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 four year old co-collector.
Tip Jar: Finding great content for 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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We’ve watched this video quite a few times in the last few weeks… it’s surfaced as a kiddo-favorite. Not only is it a beautiful animation (by Toronto-based Smart Bubble Society, “a not-for-profit motion graphic studio that promotes social justice, self-education and critical awareness”), but the piece tells the story of our recent history with fossil fuels, and then names some cleaner solutions (wind and solar energy, for example) to the challenges that we face on the energy and climate change fronts.
Want more solutions to reducing oil consumption? There are some here and here — many that kids can help with.
Oh, British Pathé! You and this Dynasphere are both awesome. The kid should definitely see how crazy this vehicle is! From wikipedia:
The Dynasphere was a monowheel electric vehicle invented in 1932 by Dr. J. A. Purves from Taunton, Somerset, UK. It had 2.5 horse power and once attained a speed of 25 mph.
And there are more monowheels to be seen, via the Retronaut.
Metropolis II, a kinetic sculpture created by Chris Burden, is currently showing at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).
Steel beams form an eclectic grid interwoven with an elaborate system of 18 roadways, including one 6 lane freeway, and HO scale train tracks… According to Burden, “The noise, the continuous flow of the trains, and the speeding toy cars, produces in the viewer the stress of living in a dynamic, active and bustling 21st Century city.”
LACMA’s blog gives some detail:
- The cars are attached by a small magnet to the conveyor belt that brings them to the crest.
- The only motorization of the cars is the conveyor belt to the top.
- Once the cars cross over the crest and head downward, their entire movement is by gravity.
- They travel at a scale speed of 240 mph, plus or minus.
- The tracks they take are Teflon coated to reduce friction.
- The tracks are beveled at 7 degrees to give added torque for speed when
they come through corners and curves.- The trains are out of the box electric train sets that run on electricity.
Taken at Burden’s studio, this video is a bit shorter and perhaps provides a better understanding of the scale and constant sound that the 1,100 toy cars produce. Metropolis II is currently an ongoing installation at LACMA with showtimes on Fridays and weekends.
