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In this activity, learners build inexpensive pulley assemblies from pulley wheels used for sliding screen door replacement or from clothesline spreaders.

$10 - $20 per group Ages 11 - 18 1 to 2 hours
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Make your own speaker with a magnet, wire, and paper cup! If you have a radio with a headphone plug and an old pair of headphones, this is a great tinkering activity.

$1 - $5 per student Ages 8 - adult 10 to 30 minutes
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In this activity, learners simulate the process of DNA fingerprinting by using electricity to separate colored dyes.

Over $20 per group Ages 11 - 18 1 to 2 hours
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Find out what it would be like to have ears shaped differently from your own! Design and make different animal ears then try them out.

1 cent - $1 per student Ages 4 - 11 5 to 10 minutes
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In this activity, learners explore chemiluminescence and fluorescence. Learners examine 3 different solutions in regular light, in the dark with added bleach solution, and under a black light.

$10 - $20 per group Ages 8 - 18 30 to 45 minutes
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In this activity, learners model directed evolution by making paper fly. Learners construct and fly paper airplanes.

$1 - $5 per group Ages 8 - 18 45 to 60 minutes
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In this activity, learners build bridges using paper and explore how much weight each bridge design can support.

1 cent - $1 per group Ages 4 - 11 45 to 60 minutes
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In this activity, learners build bridges and cantilevers in a series of "building out" challenges with straws and pins.

$1 - $5 per group Ages 4 - 14 1 to 2 hours
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See what force a magnet has on a wire that has current running through it: will it push it, pull it, or will nothing happen? This is the foundation of a simple electric motor.

1 cent - $1 per student Ages 6 - 18 Under 5 minutes
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In this activity, learners explore the "nuts and bolts" of gene chips.

$1 - $5 per student Ages 14 - 18 45 to 60 minutes
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In this activity, learners make or use pre-made clay beams to scale and proportion. Specifically, they discover that when you scale up proportionally (i.e.

$10 - $20 per group Ages 4 - 14 45 to 60 minutes
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Make a cuíca (“kwee-ka”), a traditional Brazilian musical instrument that originated in Africa. Played primarily in Brazil, now you can play it at home, too, with this Exploratorium produced activity.

1 cent - $1 per student Ages 6 - adult 10 to 30 minutes
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In this activity, learners build large-scale structures and cantilevers in a series of "building out" challenges with garden poles and tape.

$10 - $20 per group Ages 6 - 14 2 to 4 hours
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In this activity, learners investigate the relative growth of lengths, areas, and volumes as cylinders are scaled up.

$1 - $5 per group Ages 8 - 14 1 to 2 hours
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With a bit of PVC, a laser, a can/cup, and a small mirror, you can make a device that visualizes you voice or any sound transmitted into the cup/can.

free Ages 8 - adult 10 to 30 minutes
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In this activity, learners build a simple mechanism that regulates the "escape" of energy released by a falling weight by portioning it into discrete amounts.

$1 - $5 per student Ages 11 - 18 45 to 60 minutes
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Electrolysis is the breakdown of water into hydrogen and oxygen. This Exploratorium activity allows learners to visualize the process with an acid-based indicator.

$1 - $5 per student Ages 8 - 18 10 to 30 minutes
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In this activity, learners explore the properties of paper by constructing and modifying paper airplanes.

1 cent - $1 per student Ages 8 - 14 5 to 10 minutes
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In this activity, learners construct three quick and simple mechanisms to start building a pop-up book. Learners fold, cut, and glue paper to make a bird beak, parallelogram, and V-fold.

1 cent - $1 per student Ages 6 - 14 30 to 45 minutes
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In this activity, learners build a recording timer made from simple materials (e.g., small dc motor, sharpie pen, craft sticks, adding machine paper tape, etc.).

Over $20 per group Ages 14 - 18 1 to 2 hours