Public Programs

Physics of Toys
This guided hands-on activity allowed visitors to make toys or works of art illuminating fundamental physical forces, and to take home what they made. All materials were provided.

Ultraviolet Bracelets
Visitors explored an invisible part of sunlight with beads that changed colors when exposed to ultraviolet light.

Pinhole Viewers
With a little help from a bright sun and a pinhole viewer, images of the world were projected onto a screen—the basic technology behind both simple eclipse viewers and the camera obscura.

Anemometer Construction
Knowing the speed of the wind can be important information if you're going sailing, flying a kite—or predicting the weather. Meteorologists use anemometers to measure wind speed. We helped visitors make their own anemometers from straws and paper cups.

Make a Fossil
Visitors used plaster of paris to make a molds, then imprinted shells, leaves, rocks, and other things found around the Exploratorium to make"fossils"

Sawdust Painting
Visitors worked with artist Hernesto Hernandez Olmos to create a giant multicolored sawdust painting depicting natural elements.

Solar Cooking
Visitors built a solar cookers and sampled solar-cooked nachos with cheese and vegetarian chili. This event was co-sponsored by Solar Schoolhouse, a program of the Rahus Institute.

Hands-on Restoration
Visitors explored the autumn beauty of Crissy Field and investigated its natural cycles and inhabitants by removing invasive non-native plants along the Promenade and the edges of the Park's restored sand dunes. Go to www.crissyfield.org for more information.

Ikuras (1973, 2 minutes) by Chuck Hudina
This stark, powerful film captures the flight and fall of a human figure. Contrasting light and shadow provide a dramatic setting for this slow-motion dive captured at 3,000 frames per second.

Birdbeat (fugue) (2002, 5 minutes) by Geoff Adams
This short animation transforms the cacophony of birds at a backyard feeder into a jazzy composition.

The Dive (2003, 4 minute loop) by Kia Simon
This impressionistic, hand-painted video explores love, loss, and transcendence. A human figure floats in and out of space, suggesting flight in the sky's lofty ambience and motion through undulating bodies of water.