." Use this activity to demonstrate how light refracts and introduce light as waves.

Make a Light Fountain
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In this optics activity, learners make a "light fountain" from a clear plastic bottle, flashlight, and other simple materials.

Bending Light
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In this optics activity, learners make a lens and explore how the eye manipulates the light that enters it.

CD Spectroscope
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In this activity, learners use an old CD to construct a spectroscope, a device that separates light into its component colors.

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.
Mix and Match
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In this optics activity, learners explore color by examining color dots through colored water and the light of a flashlight.
The Ripple Tank
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In this optics activity, learners create a ripple tank from household materials to study waves. Learners build the tank and then explore by making various types of waves.

Oil Spot Photometer
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In this math activity related to light, learners assemble a photometer and use it to estimate the power output of the Sun.

Why is the Sky Blue?
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In this activity, learners use a flashlight, a glass of water, and some milk to examine why the sky is blue and sunsets are red.

Pinhole Viewer
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In this activity, learners discuss and investigate how cameras, telescopes, and their own eyes use light in similar ways.

Pinhole Magnifier
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In this activity related to light and perception, learners use a pinhole in an index card as a magnifying glass to help their eye focus on a nearby object.

Mirrors and Images
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In this optics activity, learners explore how many objects they can see in a set of mirrors (hinged like a book) at various angles.

Why Are Bubbles So Colorful?
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In this activity, learners explore why they can see colors in bubbles and why they change.

Film Canister Farming
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In this hands-on botany activity, learners sprout vegetables in film canisters.

Shadow Dance
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In this activity, learners experiment with shadows and light sources to understand the relationship between the angle illumination and the shadow's length.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Angles of Reflection
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In this optics activity, learners work in pairs to explore how mirrors work. Learners use tape to mark the angles needed to see each other's reflection in a wall mirror.

Vanishing Rods
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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.