Search Results

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.

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.

In this activity, learners build large-scale structures and cantilevers in a series of "building out" challenges with garden poles and tape.

In this activity, learners investigate the relative growth of lengths, areas, and volumes as cylinders are scaled up.

In this activity, learners separate the components of Gatorade using a home-made affinity column.

In this activity, learners explore the "nuts and bolts" of gene chips.

In this activity, learners build bridges using paper and explore how much weight each bridge design can support.

In this activity, learners build bridges and cantilevers in a series of "building out" challenges with straws and pins.

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.

In this activity, learners simulate the process of DNA fingerprinting by using electricity to separate colored dyes.

In this optics activity, learners examine how a transparent material such as glass or water can actually reflect light better than any mirror.

In this activity about light and perception, learners create pictures in thin air.

In this seismic simulation, learners play a "who-dunnit" game to explore earthquakes.

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.

Learn how to construct a light box by following simple figures and instructions. This guide includes tips on how to assemble a light box; related activities are featured in separate resources.

In this activity, learners build bridges out of newspaper and tape to explore how structures are designed to bear loads.

In this activity, learners build scaled-down structures and cantilevers in a series of "building out" challenges with bamboo skewers and tape.

In this classic hands-on activity, learners estimate the length of a molecule by floating a fatty acid (oleic acid) on water.

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.

Oboes's unique sound originates from the two small reeds a musician blows into. Make your own double reed instrument out of straw!