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Hands-on

Experiments, coloring books, model-making, and more. Get your hands dirty with these activities!

Kids took the OLogy Challenge and shared their work with us!

How many constellations and planets can you find in the night sky? Record your sightings in a "stellar" journal.

Solve these story puzzles to find out more about how life in the Arctic is affected by climate change. 

Make a carbon mobile with scissors, wire, pipe cleaners, and clay.

Simple things that you can do to help protect fresh water and the living things that depend on it.

Find out what you can do to save energy and slow climate change!

Find out what you can do to protect the oceans and ocean life.

To see what the Big Dipper would look like from outer space, build a mobile!

Bury chicken bones in plaster of Paris to see the challenges paleontologists face when excavating fossils.

Celebrate your cosmic smarts with a solar system of cookies.

Decorate your desktop with these starry images!

Create a flounder fish that's hard to spot!

See if you can find north by making your own compass.

Make a 3D diorama! All you need are pasta, Play-Doh, pipe cleaners, pom-poms, and hair curlers.

What would the objects say about you and the time you live in?

Here's a very cool experiment that just might bring a tear to your eye. Use a blender to separate the DNA from an onion. 

Learn how to create a scientific illustration of a monarch butterfly in a few easy steps!

Explore your nerves by creating a life-sized drawing.

Learn how to look at a bunch of bones and draw what a dinosaur looked like. 

Have fun with these paper cutouts of riders and horse gear from cultures around the world.

Make a model of Earth's layers that's good enough to eat!

Play this game to find out how a law protects animals and plants.

Make your own bird feeder and record your observations in a bird journal.

Anyone can find fossils. This handy guide tells you where to look and what to do.

Create your own crystals with sugar. Then enjoy your tasty treat!

How do horses move? Find out with these flipbooks.

Find out how biodiversity depends on you.

Take a look inside your trash can. What clues can you find?

Can you make it down to the ocean floor? Along the way, discover what makes water special.

Start a field journal, and track how your favorite critter looks and behaves.

Find out what makes you different from a snail, a tree, or even your best friend!

Get some mud and a few other ingredients to build an entire ecosystem for bacteria. 

Build your own miniature greenhouse to see the greenhouse effect at work.

Create land and sea animals that "glow" in the dark!

Put on these handmade masks or puppets and tell your own mythic tale.

See how you can make your own paper from old scrap paper and other materials.

Create weather tools to gather wind, rain, and pressure data in your neighborhood.

Investigate an "artifact" and record your observations in a field journal!

How do mammals move? Make flipbooks to see six different mammals in action.

Follow these easy steps to create a floor plan of your room.

See if you can find the hidden microbes on each coloring page!

Make a coin that tells something special about you.

See the moon in action! And discover why our view of it changes nightly.

Find out which of your traits are due to nature OR both nature and nurture. 

Bring six North American mammals to life with this coloring book.

Decorate, shatter, and piece together your own pottery artifact!

Use Braille to create a message for a friend.

How do whales and walruses stay warm in chilly waters? Grab some gloves and find out.

Take an enlightening look at light with these three easy experiments.

How do mammals respond to cold water? Take the plunge into icy water and find out.

Size up the planets with a model scavenger hunt.

Mix up some Jell-O, and find out how space bends around anything with mass. 

Let your imagination run wild, and write an inspiring work of science fiction. ¡TAMBIÉN EN ESPAÑOL!

Every rock has a story to tell. Learn how to create a collection that rocks!

Explore mammal teeth with this matching game and coloring book.

Take the jellybean test to see how your sense of smell enhances taste.

Do fresh water and salt water mix? Find out in this experiment.

How fast can you catch a falling ruler? Measure your reaction time.

Invent a story about an endangered species. Then draw and write about it!

Explore the third dimension by building an origami waterbomb!

Take a personal look at how the height and velocity of your vantage point can affect the view.

Make a bracelet that matches a section of DNA code from your favorite plant or animal.

In this group game, discover how all the players in an ecosystem depend on each other to survive.