App Review: Plants

Jul 17, 2014

Plants by Tinybop from Tinybop on Vimeo.

Plants is the second app in Tinybop’s Explorer’s Library. The first, The Human Body, reached the #1 spot on the App Store’s education charts in 143 countries and was named one of the App Store’s Best of 2013. Like the Human Body, Plants is a slow-play app which aims to help kids make connections about the world and prompt big questions.

Buy Plants for $1.99 in iTunes. And most of all, make sure to check out this epic (!) stop animation by Kelli Anderson.

Paper to Plants from Tinybop on Vimeo.


Urban Water Slide

Jul 15, 2014

Nothing quite says summer like this ultimate water slide down the streets of San Francisco!


Mind Blown: Lego Hack

Jul 10, 2014

Ehrmagerd, our minds are blown. Time to borrow a few of the kids’ Lego people:


How to Speak Chimpanzee

Jul 8, 2014

Hoping to assemble the world’s first chimpanzee dictionary, primatologist Dr. Katja Liebal spends hours observing how different groups of chimpanzees communicate with each other. She believes that there is a language within their gestures, facial expressions, and vocalizations, and documents these patterns of communication, from kind moments to power struggles. In this clip fromExtraordinary Animals, Dr. Liebal translates for the chimps at Twycross Zoo in Leicestershire.


Testing Fireworks

Jul 2, 2014

How do you know that the fireworks you’ve made are going to burst in the sky as expected? Test them! In this episode of I Didn’t Know That, visit one of the UK’s leading fireworks manufacturers as they test the component parts of a 125mm arial starburst shell.


Pass It On: Turning Scraps into Soccer Balls

Jun 24, 2014

In a village outside of Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, this Congolese gentleman crafts found scraps of garbage into a homemade soccer ball. Though the region has been plagued with war, terrorism, and ongoing conflicts for decades, filmmaker Jerome Thelia writes in The New York Times, “…children there still play with passion and joy – regardless of what kind of ball they are using.”


Solar Freakin’ Roadways

Jun 5, 2014

Our system of highways, roads, avenues, bike paths, sidewalks, and parking lots serve a clear and important purpose — the facilitation of easy transportation — but it could do so much more. With Solar Roadways, every paved surface in the country could one day be turned into a source of renewable energy, ultimately producing enough electricity to power our nation three times over.

And there’s more: programmable LEDs would send information to drivers, while eliminating the need for painted road markers, while built-in heat sources would make snowy and icy roads a thing of the past. While it seems a little pie-in-the-sky right now, they’ve already received funding from federal highway authorities to begin pilot programs — so a brave new world could be nearer than we ever thought possible. Donte today for as little as $5.

 


Crayon Helmet!

Jun 2, 2014

If drawing on the walls at home is a no-no, drawing on the walls at a museum is a massive don’t-even-think-about-it. Or it was, until the playful design duo behind Matheny Studioteamed up with Melbourne’s National Gallery of Victoria to create a new on-site space where kids can strap on crayon studded helmets, shoes, and all kinds of wacky gear and go completely nuts. All. Over. Everything.

Pastello – Draw Act looks like so much fun! I mean, think back—way back—to your youth: How many times were you given the chance to doodle on something other than a sheet of paper?


Radgon Hedge!

May 30, 2014

This is so Radgon approved. Check out this awesome video about one bodacious dude who has been carving his hedge into a life-sized dragon for 10 years.


Food on Food

May 21, 2014

This short animated documentary shows different types of food talking about the food they love. Cheeseburger loves meat, mini-pretzels became vegetarian, a chicken is in love with eggplants, and so on. The voices are taken from interviews with real people and the stop motion animation is made to synchronize with them.