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  • Tinkering at Home

    Try this collection of prompts for tinkering at home.

  • Learning Toolbox: Engage in activities about the science of coronavirus and explore our online resources for learning at home.

  • Explore water's crucial role in food and cooking.

    Science of Water: Food   Explore water's crucial role in food and cooking.

  • Shadow Box exhibit

    Browse our growing online collection of interactive exhibits.

  • Global Climate Change Explorer • Discover how researchers study climate change and examine the latest scientific data.

  • Science Snacks

    Low-cost, teacher-tested activities for the classroom and the curious.

  • Wired Pier Environmental Field Station • Explore weather, air quality, and water conditions from San Francisco Bay

Explore, Play, Discover: Websites, Activities, and More

Dive into websites, activities, apps, and more.

Besuboru
Besuboru

Why is baseball so popular in Japan?

Glitter Globe
Glitter Globe

Make a fantastic toy that shimmers when you shake it.

Skateboard Design
Skateboard Design

Is it just a glorified plank with roller skate wheels on it? Or is it a highly engineered device through which kids have reclaimed the urban landscape, bringing creativity and style back to the sterile asphalt spaces of sprawl?

Arctic Seals
Arctic Seals

These unique – and uniquely beautiful – seal species spend their lives amid the sea ice

Surf Forecast
Surf Forecast

Use live data to make your own wave predictions, wherever you are.

Polar Geography
Ice

There's more to polar ice than just frozen water. Learn about the many varieties of ice found at the poles and how and where they form.

Bird Call Quiz
Bird Call Quiz

Listen to bird songs and try to figure out which are songs, which are companion calls, and which are alarms.

Ice Stories: Dispatches from Polar Scientists
Ice Stories: Dispatches from Polar Scientists

There are about 500 dispatches from scientists working in the Arctic and Antarctica, along with original videos, photos, webcasts, and articles.

Why Eclipses Happen
A How-To Guide for Viewing Eclipses
How to View an Eclipse
Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza

A brief history of Chichen Itza.

Visitor at After Dark : Get Surreal sampling an augmented reality Meta Cookie
Meta Cookie: Olfactory and Gustatory Augmented Reality

by Rob Rothfarb • February 11, 2011

Visitors experienced the sights and smells of "Meta Cookie', an augmented reality installation at After Dark: Get Surreal.

Seeing
Seeing

What do you really know about what you see?

CD Spectroscope: Introduction

Separate light into colors with an old CD.

Collecting soil for Winogradsky Column activity
Bacterial Terrarium

With just mud, paper and an egg, you can grow colonies of multi-hued microbes!

Preparing for Landing
Follow the Rosetta mission with Senior Scientist Isabel Hawkins.
Polar Geography
Polar Geography

The frozen worlds of the Arctic and Antarctica

The Dirt on Dirt
The Dirt on Dirt

Get down and dirty with the surprising science of soil.

Antarctic Seals
Antarctic Seals

Crabeaters have extraordinary teeth, Weddells are downright cute, and leopards are as fierce as their namesake

Chain Reaction
Chain Reaction

Rube Goldberg-inspired cause and effect contraptions using everyday materials and found objects.

Go With The Flow
Go With The Flow

Spin the bottle to see beautiful swirling shapes

ColorFest Demonstration: Oaxacan Dyes And Textiles
Take a look at traditional Oaxacan dyeing practices.
Science of Sharing Educator Activities
Science of Sharing Educator Activities

Explore the ideas behind Science of Sharing with these Activities.

Bird in a Cage: Introduction

Make a bird appear in a cage using only your eyes. 

Circuit Boards
Circuit Boards

Tinker with electricity using common objects: batteries, lights, buzzers, motors, switches, etc.

Which Languages Are Related?
Which Languages Are Related?

Examine words from different languages and determine which two languages are the most closely related.

Singing in the Shower
Singing in the Shower

Everyone seems to love the sound of their own voice in the shower. That's because a simple shower stall produces some complex sound-altering effects.

Cookie Subduction
Cookie Subduction

Get a taste of how the earth's plates move.

Going Up? Get Fit
Going Up? Get Fit

The 18,000-foot Mt. Parinacota presents some fitness challenges for climbers.

Speaking of Music Rewind
Speaking of Music Rewind

Listen in on conversations with Laurie Anderson, Brian Eno, and others in Speaking of Music Rewind.

Exploratorium Magazine
Exploratorium Magazine

From 1977 until 2003, the Exploratorium published a quarterly magazine. The Exploratorium Magazine Online is a companion to selected issues of the print magazine, providing key articles and activities and including multimedia features.

Resonance

Go back to the roots of Resonance, our evening music series.

Pictures in a Box
Pictures in a Box
Look closely at a TV and a newspaper and you’ll notice they are made up of lots of tiny dots
Science Wire: Technology News Beyond the Headlines
Science Wire: Technology News Beyond the Headlines

Our collaboration with Public Radio International's The World. With Public Radio International, we're taking technology news beyond the headlines.

From Jungle to Lab: The Study of Life's Complexity
From Jungle to Lab: The Study of Life's Complexity

Visit Las Cuevas Research Station in Belize and the Natural History Museum in London to learn about the study of biodiversity.

Party at the Piers
The Sun-Earth Connection
The Sun-Earth Connection
Dry Valleys
Dry Valleys

The nearly ice-free Dry Valleys are an Antarctic anomaly, and Earth's closest equivalent to Mars.

Ooblek Trek (cornstarch ooze)

Touch, dance, or walk on the ooze known as ooblek.

Frog City USA
Frog City USA

Take a virtual journey to the frog capital of the world, Rayne, Louisiana.

Prime Obsession

by Paul Dancstep • August 25, 2015

Do prime numbers "feel" different than the other numbers?

Drives & Gears
Drives & Gears

What is a gear ratio? And how do gears help make the bicycle so efficient?

Never Lost: Polynesian Navigation
Never Lost: Polynesian Navigation

Imagine yourself in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean. You've been sailing for weeks, and there's no land in sight. Do you know where you are? Do you know which way to go?

Evidence: How Do We Know What We Know?
Evidence: How Do We Know What We Know?

For most of us, science arrives in our lives packaged neatly as fact. But how did it get that way?

Seasons and Alignments
Seasons and Alignments

Does the sun rise in the east? Not exactly.

Strandbeest: Animaris Ordis

Observe Theo Jansen and a strandbeest strolling on a sunny beach.

Conductivity Explorer
Conductivity Explorer

See how well various materials conduct electricity and use Science Journal to explore your data.

New Musical Instruments
New Musical Instruments

See astounding musical instruments made by Bart Hopkin

Crystal Creations
Crystal Creations

Grow spikes of crystals in the sun.

Cookie Subduction
Cookie Subduction

Get a taste of how the earth's plates move.

Sound Puzzle
Sound Puzzle

See if you can put these sounds back together in this sonic jigsaw puzzle.

Big and Tall Bikes

Bike builder David Folch builds supersized bikes for supersized riders.

 
Auroras
Auroras

Your guide to the Northern and Southern Lights (also in 'Observatory')

Listening Memory Game
Listening Memory Game

Play a memory concentration game: Listen closely then match pairs of sounds.

Bird Call Quiz
Bird Call Quiz

Listen to bird songs and try to figure out which are songs, which are companion calls, and which are alarms.

Using the Wired Pier Web App

by Mary Miller • April 19, 2017

Launch our new web app to explore environmental data. 

Microscope Imaging Station
Microscope Imaging Station

What do stem cells, fruit flies, and zebrafish look like under a microscope?

Double Trouble
Doubling Pennies

It's easy to fold a sheet of paper in half. But can you fold a sheet of paper in half ten times?

Young in Mind
Young in Mind

Learn how some vibrant seniors exercise their minds, and find out what you can do to help your own memory.

Paul Clipson

Follow filmmaker Paul Clipson as he captures the Exploratorium's waterfront site.

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