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Home / Optica Blog / 2020 / December 2020
Optica Blog

Exploring Optics At Home

Marcia Lesky, Sr. Director Diversity, Inclusion & Volunteer Cultivation, OSA

Looking for fun family friendly optics related activities that you can do at home? You can explore optical illusions, make a pinhole viewer or experiment with lasers through OSA’s Optics At Home webinar series. Initiated in 2020, the Optics at Home series was developed by several incredible OSA volunteers as a collection of interactive videos and guides that explain how to easily conduct experiments with household items and explore the science of light from home!

Check out the full collection of 2020 webinars on our Optics At Home website and if you want more experiments and activities there is always Optics4Kids. A few highlights from the year:

  1. OSA volunteers Judy Donnelly and Nancy Magnani have hosted a variety of experiment demonstrations – and discussed the science behind them. More than 325 households from nearly 50 countries viewed these programs live. Check them out!​
    1. Light Series –color, reflection, polarization, and light and shadows.
    2. Laser Series –how lasers make light and what you can do with them.
  1. OSA partnered with Laser Classroom to distribute 200 Light Blox kits to ensure optics was part of our member’s #OpticsAtHome family science experience.
  1. The OSA Foundation is also providing 1000 downloads free of the "All Morphed Up Kit" — Use the Coupon Code: OSAMU  - This pairs with OSA Ambassador Clair McLellan’s video which explores the physics behind how reflections can change images and bend light and color.
  1. The Optics4Kids pages include an overview and history of the science of light as well as experiments, optical illusions and even information on careers in optics.

We are excited to be able to offer these resources to help inspire the next generation of optical scientists and engineers! You can engage with this content on social media by following our social media channels using the hashtag #OpticsAtHome.

Photo by OSA member Marcin Piotrowski of kids exploring the Light Blox Kit from Laser Classrom.  Photo by OSA member Daniel Frayer and daughter Eliana Lucia as they explore light and shadows.

 

 

Image for keeping the session alive