Bend a pencil without magic

Explore how light can trick your eyes and learn about light refraction with your kids with this easy fun kids science experiment. Bending a pencil is easier than you think and your kids will love showing this experiment to their friends.

What you need:

• Pencil
• Water
• Clear glass

Number of players:
2+

Activity:

Half a fill a glass with water.

Place the pencil in the water.

Look at the pencil from the top.

Now look at the pencil from the side.

Does the pencil look bent?

Think the light is playing a trick on your eyes? Well it is!

Notes

• This is an example of refraction. The pencil is straight, but the light passing through water is making the pencil look bent.