Exploratorium Simulations

There are some really great simulations available from the San Francisco Exploratorium -- it's a science museum out here on the west coast. Here is a link to the web site:

http://www.exploratorium.edu/explore/index.html

Some of the games are more tactile, such as the "create your own rain stick activity," linked here:

http://www.exploratorium.edu/frogs/rain_stick/index.html

I recall from my schooling that hands-on activities really made ideas sink in. For example, we studied marsupials and then drew them, and we studied Beatrix Potter and then we made ceramic figurines and painted them. Simulations can always offer instructions for more tactile activities, not just virtual worlds. . .