Activity
PBS

High Tech Fashion

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Creatively combine clothes and conductors. Pupils learn how to use conductive thread to make electric circuits. They apply the thread to design and build an accessory item with LEDs.
Activity
PBS

Dough Creatures

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Knead a resource on electric circuits? A fun activity teaches future scientists about conductors and insulators. They prepare conducting and insulating dough and use them to make creatures that light up.
Activity
PBS

Code Creators

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
The lesson is real—even if the computer code isn't. Scholars learn about pseudocode, which simulates computer code using everyday language. They write pseudocode for simple actions, then have classmates guess the action from the written...
Activity
American Museum of Natural History

Rubber Blubber Gloves

For Students 6th - 12th
Using gloves, shortening, tape, and a lot of ice, participants experience the feeling of having blubber. The experiment's eight steps follow an informative page about blubber and animals that have it.
Activity
American Museum of Natural History

Make Your Own Astronomy Stationary

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Scholars follow five steps to create personalized, astronomy-themed stationary. 
Activity
American Museum of Natural History

Mammal Flipbooks

For Students 6th - 12th
Scholars follow eight steps to create a flipbook and discover key facts about mammals' locomotion.
Activity
American Museum of Natural History

Make Your Own Earth Stationary

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Scholars follow five steps to make personalized Earth-themed stationary. Personalization includes name and returns address.
Activity
American Museum of Natural History

North American Mammals Coloring Book

For Students 6th - 12th
Seven pages offer scholars the opportunity to learn about North American mammals and boost their coloring skills. Animals include brown bears, beavers, jackrabbits, wolves, jaguar, and Dall sheep 
Activity
American Museum of Natural History

Draw a Monarch

For Students 6th - 12th
Five steps walk scholars through the process of drawing a Monarch butterfly. Participants research the insect, make observations, trace, then color. 
Activity
American Museum of Natural History

Make Your Own Dino Stationary

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Scholars follow five steps to create dinosaur-themed stationery using basic computer skills.
Activity
American Museum of Natural History

Crazy Camouflage

For Students 6th - 12th
Scholars discover the crazy camouflage technique of the flounder fish. After reading three informative paragraphs, participants follow steps to make a model of the sea creature.
Activity
American Museum of Natural History

Edible Earth

For Students 6th - 12th
Create an edible model of the Earth using crispy rice cereal, marshmallows, and chocolate, yum! Model layers include the outer core, inner core, mantle, and crust. 
Activity
PBS

Out and About

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
Field guides are a like a window into an ecosystem. Young scientists collaborate to create their own field guides by recording observations from a local ecosystem. Ideally, they collect information over time to create a more complete...
Activity
PBS

Bogged Down

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Enjoy a hands-on lesson that will certainly hold water with your classes. Young scientists design an experiment to determine the materials that absorb water the best. They test both man-made and nature-made materials and conduct...
Activity
PBS

House Warming

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
Things should heat up during a hands-on lesson exploring solar energy. An enlightening activity challenges young scientists to design a structure that collects solar energy efficiently. They keep track of temperature data over time and...
Interactive
DocsTeach

Bibb Mill No 1 Child Labor Photograph Discussion

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
There's no way a child can operate heavy machinery ... right? Pupils examine a photograph of a child operating a loom at mill to learn about child labor and its impacts. Prompts provoke thoughtful discussion or fuel a writing exercise.
Interactive
DocsTeach

Americans on the Homefront Helped Win World War I

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Saving sugar, growing crops, and not eating meat sound like small things, but they were a huge part of the home front effort during World War I. Photographic evidence of civilian struggles during the war, along with a matching game,...
Activity
Exploratorium

A Splash of Color - Is Pure Water Colorless?

For Students 6th - 12th
What makes the ocean blue but a glass of ocean water nearly colorless? Investigators prepare tubes of water to examine the color of water. Scholars discover the relationship between light absorption, color variations, and water depth as...
Activity
Exploratorium

Antibody Attack - Discover How Antibodies Launch Attacks on Invaders

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Jump into the action and help antibodies defend against an antigen attack! Investigators match antibodies with antigens to model the body's identification and recall of specific pathogens. Young biologists also recognize that each...
Activity
Exploratorium

Skin Shield - Explore the Body’s First Line of Defense Against Pathogens

For Students 6th - 12th
Make pathogens and the body's defense systems come alive for young biologists in a hands-on activity. Investigators model the skin's protection against infection by observing and comparing changes in a punctured tomato and an intact...
Activity
PBS

Sink or Swim?

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
What's with all the numbers on plastic products? Learners complete an in-depth analysis of the physical properties of the different plastic types. They connect the properties of the plastics to uses and test their observation skills by...
Activity
PBS

Plants Count

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
Changes to habitats mean changes to resources. Groups examine aerial maps to predict areas of low and high plant resources. After formulating a plan, they visit the areas to collect data about the plant resources and then share their...
Activity
PBS

Light Bulb Challenge

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
Efficiency equals money where homes are concerned. A comparative lesson asks learners to measure heat output of incandescent and compact fluorescent light bulbs. They follow their investigation with calculating the cost of using the two...
Activity
PBS

Going Green

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
Trash is where it's at! Using bags of garbage collected from the school, learners sort the contents into categories based on type of material and collect data on the results. The data may include weight, volume, and/or percent of the trash.