Search Results
Showing results 1 to 20 of 94

Where is the Sun?
Source Institutions
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.

Paper Cover Up
Source Institutions
In this activity on page 11 of the PDF, learners use candle wax to make "invisible" designs that are revealed with watercolor paints.

CD Spinner
Source Institutions
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.

Amazing Albedo
Source Institutions
In this experiment, learners work in teams to investigate how the color of a surface influences its ability to reflect light and therefore heat.

Newspaper Collage
Source Institutions
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.

Rotating Light
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners explore what happens when polarized white light passes through a sugar solution.

Delta, Delta, Delta
Source Institutions
In this experiment, learners construct an equilateral triangle using graph paper, a pencil, protractor and ruler. They also make a "laser triangle" using a laser pointer and front-silvered mirrors.

Reflecting Rainbows: Decorate Your White Walls With Rainbow Colors!
Source Institutions
Like water drops in falling rain, a CD separates white light into all the colors that make it up.

Water Illusions: Refraction & Magnification
Source Institutions
Learners demonstrate how water can distort, refract and magnify light.

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

Iridescent Art
Source Institutions
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.

Bubble Tray
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners use simple materials to create giant bubbles.

An Ice Lens
Source Institutions
In this optics activity, learners discover basic lens-making techniques by using a tennis ball to make a lens out of ice.

Make a Prism
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners will make their own prism and use a glass of water to separate sunlight into different colors.

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

Seeing Your Retina
Source Institutions
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.

Liquid Crystals Interact with Light!
Source Institutions
In this two-part activity, learners explore the properties of liquid crystals, which are responsible for why mood rings change color.

Sensory Hi-Lo Hunt
Source Institutions
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.

Rainbow Film
Source Institutions
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.

Moonlight Serenade
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners act as the Earth and observe how different angles between the Sun, Earth, and Moon affect the phases of the moon we see each month.