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In this activity, learners create a simple “top” from a CD, marble and bottle cap, and use it as a spinning platform for a variety of illusion-generating patterns.

In this experiment, learners work in teams to investigate how the color of a surface influences its ability to reflect light and therefore heat.

In this activity, learners explore what happens when polarized white light passes through a sugar solution.

In this activity, learners will make their own prism and use a glass of water to separate sunlight into different colors.

In this activity, learners use clear nail polish to create a beautiful iridescent pattern on black paper. Learners discover that a thin film creates iridescent, rainbow colors.

In this math-based activity, learners model the intensity of light at various distances from a light source, and understand how astronomers measure the amount of sunlight that hits our planet and othe

In this activity, learners explore liquid crystals, light and temperature. Using a postcard made of temperature-sensitive liquid crystal material, learners monitor temperature changes.

How can you make one shade of gray look like two? By putting it against two different color backgrounds! This activity allows learners to perform this sleight of hand very easily.

In this activity, learners experience firsthand how marine animals' adaptive coloration camouflages them from prey.

In this activity, learners use a compact disc to make a spectrometer, an instrument used to measure properties of light.

An ordinary camera has a lens that makes an image on film. In a pinhole camera, a small hole replaces the lens.

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.

In this activity, learners trap a thin layer of air between two pieces of Plexiglas to produce rainbow-colored interference patterns.

In this activity, learners will explore how different colors of lights interact with objects around them. Will a blue object stay blue with a red filter?

In this activity, learners make their own pinhole viewer in order to measure the size of the sun.

In this activity, learners use Jell-O to explore lenses. Learners cut Jell-O into convex and concave lens shapes and examine how light exits each lens in a darkened room.

Have you ever heard of a camera without a lens? In this activity, learners create a pinhole camera out of simple materials. They'll see the world in a whole new way: upside down and backwards!

In this trick, hold your hand over a burning candle without getting burned, by reflecting and transmitting the light of two candles. This activity is best suited as a demonstration.

In this optics activity, learners explore diffraction by adding wax blocks to a ripple tank. The wedge-shaped blocks act as obstacles that the wave must bend around.

In this outdoor activity, learners discover how the environment around a building affects the growth of plants.