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What Causes Rainbows?
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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.

Sun Prints
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This activity uses a special paper that can create images with exposure to the Sun. Collect objects of different shapes and sizes and use them to make interesting patterns on your sun print.

Changing Shadows
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In this sunny day, outdoor activity, learners observe changes in shadows over time. The activity also helps to develop a sense of the Earth's motion.

Light is Made of Colors
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Learners observe different light sources, outdoors and indoors, using prism glasses (diffraction glasses) and color filters.

Exploring Ultraviolet (UV) light from the Sun
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In this outdoor activity, learners explore UV rays from the Sun and ways to protect against these potentially harmful rays.

Sensory Hi-Lo Hunt
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In this outdoor activity, learners use only their senses to to find the extremes of several environmental variables or physical factors: wind, temperature, light, slope and moisture.
Glowing Tonic
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In this sunny day activity, learners compare how a cup of water and a cup of tonic water reflect or refract light in the sun.

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.

Make a Green Gumball Black
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In this optics activity, learners use a shoebox, colored cellophane and sunlight to "change" the colors of gumballs. Learners will be surprised when the green and blue gumballs appear black!

Solar Powered Cooking
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In this activity, learners make a solar oven. Learners witness the awesome power of the sun to make a yummy treat--a chocolate chip cookie!

Standing in the Shadow of Earth
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This fun and simple hands-on astronomy activity demonstrates the shadow of the Earth as it rises as a dark blue shadow above the eastern horizon.

Finding the Size of the Sun and Moon
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In this activity, learners build a simple pinhole viewer. They use this apparatus to project images from a variety of light sources, including a candle, the Sun, and the Moon.

Colors in Nature
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In this activity, learners create colorful bead bracelets to wear outside while searching for matching colors in plants. Learners will be surprised by the variety of colors in nature.

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

Bring it into Focus
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In this activity (page 2 of PDF), learners play with a lens and a piece of paper to focus an image on the paper. Learners look at different things, and see how the lenses affect the image.

Safe in the Sun
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In this activity on page 13 of the PDF, use a special plastic card that has been painted with a chemical that changes color when it is in UV light.

Solar Cell Simulation
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In this activity, learners model the flow of energy from the sun as it enters a photovoltaic cell, moves along a wire and powers a load.

First Impressions
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Learners experiment with a commercial photo-sensitive paper (Sunprint® or NaturePrint® paper). They place opaque and clear objects on the paper and expose it to bright light, observing the results.

Shadow Play
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In this three part activity, learners explore and experiment with shadows to learn about the Sun's relative motion in the sky.

Canned Heat
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In this activity, learners explore how light and dark colored objects absorb the Sun's radiations at different rates.