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Soap Bubble Shapes
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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.
CD Spectroscope
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In this activity, learners use an old CD to construct a spectroscope, a device that separates light into its component colors.
Reflecting Rainbows: Decorate Your White Walls With Rainbow Colors!
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Like water drops in falling rain, a CD separates white light into all the colors that make it up.
Bubble Tray
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In this activity, learners use simple materials to create giant bubbles.
Iridescent Art
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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.
Soap-Film Painting
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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.
The Ripple Tank
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In this optics activity, learners create a ripple tank from household materials to study waves. Learners build the tank and then explore by making various types of waves.
Light Quest
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Learners test their "light-smarts" by playing a game called "Light Quest!" The game board represents an atom and each player represents an electron that has been bumped into the atom's outer unstable
Soap Film on a Can
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The beautiful iridescent colors of a bubble in a can! With this Exploratorium Science Snack, create beautiful soap films on the open end of a can to see beautiful rainbows of color.
Diffraction
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In this optics activity, demonstrate diffraction using a candle or a small bright flashlight bulb and a slide made with two pencils.
Spectroscope
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In this activity (posted on March 12, 2011), learners follow the steps to construct a spectroscope, a tool used to analyze light and color.
Sun Prints
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This activity uses a special paper that can create images with exposure to the Sun. Collect objects of different shapes and sizes and use them to make interesting patterns on your sun print.
Splitting White Light
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In this optics activity, learners split white light into all its component colors using three household items: a compact disc, dishwashing liquid, and a hose (outside).
Moiré Patterns
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In this activity about light and perception, learners create and observe moire patterns.
Pringles Pinhole Camera
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An ordinary camera has a lens that makes an image on film. In a pinhole camera, a small hole replaces the lens.
Light and Sound
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In this four-part activity, learners explore light and sound through a variety of hands-on investigations.
AM in the PM
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In this activity, learners will listen to as many radio stations as possible to discover that AM radio signals can travel many hundreds of miles at night.
How Do We Find Planets Around Other Stars?
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This fun and simple hands-on astronomy activity describes techniques scientists use to find planets orbiting other stars.
Structure of Matter: Pigment vs. Iridescence
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This is an activity (located on page 3 of the PDF under Butterfly Wings Activity) about how visible light is affected by tiny nanoscale structures, producing iridescence on butterfly wings, soap bubbl
Bubble Suspension
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In this activity, learners observe as soap bubbles float on a cushion of carbon dioxide gas. Learners blow bubbles into an aquarium filled with a slab of dry ice.