As students learn physics, they are often required to reason about the behavior of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena, and to synthesize prior knowledge from several different areas of physics to construct understanding of new ideas. This can be a tremendously difficult cognitive task for novice students, especially when the unfamiliar phenomena described are potentially microscopic or abstract. Therefore, it can be very helpful for physics instructors to develop and employ pedagogical techniques that help students to visualize and to reason productively about these concepts. A particularly effective strategy uses kinesthetic learning activities (KLAs).