Optics for Kids

Keysight Optics for Kids Pinterest Boards

Visit our Pinterest boards to find ideas on science and optics-related projects. Our Pinterest also features other interesting links, places to visit, and science topics, and is updated regularly.

Optica’s “Optics for Kids” website

Optica (formerly Optical Society of America) has a great educational website called Optics for Kids. This site has a colorful, graphics-rich interface and provides many fun and educational features including articles, experiments, and a parents’ and teachers’ corner.

Edmund Scientific Outreach

Educational site with activities, classroom activities, videos and more.

Optica Partnership with Girl Scouts

The Optica Foundation has developed a resource guide for girls, ages 11–15, called Lighten Up! Discovering the Science of Light. You must have Adobe Reader or Acrobat installed to read the PDF.

Molecular Expressions: Light and Color

This site is part of Molecular Expressions’ Optical Microscopy Primer and is at a substantially higher grade level than this site. Look at the excellent explanations, graphics, and some interactive Java tutorials on refraction and reflection. It includes details on many subjects only briefly mentioned here, including diffraction, polarization, and interference. There is also an excellent activity guide on optics for teachers.

Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica is a leading provider of learning and knowledge products. They are one of the world’s most trusted sources of information on every topic imaginable, from the origins of the universe to current events and everything in between.

Light Action! by Vicki Cobb and Josh Cobb (Illustrated by Theo Cobb, SPIE, April 2005)

Subtitled “Amazing Experiments with Optics,” this is a terrific book for continuing your exploration of optics. The experiments cover many of the points discussed here, but they go on to include more advanced topics such as polarization and diffraction. Experiments require only simple household materials and objects (suggested for grades 6 and up). Highly recommended! Go to Amazon.com.

Eyewitness: Light by David Burnie (Eyewitness Science Series, DK CHILDREN, October 4, 1999)

This book includes great photos and explanations. See this book on Amazon.com.

Explorabook: A Kids' Science Museum in a Book by John Cassidy (Klutz Press, January 1992)

This book covers lenses, mirrors, diffraction gratings, and more for optics experiments, plus others on magnetism, bacteria, etc. This comes from the Exploratorium, a great science museum in San Francisco. See this book on Amazon.com.

How Science Works by Judith Hahn (Revised edition, Reader's Digest, November 26, 1996)

This resource shares very good optics (and other) experiments with simple home-built parts. See this book on Amazon.com.

Larry Laser Finds His Spark! by Cory Boone

Join Larry Laser on his journey to discover all the amazing things lasers are used for. From laser welding to eye surgery to high-speed internet, Larry learns about how he can change the world with the help of Lexi Lens. This fun adventure introduces kids to the world of optics and photonics. See also the second book, Larry Laser vs. the Prism Pirates.

Optical Physics for Babies by Chris Ferrie

A colorfully simple introduction to the principles of linear optics.

SciShow Kids

Have fun learning about a variety of science topics, from how weather works to outer space.

• Why Is the Sky Blue?
• Think Like an Engineer: Solving Problems from Start to Finish
• How Do We See Color?
• Telescopes in Space!

Nat Geo Kids

Get the facts about animals and other science topics with weekly videos made just for kids.

• How Hubble Works | Spaced Out

How Lenses Are Made (Canon)

View Canon’s YouTube video to see how a lens is made and how lenses function. Courtesy of Canon.

Edmund Scientific Outreach

Programs, classroom activities, and videos for teachers.

Smithsonian Science Education Center

Smithsonian Science Education Center (SSEC) is the only unit at the Smithsonian Institution that is solely dedicated to formal K–12 science education reform. Students explore light, how it travels, its colors and wavelengths, reflection, refraction, optics, and more in this Science and Technology Concepts for Middle Schools™ inquiry-based physical sciences module. It includes a module-long research project. All materials are developed by the National Science Resources Center.

Molecular Expressions: Activity Guide for Teachers

This online activity guidebook helps you and your students investigate light, optics, and color. It’s written by educators with input from scientists, researchers, students, and teachers.

NASA - Educational Materials

NASA has an abundance of materials for teachers on many science-related subjects.

• About Visible Light
• Hubble Space Telescope and Optics
• Hubble's Optical Assembly
• Telescopes 101
• What Is the James Webb Telescope

For educators K–12, visit the Next Gen STEM for Educators page.

Your local science or children’s museum may sell simple lenses, prisms, mirrors, etc. Laser pointers are now quite inexpensive and can be used for optical experiments with colored filters, lenses, and optical fibers. You can buy laser pointers at office supply and electronics stores. Online stores also carry supplies.