This paper outlines several benchtop nanoscale patterning experiments that can be incorporated into undergraduate laboratories or advanced high school chemistry curricula. The experiments, supplemented by an online video lab manual, are based on soft lithographic techniques such as replica molding, micro-molding in capillaries, and micro-contact printing and etching. These simple labs were designed using readily available and inexpensive materials such as compact discs, glass microscope slides, and curable polymers. In these labs, students could generate polymeric and metallic structures with feature sizes as small as 110 nm. The feasibility of these experiments was tested in a two-quarter, research-based course on nanoscience and technology for first- and second-year students at Northwestern University. (Contains 6 figures.)