Group of children and adults using dry ice to make bubbles in Explore Science Let's Do Chemistry Sublimation Bubbles activity

Short Activities

Short activities are brief hands-on experiences lasting less than 15 minutes for small groups of people. They are often presented at a table, cart, or demonstration space in a variety of settings such as a museum exhibit gallery, classroom, or other public or group setting. Multiple short activities can be combined to form a longer activity.
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Showing 1 - 10 of 176 results

Cards show the nanoscale images of everyday objects

What am I? Mystery Cards

In this activity, learners guess everyday objects based on their images at the nanoscale.
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A purple voting station with four options asking what the size of Nano is

Vote Nano!

In this activity, learners will vote on different questions about nanotechnology with marbles in separate containers, and visualize how others have answered the same question.
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facilitator and young learner use a height chart set in nanometers

Exploring Size - Measure Yourself

In this activity, learners mark their height on a height chart and discover how tall they are in nanometers.
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Facilitator starts a presentation about surface are using many props

Surface Area demonstration

In this activity, leaners explore how high surface area to volume ratio causes materials to behave differently by unfolding paper cubes, dropping alka-seltzer in water, and turning potatoes black with iodine.
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Faciltator showing physical molecular models

The Electric Squeeze

In this activity, learners explore piezoelectricity by making electric sparks, looking at molecular models, and listening to cheesy music from a greeting card.
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Exploring Tools - Transmission Electron Microscopes activity components including signs, activity materials and guides.

Exploring Tools - Transmission Electron Microscopes

In this activity, learners use a model of a transmission electron microscope to image an object by looking at its shadow.
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Exploring Earth: Bear’s Shadow activity image of a mother and girl holding a flashlight representing the sun

Exploring Earth: Bear’s Shadow

In this activity, learners move a flashlight around an object to make and experiment with shadows, followed by reading a storybook.
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Participant's hands touching the steel and copper plates, connected to a multimeter

Spark of Life

In this activity, learners create a battery from two kinds of metal and their own body.
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Three learners and a facilitator compare their dye colors to a PH scale

Nature of Dye

In this activity, learners create their own dyes and art while exploring how chemicals interact.
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Learners and a Facilitator look into the Star Formation basket

Exploring the Universe: Star Formation

In this activity, learners model a star-formation process by adding energy (via a hairdryer) to matter floating in space (ping pong balls) to see how much of it they can get to "clump" in an empty container.
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