Remember those frog transparencies from biology class? The ones in the textbook where you could lay the circulatory system on top of the digestive system on top of the skeleton system? Here's that same idea, updated and gently presented for kids, from a company called Tinybop. This time, the layers are cut from colored paper, exquisitely designed by Kelli Anderson. And this time (unlike that sadly frozen frog) it moves! Watch it eat a pizza slice ...
"Anything that a real body does, this body does," Kelli writes on her blog. "It eats, digests, pumps blood, gets sick, burps, runs in place, you name it, all at multiple zoom levels."
So if the user (presumed to be a 5-year-old, I'm guessing, but who's checking?) wants to look at a heart up close, she can zoom in and see details ...
... or should she be wondering how an arm or leg manage to swing, there are balls and sockets ready for inspection ...
Tinybop's Human Body App just presents you with a body (there's a body menu: boy, girl, choose your race). That's it. There are no goals, no "levels," no rewards. It's just there to be looked at, explored. I like that. I also like how Kelli cuts paper. When she puts down her scissors, our wet, mucky, smelly bodies seem suddenly fit for angels.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
