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In this activity, learners use a flexible magnet as a model for a scanning probe microscope (SPM). They learn that SPMs are an example of a special tool that scientists use to work on the nanoscale.

In this activity, learners make models representing bones on Earth and bones that have been in space. They discover what happens to bones without proper exercise and nutrition.

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

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.

The "Rocket Reactions" activity is an exciting way to learn about how materials interact, behave, and change.

In this activity, learners explore clouds and how they form.

This quick demonstration (on page 11 of PDF) allows learners to understand why scientists think water ice could remain frozen in always-dark craters at the poles of the Moon.

In this activity/demo, learners investigate biobarcodes, a nanomedical technology that allows for massively parallel testing that can assist with disease diagnosis.

In "Exploring the Solar System: Stomp Rockets," participants learn about how some rockets carry science tools—not scientists—into space, and how a special kind of rocket called "sounding rockets" can

In this activity, learners model hot spot island formation, orientation and progression with condiments.

This activity encourages visitors to build an electroscope—a simplified version of one of the tools scientists use to study the invisible forces on Earth and in space.

"Exploring the Universe: Objects in Motion" encourages participants to explore the complex but predictable ways objects in the universe interact with each other.

In this geology activity learners build a "squeeze box," which allows them to compress layers of sediment. This is a great way to investigate folding and faulting in the Earth.

In this edible experiment, learners pour "Magic Shell" chocolate into a glass of cold water. They'll observe as pillow shaped structures form, which resemble lavas on the sea floor.

Learners match puzzle pieces to outlines of a DNA strand. The puzzle pieces represent the four chemicals making up DNA base pairs: adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine.

The Let's Do Chemistry "Build a Battery" activity lets participants learn how batteries work and how materials behave, change, and interact by building their own simple battery out of metal and felt w

This fun and simple hands-on astronomy activity illustrates the path of light as it reflects off of mirrors and how this is used in telescopes.

In this activity, learners examine raindrop bottles (prepared ahead of time) to observe in slow motion the behavior of falling droplets and explore concepts such as drag and terminal velocity.

In this optics activity, learners make a lens and explore how the eye manipulates the light that enters it.

In this activity (page 2 of PDF), learners play with a lens and a piece of paper to focus an image on the paper. Learners look at different things, and see how the lenses affect the image.