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Color Chromatography
Discover the secret colors hidden in black ink. With a paper towel, a black marker, and a cup of water, create a rainbow of colors while exploring capillary action and chromatography.
Bottle Blast-Off
Make a simple rocket and a rocket launcher, and watch a demonstration of how the finished rocket will fly.
Bee Hummer
Make a simple musical instrument that sounds like a swarm of buzzing bees when you spin it around.
Saving Seeds, Saving Culture
Saving seeds helps preserve the culture of Native American farmers in the American Southwest and northern Mexico.
Afterschool Activities: Sound Sandwich
Make a crowd-pleasing noisemaker called a sound sandwich, which you can adjust to raise or lower its pitch.
Stripped-Down Motor
Build a stripped-down motor, a simple, easy-to-make version of the electric motors found in toys, tools, and appliances.
Breaking the Mayan Code
Learn to count like the Maya by studying one of their ancient stone documents.
The Mayan Calendar Round
Did you know the Maya used two calendars? How did they know when to plan their big New Year's parties?
Seasons and Shadows
Why is your shadow longer in winter than in summer? Grab a basketball and some paperclips and find out!
Make Your Own Petroglyph
Try your hand at explaining symbols both modern and ancient, and then make your own.
Modeling the Seasons
See for yourself how the tilt of the earth's axis results in what we experience as the seasons.
Knowing North
Stand outside on a sunny day with a watch in your hand, and you can tell which way is north.
Whirling Watcher
Make a spinning disc called a stroboscope, which lets you create your own animated cartoon.
Water Bottle Membranophone
Staff member Vivian Altmann presents the "Snack" Water-Bottle Membranophone." Make some noise with simple materials.
Solar Images
The more astronomy changes, the more it stays the same. This series of images juxtaposes ancient and modern study of the celestial bodies.
Three Ways to Make a New Plant
Learn how grafting, hybridizing, and transgenics have transformed cultivation.
Sad Music
Our reactions may be trained, but the devices that make music sound "sad" are real enough.
Recorded Voice
Most people abhor the sound of their own recorded voice. So what are these recording devices doing to our voices to make them sound so awful?
Neighbor's Stereo Blues
Why do I hear the bass from my neighbor's stereo, but not the treble?
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