The Kid Should See This.
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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.
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I thought this video of a dog jumping double dutch was about the most surprising “dog jumping rope” video I was ever going to see… until I googled and ran into this video of many dogs jumping rope… in japan, of course.
Uchida Geinousha’s ‘Super Wan Wan Circus’ based in Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, offers a unique act for its audience; the incredible sight of 13 dogs skipping on a rope.
via Laughing Squid (twice)
Japanese performance artist Kenichi Kanazawa taps a rubber mallet on a steel table to make sound vibrations that create beautiful transforming sand patterns. Using a scientific sound-visualizing process called Cymatics, he is able to manipulate the complex sand shapes by making frequencies visible through these vibrations: the higher the frequency, the more complex the design.
Previously: More Chladni patterns and some Oobleck, just for kicks.
via Laughing Squid.
Now this is an environmentally-friendly and resourceful improvement on a scarecrow! It seems that, without the use of harmful chemicals, this Japanese farmer came up with a simple system to keep local crows from eating the vegetable patch.How? Things are kept moving and shaking around the growing plants using that roaring little river next to the farm. Follow the strings!
via ScienceDump.
Google “Jigokudani Yaen-koen” and you will happen upon many relaxing (and adorable) Snow Monkeys, or Japanese macaques, who live in the famous monkey park in the Nagano Prefecture of Japan.
The heavy snowfalls (snow covers the ground for 4 months a year), an elevation of 850 meters, and being only accessible via a narrow two kilometer footpath through the forest, keep it uncrowded despite being relatively well-known… Starting in 1963, the monkeys descend from the steep cliffs and forest to sit in the warm waters of the onsen (hotsprings), and return to the security of the forests in the evenings.
Next stop: this BBC Wildlife video feature, which explains more backstory about the wild monkeys’ hot spring spa and, well, shows a lot of macaques! Reason enough.
h/t This Is Colossal.
Tokyo resident Ken Yokochi plays accordion. The song is Tama-Chan Snoa by Lars Hollmer. Some detail for explaining to the kids:
The instrument is played by compressing or expanding the bellows whilst pressing buttons or keys, causing valves, called pallets, to open, which allow air to flow across strips of brass or steel, called reeds, that vibrate to produce sound inside the body.
Here’s another example of accordion music (Astrid’s Waltz) played on a Castagnari accordion. — The company has a photo gallery of an accordion being made. — And here’s the same song, this time with a “singing” dog!
Oh Japan, you have delivered once again. This time, it’s in the form of Wrecking Crew Orchestra, a dance team that’s perhaps perfected the art of TRON-like illuminated dancing. (No, we’re not sure who came first.) The tight light sequences were fun to watch, especially because they look edited, but aren’t. The co-curator and I kept trying to figure out where the darkened dancers would turn on next.
For a higher-quality look at Wrecking Crew Orchestra’s work, check out one of their DOCOMO Xperia commercials.
Thanks, @cosentino. Via reddit.
An introduction to the zoetrope from the team at Pixar, who wanted to show exactly how animation works.
The zoetrope consists of a cylinder with slits cut vertically in the sides. On the inner surface of the cylinder is a band with images from a set of sequenced pictures. As the cylinder spins, the user looks through the slits at the pictures across. The scanning of the slits keeps the pictures from simply blurring together, and the user sees a rapid succession of images, producing the illusion of motion.
After watching NYT’s Brooklyn’s Rube Goldberg video, we went googling for Japanese versions and happened upon a bunch short films for the educational TV show, Pitagora Suitchi (PythagoraSwitch).
This one and this one are serious physics fun, but don’t stop after that: there’s an entire 25 minute playlist! (…if not more. It’s the internet, afterall!)
Meanwhile in Japan, how about a waterfall clock? Functioning almost like a “water printer” that displays, not only the time, but intricate Japanese-style flora patterns, Osaka City Station’s water fountain technology is fascinating to watch. You can see another view of the installation here.
Thanks, Berthold.
