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In this activity, learners discover why some nanoscale science and technology is done in the controlled environment of a clean room, what clean rooms are like, and how scientists help keep the clean r

In this activity, learners create a traditional Mexican noisemaker (a matraca) using cardboard, craft sticks, and a wooden dowel.

In this activity, learners sniff out scents hidden in balloons! After investigating, learners discover we sometimes can use another sense (smell) to detect things too small to see.

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

In this activity, learners observe what happens when they give a light source like a neon glow lamp a "Bronx Cheer." The lights appear to wiggle back and forth and flicker when learners blow air throu

This activity (on page 2) explores how sensing is part of robotics. Learners try tying their shoes with different constraints.

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

This is a quick activity (on page 2 of the PDF under Butterfly Wings Activity) that illustrates how nanoscale structures, so small they're practically invisible, can produce visible/colorful effects.

In this optics activity, learners discover basic lens-making techniques by using a tennis ball to make a lens out of ice.

In this activity about light and perception, learners create pictures in thin air.

In this robotics activity, learners find ways to express emotions and feelings using only body movements, not facial expressions.

This is a quick activity (on page 2 of the PDF under Stained Glass Activity) about the "Tyndall effect," the scattering of visible light when it hits very small dispersed particles.

Find out what it would be like to have ears shaped differently from your own! Design and make different animal ears then try them out.

In this invention challenge activity, learners see how many objects they can grab with a homemade "bionic" arm.

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 construct a device that allows them to view 2-D images in 3-D.

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

This fun activity uses simple materials such as milk cartons and mirrors to introduce the ideas of optics and visual perception.

In this optics activity, learners make a simple telescope using two lenses and a cardboard tube. Learners construct the telescope and then calculate its magnification.

In this activity (posted on March 27, 2011), learners follow the steps to construct a mini zoetrope, a device that produces an illusion of action from a rapid succession of static pictures.