Search Results


Showing results 1 to 20 of 78

Add to list Details
In this activity, learners verify that the Sun appears in a different location at a specific time every day of the year with one exception: on the Equinoxes.

$1 - $5 per student Ages 6 - 14
Source Institutions
Add to list Details
In this activity on page 11 of the PDF, learners use candle wax to make "invisible" designs that are revealed with watercolor paints.

$1 - $5 per student Ages 6 - 11 5 to 10 minutes
Source Institutions
Add to list Details
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.

$1 - $5 per student Ages 8 - 18 10 to 30 minutes
Source Institutions
Add to list Details
In this activity on page 3 of the PDF, learners create a collage by using vinegar to transfer color pictures from a newspaper onto a piece of white paper.

$1 - $5 per student Ages 6 - 14 10 to 30 minutes
Source Institutions
Add to list Details
In this activity, learners explore what happens when polarized white light passes through a sugar solution.

$1 - $5 per student Ages 8 - 18 30 to 45 minutes
Source Institutions
Add to list Details
Like water drops in falling rain, a CD separates white light into all the colors that make it up.

$1 - $5 per student Ages 6 - 14 5 to 10 minutes
Add to list Details
Learners demonstrate how water can distort, refract and magnify light.

$1 - $5 per group Ages 8 - 14 1 to 2 hours
Source Institutions
Add to list Details
In this activity, learners use simple materials to create giant bubbles.

$1 - $5 per group Ages 6 - 14 10 to 30 minutes
Source Institutions
Add to list Details
In this activity, learners create a cylindrical mirror to see themselves as others see them.

$1 - $5 per student Ages 8 - 14 10 to 30 minutes
Source Institutions
Add to list Details
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.

$1 - $5 per group Ages 8 - 14 10 to 30 minutes
Source Institutions
Add to list Details
In this activity, learners will make their own prism and use a glass of water to separate sunlight into different colors.

$1 - $5 per group Ages 8 - adult 5 to 10 minutes
Source Institutions
Add to list Details
In this activity about light and refraction, learners make a lens and magnifying glass by filling a bowl with water.

$1 - $5 per group Ages 8 - 14 10 to 30 minutes
Source Institutions
Add to list Details
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.

$1 - $5 per student Ages 8 - 14 Under 5 minutes
Source Institutions
Add to list Details
In this activity, learners explore why the sky is blue. Learners model the scattering of light by the atmosphere, which creates the blue sky and red sunset, using a flashlight and clear glue sticks.

$1 - $5 per student Ages 8 - 14 5 to 10 minutes
Add to list Details
In this activity, learners build inexpensive kaleidoscopes using transparency paper and foil (instead of mirrors).

$1 - $5 per student Ages 8 - 14 10 to 30 minutes
Source Institutions
Add to list Details
This fun activity uses simple materials such as milk cartons and mirrors to introduce the ideas of optics and visual perception.

$1 - $5 per student Ages 6 - 11 10 to 30 minutes
Source Institutions
Add to list Details
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.

$1 - $5 per student Ages 8 - 14 5 to 10 minutes
Source Institutions
Add to list Details
In this activity on page 9 of the PDF, learners make their own paint using chalk as a pigment and glue and water as binders. This activity introduces learners to special mixtures called suspensions.

$1 - $5 per student Ages 6 - 11 10 to 30 minutes
Source Institutions
Add to list Details
In this activity, learners explore ray optics. Learners discover that they can use a magnifying glass to create an upside-down image.

$1 - $5 per group Ages 4 - 11 10 to 30 minutes
Source Institutions
Add to list Details
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.

$1 - $5 per student Ages 6 - 14 10 to 30 minutes