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Learners explore three-dimensional geometric frames including cubes and tetrahedrons, as they create bubble wands with pipe cleaners and drinking straws.

In this activity, learners discover that nanoparticles of gold can appear red, orange or even blue. They learn that a material can act differently when it’s nanometer-sized.

In this art meets science activity, learners pack silver, ball-shaped ornaments in a single layer in a box to create an array of spherical reflectors.

In this activity, learners use simple materials to create giant bubbles.

In this activity, learners explore how nanosized structures can create brilliant color.

In this activity, learners use their imaginations and picture a scene in their heads.

Learners are challenged to discover the relative densities of colored liquids to create a rainbow pattern in a test tube.

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

In this activity, learners create a colorful bookmark using a super thin layer of nail polish on water. Learners discover that a thin film creates iridescent, rainbow colors.

In "Exploring the Universe: Exoplanet Transits," participants simulate one of the methods scientists use to discover planets orbiting distant stars.

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.

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

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.

In this optics activity, learners explore color by examining color dots through colored water and the light of a flashlight.

"Exploring the Universe: Filtered Light" demonstrates how scientists can use telescopes and other tools to capture and filter different energies of light to study the universe.

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.

This activity provides instructions for building a mirrored tube--a smaller and simpler version of a submarine's periscope--that lets you see around corners and over walls.

In this optics/mathematics activity, learners use two hinged mirrors to create a kaleidoscope that shows multiple images of an object.

In this activity, learners make a photographic image—without a camera!

In this activity, learners will create their own simple shadow puppets, and experiment with light and shadow while playing with them.