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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.

Flipsticks
Flipsticks

A do-it-yourself cartoon kit. It's easy to make pictures move!

Minimizing Handle Forces
Minimizing Handle Forces
Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza

A brief history of Chichen Itza.

Geiger Counter
Geiger Counter

What does it take to block gamma radiation?

Take a Trip to WildCard

You’ll never think inside the box again.

Look Inside a Tooth
Look Inside a Tooth (Interactive)

Zoom into a fossil chimp tooth.

Transit of Venus: The Rarest Eclipse
Transit of Venus 2012 & 2004

Watch Venus travel in front of the sun. 

Why Save Seeds?
Why Save Seeds?

Find out why biodiversity benefits plants and people alike.

Fermentation and Food
Fermentation and Food

The common ground between pickles, cheese, bread, wine, and many other foods.

Auroras
Auroras

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

The Great Satellite Search!
The Great Satellite Search!

Students become Internet researchers and learn about NASA satellites.

Plate Tectonics
Plate Tectonics

See a map of recent earthquakes in the United States, and learn why earthquakes happen so frequently on the West Coast.

Darwin Days
Darwin Days

In February 2009, the Exploratorium hosted Darwin Days, a series of presentations, debates, and discussions exploring the ways scientists continue to learn from and apply their knowledge of evolutionary biology to a broad range of pursuits.

The Science of Surfing
The Science of Surfing

A little physics can go a long way on that shortboard.

The Inupiaq People of Barrow, Alaska
The Inupiaq People of Barrow, Alaska

The majority of Barrow residents are indigenous people who live both traditional and modern lives

Candy Around the World
Candy Around the World

What kinds of candy are made and enjoyed in where you live?

Planaria

A window on regeneration

Pi Day
Pi Day

Activities and History

Stripped-Down Motor
Stripped-Down Motor

Build a stripped-down motor, a simple, easy-to-make version of the electric motors found in toys, tools, and appliances.

Dry Valleys
Dry Valleys

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

Diving into the Gene Pool
Diving into the Gene Pool

A multifaceted exhibition that explored genetics and the Human Genome Project from a variety of perspectives from April 8 to September 4, 1995.

Why are bubbles round?
Why are bubbles round?

Bubbles are round when they float free through air. But what happens when you pack bubbles together?

Traits of Life: Related Links
Traits of Life: Related Links

See links relevant to the themes presented in the Traits of Life exhibition.

Quinine Cover-Up
Quinine Cover-Up

Show yourself how a pinch of salt can take the bitter taste away.

Color Vision and Color Photography
Explore the past and present of color vision.
Truckload of Pumpkins
Truckload of Pumpkins

Meet the competitors and their humongous pumpkins at Half Moon Bay's Great Pumpkin Festival.

Electric Guitar

Shred like Jimi or twang like Johnny? Find out how.

ColorFest Demonstration: Oaxacan Dyes And Textiles
Take a look at traditional Oaxacan dyeing practices.
Third From the Sun: Geographical Features as Seen from Space
Third From the Sun: Geographical Features as Seen from Space

Technological developments have changed how we view Earth. See LandSat images and learn more about our home planet.

Clay Bridges
Clay Bridges

In this activity, students make bridges using an oil-based modeling clay (plasticene).

The Freddy McGuire Show: Interview

Delve into The Freddy McGuire Show's unnerving multimedia art.

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.

The Art and Science of Tattoos
Join us as we "talk tat" with San Francisco tattoo artists.
Whirling Watcher
Whirling Watcher

Make a spinning disc called a stroboscope, which lets you create your own animated cartoon.

Gluten Balls
Gluten Balls

Play with the stuff that makes dough stretchy.

Building the Exploratorium at Pier 15: Timelapse

The Exploratorium wasn't built in a day—watch it go up in a minute. 

Baseketball
"Baseketball" A Physicist Party Trick
Okkyung Lee Interview

Listen in on the mind behind cellist Okkyung Lee's kinetic style.

Total Solar Eclipse: Live From Turkey
Total Solar Eclipse: Live From Turkey

On March 29, 2006, a total solar eclipse occurred when the new moon moved directly between the sun and the earth. The moon’s shadow fell on the eastern tip of Brazil, sped eastward across the Atlantic, through northern Africa, across the Mediterranean, an

Light Painting
Light Painting

You can make a light painting with a light source, a darkened room, and a digital camera.

The Art of 3D Printing

See how 3D printing can be used to make art.

Altamont Wind Farms

Visit the otherworldly wind turbines of the Altamont Pass.

Modeling the Seasons
Modeling the Seasons

See for yourself how the tilt of the earth's axis results in what we experience as the seasons.

Neurons
Neurons

A fish-eye view of the brain

Overview of the Rosetta Mission
Revisit NASA's Rosetta mission to study a comet in space.
Ponti di Plastilina
Ponti di Plastilina
What's Your Soil Type?
What's Your Soil Type?

Can't decide if you're sandy or silty? Try this simple test.

Your Stuff, Your Stories
Your Stuff, Your Stories

Can a gum wrapper have a story? Discover just how important and meaningful an object can be.

Sound Bite
Sound Bite

Bone conduction is another pathway to listening.

Glitter Globe
Glitter Globe

Make a fantastic toy that shimmers when you shake it.

Muddy Waters

by Eileen Campbell • February 15, 2017

Winter rains muddy the waters in the Bay.

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.

Stem Cells
Stem Cells

See living stem cells and find out why they are the "stem" from which all other cells develop.

Tying the Knot
Tying the Knot

Learn how to tie the six knots most useful on a voyaging canoe.

The DNA Files: Hands-on Workshops
The DNA Files: Hands-on Workshops

Four downloadable workshop guides for teaching introductory genetics in a museum or other informal education setting.

Scratch Film (pdf)
Scratch Film (pdf)

Scratch Film, also known as Direct Animation, is the process of drawing and scratching designs directly onto film.

Earth's atmosphere
Global Climate Change Explorer

Discover how researchers study climate change and examine the latest scientific data.

Voting Paradoxes

Explore some ways in which the democratic process can go wrong.

Auroras
Auroras

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

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