The Kid Should See This.
Follow @thekidshouldsee on Twitter!
There's just so much science, nature, music, art, technology, storytelling and assorted good stuff out there that my kids (and maybe your kids) haven't seen. It's most likely not stuff that was made for them...
But we don't underestimate kids around here.
Kid-friendly not-made-for-kids videos for all! Collected by Rion Nakaya and her three four year old co-curator.
Tip Jar: Curating this blog takes work! If you like the videos on this site, please support the science education projects that we've picked on DonorsChoose.org.
Search
“Consumers making a choice to buy a loaf of bread made with local flour has a lot of power… It enables the consumer to directly effect their neighbors, whether it’s the farmer that grew the grain, the cleaner that cleaned it, the miller that milled it, the bakers that baked it, the retailer that sold it, the distributor that brings it around… By spending $5 on a loaf of bread, they are effecting their whole neighborhood.”
A short film about Don Lewis and Wild Hive Farm, by David Sampliner.
From The Etsy Blog.
William Kamkwamba’s story is already out there as a book, a young readers book, a Kickstarter documentary film project, not only one but two TED Talks, and luckily for us, the six minute story in video form. A description of that story:
Enchanted by the workings of electricity as a boy, William had a goal to study science in Malawi’s top boarding schools. But in 2002, his country was stricken with a famine that left his family’s farm devastated and his parents destitute. Unable to pay the eighty-dollar-a-year tuition for his education, William was forced to drop out and help his family forage for food as thousands across the country starved and died.
Yet William refused to let go of his dreams. With nothing more than a fistful of cornmeal in his stomach, a small pile of once-forgotten science textbooks, and an armory of curiosity and determination, he embarked on a daring plan to bring his family a set of luxuries that only two percent of Malawians could afford and what the West considers a necessity—electricity and running water. Using scrap metal, tractor parts, and bicycle halves, William forged a crude yet operable windmill, an unlikely contraption and small miracle that eventually powered four lights, complete with homemade switches and a circuit breaker made from nails and wire. A second machine turned a water pump that could battle the drought and famine that loomed with every season.
Soon, news of William’s magetsi a mphepo—his “electric wind”—spread beyond the borders of his home, and the boy who was once called crazy became an inspiration to those around the world.
We love windmills and really love William’s drive and ingenuity. This is exactly what the kid should see.
Artist Jim Campbell describes the process of developing and creating Exploded Views, a commissioned work that was installed in SFMOMA’s atrium in November 2011.
More light, more art, more San Francisco, more museums.
One more from a música portuguesa a gostar dela própria, a project created to celebrate and archive the variety of music made in Portugal. This video was shot in Riachos, Torres Novas and is charming and super catchy. We watched it twice after watching quite a few other videos from the project.
This kind of endeavor is so great for capturing music, tradition, culture, language, history, storytelling and so many other aspects for both adults and kids. I wish there were many, many documentation projects like this.
h/t Rosa Pomar.
We love this video of the Chamarrita, a dance and music style in the Azores, nine volcanic islands in the North Atlantic Ocean. This one was shot on Pico Island by MPAGDP, which stands for a música portuguesa a gostar dela própria, a project created to celebrate and archive the variety of music made in Portugal. What a wonderful site! There are many videos, almost all shot outside to create an energy for the music and to show the world as a giant stage.
We watched these videos, too: Pauliteiros de Miranda, Marujinho da Palmela, and the kid’s favorite, É p’ra Amanhã (António Variações), to name just a few, but there are so so so many other excellent videos to check out…
via Rosa Pomar.
A sound documentary! Shot within just a few hours in the NYC subway by filmmaker Tim Sessler, “Bending Sounds” is an experiment in capturing the music of buskers within the underground cacophony of people, trains, and turnstiles. The kid and I both love this.
Previously: the Sub City Series.
via Field Mic.
From the Royal Ballet of Flanders - Backstage Doornroosje (Backstage Sleeping Beauty):
In the video below our four principals, Aki, Geneviève, Alain and Wim, unfold their ballet way of life. But not before 11-year-old Emilie Borremans enthusiastically talks about her ballet ambitions. With her performance in Doornroosje she has a first taste of a real ballet dancer’s life.
The ballet, the costumes, the makeup, all of the stage lights… this video is beautifully shot, and really helps show the passion and excitement of a modern production. Found this after the kid and I watched Le Vent (h/t Devour), a slow motion ballet piece set to Radiohead which is also definitely worth watching.
Most people know Kew Gardens as home of the world’s largest living plant collection but are not aware that it is also the location of an internationally important botanical research and educational institution. Going beyond the gardens as we know them, Lonelyleap produced two films for 2012’s Tropical Extravaganza Festival which showcase the behind the scenes work of Kew’s scientists whilst also exploring two of the festival’s themes, Earth and Air.
The first in the series explores the importance of fungi to all plants and ultimately all life on Earth through several members of the Mycology Department committed to the conservation and exploration of fungi.
The second film in the series looks at the work of the the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership in Surrey, home to 10% of the world’s plant diversity, and how the Seed Conservation Department is helping to save wild plants and habitats for our future.
Oh, all of those green boxes! And in the second video: we especially liked seeing how the different seeds can get themselves around… not to mention all of the extremely important conservation efforts.
Found these both on Vimeo. Wonderful stuff.
