Seeing isn't always believing - especially when it comes to optical illusions. Some of the greatest optical illusions are tricks that fool your eyes into seeing an object or image even though it doesn't exist. They can be fun and challenging for viewers. Optical illusions can be found in every corner of the world, in all sorts of shapes and sizes. They can also be found in nature, and even in math subjects like geometry! Creating your own optical illusion is as easy as gathering arts and crafts supplies. When viewing, understanding, and creating optical illusions, know that reality is always more than meets the eye!
-
Optical Illusions and How They Work
The American Museum of Natural History teaches kids about different types of optical illusions and provides examples of them.
-
Facts About Optical Illusions
KidsKonnect helps children understand the basics of what optical illusions are while learning their history and value to the world.
-
Learn About Optical Illusions
Easy Science for Kids offers an educational video that shows several optical illusions.
-
Blindness Optical Illusion
This animated optical illusion causes viewers to think that they're temporarily experiencing blindness. Watch as the yellow dots disappear.
-
Elephant Legs
The Optical Society challenges kids to figure out how many legs the elephant in this drawing has. Find the answer underneath the illustration.
-
How Many Horses?
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences asks kids to count the number of horses in this optical illusion. Click on "Reveal Answer" to find out how many exist.
-
Impossible Stairs
Sandlot Science invites kids to try and imagine themselves going up and down the stairs in this optical illusion. Move your cursor over the stairs to hear music that might make it even harder to imagine!
-
Turning Gears
Spend some time trying to make your brain understand that the gears in this optical illusion aren't spinning!
-
Growing and Shrinking Head
Steve Spangler Science offers videos to trick the eye and show kids that an optical illusion can make a head seem like it's growing and shrinking.
-
Optics 4 Kids
This site has collected a series of optical illusions to puzzle and tease the brain.
-
See Some Optical Illusions
Science Bob shares his collection of optical illusions with kids.
-
Rainbow Optical Illusions
Weather Wiz Kids explains how optical illusions can occur in nature and uses the rainbow as an example.
-
Akiyoshi's Illusions
Professor Akiyoshi Kitaoka shares optical illusions he's created. Many of them appear to rotate or move, but have been created from stationary images.
-
Digital Book of Optical Illusions
Mr. Hardy offers a digital book of optical illusions that include images, numbers, and words.
-
Can You See These Optical Illusions?
Watch this video created by PBS to see if you can identify common optical illusions.
-
Illusions: Your Brain at Work
The Exploratory Charity welcomes kids to test their senses by clicking on each one of their optical illusions.
-
Stepping Feet Motion Illusion
Find out how two animated boxes moving at the same time can appear as if they are moving like feet. Adjust the speed, bars, feet, and contrast to understand how this optical illusion works.
-
Benham's Disk
Learn how to construct a Benham's Disk to create your own version of this popular visual illusion.
-
The Arrows Optical Illusion
Make two arrows of the same length appear to be different sizes by using pipe cleaners, scissors and construction paper.
-
The 2-in-1 Illusion
Turn two pictures into one image with this optical illusion that lets you to make art while understanding the relationship between the eyes and brain.
-
Color Contrast Illusion
Create an illusion that makes colors look different depending on what's in their background.
-
10 Award-Winning Optical Illusions
Mental Floss gathers a list of illusions that have won awards and gotten featured in the "Champions of Illusion" book.
-
Lightness Perception and Lightness Illusions
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology offers flash animations using the colors of black, white, and gray to show how lightness can affect your perception.
-
Incredible New Optical Illusion
Popular Mechanics introduces a new illusion that creator, Kohske Takahashi, calls the "curvature blindness illusion".
-
Top 10 Illusions
Brain Den offers its top 10 optical illusions that appeal to the eye.
-
Your Amazing Brain
This site about the brain has a page full of examples of optical illusions.
-
25 Brilliant Optical Illusions for Kids
Test your perception skills with SloDive's optical illusions that use pink dots, men in white clothes and faces of adults old enough to be your grandparents.
-
Brain Bashers Optical Illusions
Brain Bashers presents a huge list of 184 optical illusions.