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In this activity, young learners will explore light and darkness through flashlight play.

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

In this activity, learners create a cylindrical mirror to see themselves as others see them.

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.

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

In this activity about light and refraction, learners make a lens and magnifying glass by filling a bowl with water.

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 outdoor activity, learners use only their senses to to find the extremes of several environmental variables or physical factors: wind, temperature, light, slope and moisture.

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

In this activity, learners investigate the reflective properties of light and mirrors as they make a kaleidoscope.

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.

This resource contains several mini-explorations using a slide projector as a light source to investigate light and the properties of images.

In this activity about light and perception, learners create and observe moire patterns.

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.

In this activity, learners explore how polarizing sunglasses can help diminish road glare.

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 trap a thin layer of air between two pieces of Plexiglas to produce rainbow-colored interference patterns.