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

In this activity, learners create a colorful bookmark using a super thin layer of nail polish on water. Learners discover that a thin film creates iridescent, rainbow colors.

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

Make a big canvas of iridescent color with pvc pipe! In this Exploratorium Science Snack, you'll need to cut and assemble some PVC pipe, but the pay-off, the soap-bubble canvas, is big.

Align four color transparencies, each one a single color (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black), and see a beautiful full color image.

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.

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

In this optics activity, learners create a ripple tank from household materials to study waves. Learners build the tank and then explore by making various types of waves.

In this optics activity, learners experiment with polarizers (small dark rectangles) to examine light intensity.

Create an illusion where it appears that your hand has a hole in it. You'll see the results from when one eye gets conflicting information.

In this activity, learners explore the invisible infrared radiation from an electric heater.

In this optics activity, learners explore color by examining color dots through colored water and the light of a flashlight.

In this optics activity, learners explore how light bends and affects what we see.

Learners use two mirrors to explore how images of images of images can repeat forever.

Learners test their "light-smarts" by playing a game called "Light Quest!" The game board represents an atom and each player represents an electron that has been bumped into the atom's outer unstable

In this activity, learners explore the relative efficiency of different bulbs, specifically incandescent vs. fluorescent.

This is a quick activity (on page 2 of the PDF under Stained Glass Activity) about the "Tyndall effect," the scattering of visible light when it hits very small dispersed particles.

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 (1st on the page), learners find their blind spot--the area on the retina without receptors that respond to light.