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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 quick optics activity, learners use a dim point of light (a disassembled Mini MagLite and dowel set-up) to cast a shadow of the blood supply in their retina onto the retina itself.

In this activity about afterimages, learners explore what happens when receptor cells called cones in your eye's retina get tired.

In this activity, learners play with a fuzzy-colored dot that has no distinct edges seems to disappear. As learners stare at the dot, its color appears to blend with the colors surrounding it.

In this activity about depth perception, learners create an optical illusion in a shoe box.

In this lab (Activity #1 on page), learners explore how we see color.

In this activity, learners discover that it's difficult to distinguish between two different shades of gray when they aren't separated by a boundary.

Design and create an optical illusion toy that makes two pictures appear to become one. This is called a thaumatrope and will allow the learner to investigate the phenomenon of persistence of vision.

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 about light and perception, learners create and observe moire patterns.

In this activity (on page 2 of the PDF under GPS: Light and Color Activity), learners will see the illusion of colors produced by a rotating black and white image known as Benham’s Disk.

In this optics activity, learners discover that when they rotate a special black and white pattern called a Benham's Disk, it produces the illusion of colored rings.