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Exploratorium
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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.

Build a Solar System
Build a Solar System

Make a scale model of the Solar System and learn the REAL definition of "space."

Invisible Dynamics
Invisible Dynamics

Art/science teams explore the underlying systems that give the San Francisco Bay Area its unique character.

Steve Reich Part 2
Hear from Grammy- and Pulitzer-winning composer Steve Reich.
Imaging Station Classroom Explorations
Imaging Station Classroom Explorations

Introduce students to unique life science activities that let them work with our research-quality microscopic images and videos.

Quake Basics: Faults
Quake Basics: Faults

What's at fault?

Soap Film Interference Model: Do the experiment

Catch a wave—then measure it, reflect it, and see what happens. 

Listening Memory Game
Listening Memory Game

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

Bubble Colors
Bubble Colors
Seasons and Shadows
Seasons and Shadows

Why is your shadow longer in winter than in summer? Grab a basketball and some paperclips and find out!

Wissenschaft des Fahrradfahrens
Wissenschaft des Fahrradfahrens
Twisting Feet
Twisting Feet

Identify misalignments in your body by looking at your feet.

Electrified Plants

Learn about common electrical systems in our brains and fast-moving plants.

Antarctic Exploration
Antarctic Exploration

The lure of Terra Australis Incognita begins with the Ancient Greeks and ends with modern cruise ships.

Make Your Own Telescope
Make Your Own Telescope

Make your own refracting telescope from a pair of reading glasses.

Icebergs
Icebergs

They're a menace to ships, but life thrives in these frozen oases.

Ocean Acidification in a Cup: Teaching tips

Ensure a successful ocean acidification experiment with these teaching tips.

It Gets Better
Exploratorium staff members contribute to the "It Gets Better" Project.
Okkyung Lee Performance

Experience the thrilling improvisations of renowned cellist Okkyung Lee.

Cylinders and Scale
Cylinders and Scale

What happens to a cylinder when you scale it up?

Space Weather: Research Explorer
Space Weather: Research Explorer

Use live data to check the weather in space, and learn how it can affect us here on earth.

Luccichío
Luccichío

I movimenti dei tuoi occhi faranno brillare questo disegno.

Tardigrades-Waterbears

Get to know the tiny "astronauts" known as tardigrades.

Try This! With Paul Doherty and Friends
Learn how to balance magnets using their magnetic fields.
Strandbeest: Umerus Segundus

Watch Theo Jansen prepare to release a strandbeest on the beach.

Behind the Screen: Making Motion Pictures and Television
Behind the Screen: Making Motion Pictures and Television
Do Your Own Dissection
Do Your Own Dissection

Download a PDF file with step-by-step instructions for doing your own cow's eye dissection.

Arctic Whales
Arctic Whales

Learn about the giants of the polar seas.

Science of Cycling
Science of Cycling

Check out top mountain biker, Ruthie Matthes. Learn about frames and materials from a custom bike maker. Try interactive javascripts that calculate braking distances and energy consumption.

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?

Ponti di Carta
Ponti di Carta
Wind Tubes (pdf)
Wind Tubes (pdf)

Wind tubes are a playful and inventive way to explore the effect that moving air has on objects.

Science Information Infrastructure
Science Information Infrastructure

The Science Information Infrastructure (SII) is a collaboration among teachers and scientists. The SII at the Exploratorium is developing educational resources using NASA images and datasets.

Neurons
Neurons

A fish-eye view of the brain

Seasons and Alignments
Seasons and Alignments

Does the sun rise in the east? Not exactly.

Outrageous Ooze
Outrageous Ooze

This stuff can't make up its mind -- is it a liquid or a solid?

Collecting soil for Winogradsky Column activity
Bacterial Terrarium

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

Braking & Steering
Braking & Steering

How do you stop and steer a bicycle? What forces keep the bicycle from falling over?

Curiosity's first days on Mars

Investigate the early days of the Curiosity lander on Mars.

What is Community Radio?

Get your antennae ready for what's on the airwaves.

Bronx Cheer Bulb
Bronx Cheer Bulb

Your CRT screen may appear to wiggle when you give it the raspberry, but the only thing wiggling is you.

ColorFest Demonstration: Oaxacan Dyes And Textiles
Take a look at traditional Oaxacan dyeing practices.
World on a String
See beyond the strings of the original multimedia storytelling device.
Curiosity's Secret Discovery

The Curiosity rover made a discovery—now what?

How Star Trek Conquered Planet Earth
How Star Trek Conquered Planet Earth

On Saturday, May 6th, 2000 we hosted a live panel discussion and webcast to explore the amazing phenomena of Star Trek.

Highway Seismograph
Highway Seismograph

How good is your friend's driving? You be the seismometer, and find out whether your pal is a smooth sailor or a mover and shaker.

Ancient Observatories
Ancient Observatories

Journey into Chaco Canyon, where ancient people built monuments to the cosmos. Journey to Chichén Itzá, where the Maya built monuments to the sun.

Images from the MER Rovers
Images from the MER Rovers
Monthly Wallpaper
Monthly Wallpaper

Decorate your desktop with some of the most intriguing pattern and perception images from the Exploratorium.

Mold Terrarium
Mold Terrarium

Watch tiny blue, green, and white molds grow on leftover food.

Big and Tall Bikes

Bike builder David Folch builds supersized bikes for supersized riders.

 
Pi Day
Pi Day

Activities and History

Exploring Space
Exploring Space
Earliest Memories
Earliest Memories

Enjoy the early memories of some of the visitors to this website.

Seymour Papert Lecture
Seymour Papert Lecture

Learn how to bridge the digital generation gap

The New Buchanan Mall

Follow the process of revitalizing the Buchanan Mall in the Western Addition.

The Crucible of Innovation

The Exploratorium is a place like no other.

Tree Sitting installation at Market Street Prototyping Festival
An Insider’s View into the Market Street Prototyping Festival

by Steve Gennrich • April 3, 2015

The Studio for Public Spaces team is leading the way at the Market Street Prortyping Fesitval.

Throwback Thursday | Reggie Watts Riffing on Mars

Watch Reggie Watts share some of his feelings about Mars.

Arctic Seals
Arctic Seals

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

Science of Cocktails 2015 Event Recap

Check in on the fifth annual Science of Cocktails event.

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