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Every Splash

460 of them on 29 shelves. Scroll, and the cloud turns into each one you reach.

Studio

  1. Song LandscapeA song is a wave, but you can also see what it is made of.
  2. Chladni PlateIn 1787 Ernst Chladni sprinkled sand on a metal plate and drew a violin bow along its edge.
  3. Sound in a BoxSand on a ringing plate gathers on the lines that stay still.
  4. Room Echo MeterReverberation is sound that keeps bouncing around a room after its source stops.
  5. Splat MirrorTap “Start camera” and each splat takes the color of its place in the picture, so the mirror shows you, live.
  6. Model to SplatsA 3D model is usually a mesh: a net of flat triangles with colors or a picture (a texture) painted on them.
  7. QR CodeA QR code stores text in a square grid of dark and light modules.
  8. QR ExplainedA QR code is a grid of dark and light modules with a fixed plan.
  9. QR Damage LabQR codes still scan when part of them is lost, because error correction can rebuild missing codewords: about 7, 15, 25 or 30 percent at levels L, M, Q and H.
  10. Triple QROne square holds three QR codes here: the first sets each module's red, the second its green and the third its blue.
  11. Picture QRA QR reader samples the center of each module.
  12. QR MosaicA QR code is only dark and light squares, so it can be built from real things.
  13. Other BarcodesBarcodes came before QR codes.
  14. Video QRA QR reader only looks at the middle of each square.
  15. 360° PhotoA complete panorama becomes a spherical shell of splats around you.
  16. 3D PhotoA depth model guesses relative depth from one photo, not distances in meters.
  17. 3D VideoA video is a string of photos, and a computer can guess how far away each part of a photo is.
  18. 3D WorldA video is a string of photos from a moving camera.
  19. Sound LabSound is air pressure going up and down, and this bench shows it four ways.
  20. Splat ToolkitA 3D Gaussian splat file is a long list of soft colored blobs, each with a place, a size in three directions, a turn, an opacity and a color (sometimes a color that changes with the viewing angle, called spherical harmonics).
  21. Point CloudsA lidar scanner sends out laser pulses and times their echoes, so each echo becomes a point with its place, how strongly it reflected (intensity) and often a class (ground, vegetation, building, water).
  22. Volume ViewerA CT, MRI or microscope scan is a volume: a stack of slices, each a grid of numbers saying how dense or bright the object is there.
  23. 3D DataA table becomes a 3D chart you can turn: each row a point in a scatter, or rows gathered into bars or a surface whose heights are the mean of the rows in each cell.

Pictures and Pages

  1. Splat NameYour name becomes thick, rounded letters of soft splats in Toy Box's Fredoka font.
  2. Picture LabThe Picture lab shows a page, a photo, a GIF or a video as Gaussian splats: thousands of small, flat, colored discs, the same stuff every splash here is made of.
  3. Splash BookA book is a stack of pages bound along one edge, so you can turn them one at a time.
  4. Photo AlbumA photo album keeps printed photos on thick pages.
  5. Picture FrameA picture frame protects a photo and sets it apart from the wall.
  6. ScreenA screen made of splats shows a video or a GIF: every pixel of the picture is a small splat whose color changes with each frame.

AI and Computing

  1. PerceptronA perceptron is the simplest artificial neuron, described by Frank Rosenblatt in 1958.
  2. Multilayer NetOne perceptron can only split its inputs with a single straight line, so it cannot learn XOR, “exclusive or”, which is 1 when exactly one of two inputs is 1.
  3. Neural NetworkA neural network is made of simple artificial neurons in layers.
  4. ConvNetA convolutional network, or CNN, is a neural network built for pictures.
  5. Recurrent NetworkA recurrent network, or RNN, reads a sequence, like the words of a sentence, one piece at a time.
  6. TransformerA transformer is a neural network first described in 2017, for translating text.
  7. Looped TransformerA looped transformer runs the same transformer block again and again, feeding its output back in as its next input, instead of stacking many different layers.
  8. Diffusion ModelA diffusion model makes pictures out of noise.
  9. Gradient DescentGradient descent is how most neural networks learn.
  10. Gaussian SplattingGaussian splatting draws a scene with many soft, colored blobs called splats.
  11. Word VectorsWord vectors turn each word into a list of numbers, a point in a space with many directions, so that words used in similar ways land near each other.
  12. Sorting MachineA sorting algorithm is a step-by-step recipe a computer follows to put things in order.
  13. Half AdderA half adder adds two bits, each 0 or 1.
  14. Turing MachineIn 1936 the mathematician Alan Turing imagined the simplest possible computer: a long tape of squares, a head that reads and writes one square at a time, and a short table of rules.
  15. Difference EngineCharles Babbage designed Difference Engine No.
  16. Enigma MachineThe Enigma was a cipher machine German forces used to keep radio messages secret in World War II.
  17. BombeThe Bombe was the codebreaking machine of Bletchley Park in England.

Science

  1. Thermal EllipsoidsCrystallography describes an atom's average position and spread with a displacement tensor.
  2. Super-Res MicroscopeOrdinary light microscopy struggles to separate nearby objects about 200 to 300 nanometers apart.
  3. Galaxy in a BoxGalaxy simulations follow gas and stars as particles.
  4. Cryo-EM MapCryo-electron microscopy freezes thousands of copies of a molecule in thin ice, photographs them with electrons and averages the pictures into a 3D map of density.
  5. Contour LabA contour line joins places at the same height, and a map with them shows a 3D shape on flat paper.
  6. Terrain in a BoxGeological Survey's measured heights for Mount St.
  7. Ripple TankA ripple tank shows how waves spread, bend round edges and add up.
  8. Light BenchAn optical bench: light traced as rays through real glass.
  9. Climate RecordsTwo of the clearest measurements of a changing climate, from dated snapshots taken October 5, 2026 (nothing is fetched live).

Space

  1. SunThe Sun is the star at the center of our solar system, a huge ball of hot, glowing gas.
  2. Solar ModelThe solar system is the Sun and everything that circles it: eight planets, their moons, and many asteroids and comets.
  3. Mercury ModelMercury is the smallest planet and the closest to the Sun, a gray rocky world covered in craters, a little bigger than our Moon.
  4. Venus ModelVenus is the second planet from the Sun and nearly the same size as the Earth.
  5. Earth ModelThe Earth is the third planet from the Sun and our home, the only world known to have life.
  6. Moon ModelThe Moon is the Earth's only natural satellite, a gray world of craters about a quarter as wide as the Earth.
  7. Mars ModelMars is the fourth planet from the Sun, a cold, dry, rocky world about half as wide as the Earth.
  8. JupiterJupiter is the biggest planet, a giant ball made mostly of hydrogen and helium gas, with no solid surface to stand on.
  9. SaturnSaturn is the sixth planet from the Sun, a giant ball of gas with the brightest rings in the solar system.
  10. UranusUranus is the seventh planet from the Sun, an ice giant colored blue-green by methane gas in its air.
  11. NeptuneNeptune is the eighth and farthest planet from the Sun, an ice giant of pale greenish blue, a little bluer than Uranus; the deep blue of older spacecraft pictures came from processing.
  12. Tiny PlanetA tiny, made-up planet built by the computer from a sphere and a palette of planet colors: blue seas, green land and white clouds for Earth, rusty deserts and white polar caps for Mars, gray craters for the Moon, and banded storms for Jupiter and Neptune.
  13. Aurora WorldAn aurora is the glowing light that ripples across the sky near the poles, called the northern and southern lights on Earth.
  14. AsteroidMost circle the Sun in the main asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter.
  15. CometA comet is a lump of ice, dust and rock, often only a few kilometers wide, that travels around the Sun on a long, stretched orbit.
  16. MeteorA meteor, or shooting star, is the streak of light made when a bit of space rock rushes into the air at tens of kilometers a second and burns up.
  17. StarA star is a huge ball of hot gas that shines because, deep in its core, it squeezes hydrogen into helium and gives off energy.
  18. PulsarA pulsar is a neutron star, the crushed core left after a giant star explodes.
  19. Black HoleA black hole is a place where gravity is so strong that nothing that crosses its edge, the event horizon, can get out again, not even light.
  20. Star ClusterA globular cluster is a ball of hundreds of thousands of stars held together by their own gravity, packed tightest at the middle.
  21. Ring NebulaA planetary nebula is a glowing shell of gas puffed off by a dying star like the Sun.
  22. NebulaA nebula is a huge cloud of gas and dust in space.
  23. SupernovaA supernova is the explosion of a star, one of the biggest blasts in the universe.
  24. Spiral GalaxyA galaxy is a huge family of stars, gas and dust held together by gravity.
  25. Real MoonThe real Moon from NASA's maps: its colors from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's wide-angle camera, its heights from the orbiter's laser altimeter.
  26. Real PlanetsThe real Earth from NASA and NOAA maps: colors from NASA's Blue Marble (a cloud-free mosaic from the Terra satellite), heights from NOAA's ETOPO 2022, and city lights from NASA's Black Marble.
  27. Real MoonsFive big moons from USGS maps of pictures by the Voyager, Galileo and Cassini spacecraft: volcanic Io; Europa, cracked ice over a hidden ocean; Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system; cratered Callisto; and Saturn's moon Titan, with lakes of liquid methane and ethane.
  28. Small WorldsThree small worlds with their real shapes and heights: Pluto, mapped by NASA's New Horizons as it flew past in 2015, and the dwarf planet Ceres and the asteroid Vesta, mapped by NASA's Dawn, which orbited both.
  29. Star ExplorerEvery star within about 65 light-years (20 parsecs) of the Sun, where it really is: about 2,200 stars measured by ESA's Gaia spacecraft, from the tiny shift of each star's position as Earth goes round the Sun.
  30. Real Star SystemsReal planets round other stars, from the NASA Exoplanet Archive: TRAPPIST-1, a cool red dwarf 40 light-years away with seven rocky planets, all closer to it than Mercury is to the Sun; TOI-178, whose six planets go round in a chain of near-simple ratios; and 55 Cancri, with a planet whose year is shorter than a day.
  31. Real GalaxiesFour real galaxies from telescope pictures: the Whirlpool (M51), the Pinwheel (M101) and the Phantom (M74) from the Hubble Space Telescope, and the Southern Pinwheel (M83) from the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope.
  32. Powers of TenEvery step of the zoom is ten times the last: the label names the power of ten, what you see and its size, and where the picture or data comes from, and the bar shows a round length at that scale.
  33. Saturn VThe Saturn V, the rocket that sent astronauts to the Moon from 1968 to 1972, as splats from NASA's 3D model.
  34. SLS RocketThe Space Launch System, NASA's rocket for the Artemis missions back to the Moon, as splats from NASA's 3D model, colored as it flew on Artemis I in November 2022.
  35. Space ShuttleThe Space Shuttle at launch, as splats from NASA's 3D model: the winged orbiter, the big orange external tank that fed its three main engines with liquid hydrogen and oxygen, and the two white solid rocket boosters.
  36. Solar SystemThe Sun, the eight planets, six big moons, four famous comets and 4,000 real asteroids, each where its real orbit puts it on the date you pick, from 1800 to 2050.
  37. Night Sky5, each a sharp point whose brightness follows its magnitude and whose color follows its temperature, and the Milky Way from the Gaia spacecraft's map of the sky.

Math

  1. AttractorsIn 1963 the scientist Edward Lorenz made a very simple model of moving air: three short equations.
  2. Möbius StripA Möbius strip is a loop with a half twist in it.
  3. Klein BottleA Klein bottle is a surface with no inside and no outside.
  4. Menger SpongeA Menger sponge is a fractal.
  5. 4D ShapesA hypercube, or tesseract, is a cube in four dimensions.
  6. Torus KnotA torus knot is a knot that winds around the surface of a donut shape, called a torus.
  7. GyroidA gyroid is a curving surface that splits space into two tangled mazes of tunnels that never meet.
  8. MandelbulbThe Mandelbulb is a 3D fractal, a cousin of the famous flat Mandelbrot set.
  9. Sierpinski TetrixA Sierpinski tetrahedron is a fractal pyramid.
  10. Platonic SolidsThe Platonic solids are the only five convex polyhedra whose faces are all the same regular shape, meeting in the same way at every corner: the tetrahedron (4 triangles), the cube (6 squares), the octahedron (8 triangles), the dodecahedron (12 pentagons) and the icosahedron (20 triangles).
  11. Seashell SpiralMany seashells grow in a spiral.
  12. Graph PlotterA graph turns an equation into a picture.
  13. Surface PlotterA surface plot is a graph in 3D.
  14. Circle and WavesThe unit circle is a circle with a radius of 1.
  15. Fourier CirclesCircles turning on circles can draw almost any closed shape, given enough of them.
  16. Pythagoras ProofIn a right triangle, the two short sides a and b and the long side c always fit a rule: a² + b² = c².
  17. Splat SelectorA word or picture becomes a tree of splats.
  18. Splat EquationEvery splat has a place and a color.

Atoms

  1. Electron OrbitalAn electron does not circle the center of an atom like a planet.
  2. AtomEverything around you is made of atoms.
  3. MoleculeA molecule is a group of atoms held together by chemical bonds.
  4. ProteinProteins are the tiny machines of living things.
  5. Crystal LatticeIn a crystal, atoms are lined up in a pattern that repeats over and over, like tiles on a floor.
  6. Unit CellsA crystal is one small box of atoms, its unit cell, repeated in every direction.
  7. Orbital AtlasAn orbital is a wave that tells where an electron in an atom is likely to be.
  8. Molecule ViewerScientists share the 3D shapes of molecules as files of atom positions: proteins and DNA in the Protein Data Bank, small molecules as SDF, MOL or XYZ files.
  9. Periodic TableEvery element as a real sample: lumps of metal, crystals, liquids and glowing gases in sealed glass.

Photoreal

  1. Potted CactusA cactus is a plant built to live where rain is rare.
  2. StrawberryA strawberry is not quite a berry.
  3. Heart CookieA jam cookie like this one is two thin, crumbly cookies with a layer of fruit jam between them.
  4. HoneybeeHoneybees live together in large colonies of tens of thousands, with one queen who lays the eggs.
  5. Cluster FlyCluster flies are a little larger than house flies, with golden hairs on their backs.
  6. May BeetleThe May beetle, or cockchafer, is a big brown beetle that flies on warm evenings in late spring.
  7. MillipedeA millipede is a long, slow animal with a body made of many rings, and most of the rings carry two pairs of legs.
  8. Carder BumblebeeThis is a brown-banded carder bumblebee, a small, fuzzy bumblebee of Europe's grassy meadows.
  9. RaspberryA raspberry is made of many tiny round fruits called drupelets, each with its own juicy skin and one small seed inside.
  10. BlackberryA blackberry, like a raspberry, is a cluster of many tiny, shiny fruits called drupelets, each with a seed inside.
  11. BlueberryBlueberries are small round berries that grow on bushes; the main cultivated kinds come from North America.
  12. GrapeA real grape, captured from many photos and drawn with many thousands of tiny, soft splats.
  13. Cinnamon StarCinnamon stars are small star-shaped cookies baked at Christmas, above all in Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
  14. TomatoesTomatoes are the fruit of a plant that first grew wild in western South America.
  15. MandeltorusThe mandeltorus is a fractal: a shape whose small parts repeat the pattern of the whole, over and over, smaller and smaller.
  16. BasketA woven basket full of seashells from the beach: sea urchins, sand dollars, starfish and a scallop.
  17. Heart DonutA real heart-shaped donut with a white glaze, captured from 411 photos on a turntable and drawn with about a quarter of a million soft splats.
  18. Sushi BoatA wooden serving boat of sushi, captured from photos and drawn with splats.
  19. Seeded Bread LoafA loaf of seeded bread, captured from many photos and drawn with soft splats.
  20. Cowboy SteakA grilled cowboy steak, a thick rib cut with the bone left in, captured from photos and drawn with splats.
  21. StollenA stollen, the German Christmas bread full of dried fruit and nuts and rolled in butter and powdered sugar.
  22. PhysalisA sprig of physalis, also called Chinese lantern or cape gooseberry, captured from photos and drawn with splats.
  23. CrystalA cluster of clear crystals, captured from photos and drawn with splats.
  24. Alum CrystalA pink block of alum, captured from photos and drawn with splats.
  25. PuffinA puffin, captured from photos and drawn with splats.
  26. Toy T. RexA rubber toy Tyrannosaurus rex on a green base, captured from photos and drawn with splats.
  27. Monkey DollA plush monkey in a striped sweater, captured from photos and drawn with soft splats.
  28. Souvenir ElephantA souvenir elephant figure with a gold blanket on its back, captured from photos and drawn with splats.
  29. Souvenir TurtleA souvenir sea turtle, captured from photos and drawn with splats.
  30. Cave LionessThe head and shoulders of a lioness of the extinct cave lion kind, captured from photos of a life-size model and drawn with splats.
  31. Felted FoxA needle-felted fox, made on a computer: wool-like felt for the body, about 251,000 fine hairs for the fluff, and two glass bead eyes, then drawn with splats.
  32. BMX BicycleA BMX bicycle, captured from photos and drawn with splats.
  33. Murex ShellA murex shell, captured from photos and drawn with splats.
  34. Real SunflowerA real sunflower, captured from photos and drawn with splats.
  35. White RosesTwo white roses in a glass bottle, captured from photos and drawn with splats.
  36. Real Bonsai TreeA real bonsai, captured from photos and drawn with splats.
  37. Real MushroomA small mushroom on the forest floor, captured from photos and drawn with splats.
  38. Real CactusA round cactus, captured from photos and drawn with thousands of splats.
  39. Crochet EarthA crocheted Earth, captured from photos and drawn with splats.
  40. Golden MapleA small golden maple in a garden, captured from photos and drawn with splats.
  41. Peonies in a VaseA vase of pink peonies, captured from photos and drawn with splats.
  42. Money TreeA money tree in a white pot, captured from photos and drawn with splats.
  43. Knight on a HorseA painted miniature of a knight on an armored horse, captured from photos and drawn with splats.
  44. Triceratops SkullA real Triceratops skull from a museum's dinosaur hall, captured from photos and drawn with splats.
  45. Cone ShellThe shell of a textile cone snail, captured from photos and drawn with splats.
  46. Celestial GlobeA celestial globe from a university museum in Kraków, scanned and drawn with splats.
  47. Armillary SphereAn armillary sphere made by Franciszek Słupski in 1771, scanned and drawn with splats.
  48. VanadiniteA cluster of vanadinite crystals, captured from photos and drawn with splats.
  49. FluoriteA specimen of fluorite, scanned and drawn with splats.
  50. AmmoniteAn ammonite, cut in half and polished, scanned and drawn with splats.
  51. Morasko MeteoriteAn iron meteorite from Morasko, near Poznań in Poland, scanned and drawn with splats.
  52. PyriteA specimen of pyrite, scanned and drawn with splats.
  53. Megalodon ToothA fossil tooth of the giant shark megalodon (Otodus megalodon), scanned and drawn with splats.
  54. Real Rubber DuckThe rubber duck is a bath toy: a hollow yellow duck that floats.
  55. Garden GnomeGarden gnomes are little statues of bearded men in pointed hats, set among the flowers to look after the garden.
  56. Wooden ElephantA carved wooden elephant, the kind of figure woodcarvers have made for a very long time, shaped by hand with knives and chisels.
  57. Marble BustA bust is a statue of a person's head, neck and shoulders.
  58. UkuleleThe ukulele is a small, four-stringed guitar from Hawaii.
  59. Real Alarm ClockAn old wind-up alarm clock runs on a spring: winding the key tightens the spring, and as it slowly unwinds it turns the gears and the hands.
  60. Vintage CameraInside, a roll of film coated with chemicals that change when light hits them sits behind the lens.
  61. BoomboxA boombox is a portable stereo: a radio, a cassette tape player and two big speakers in one box with a handle, run on batteries so music could go anywhere.
  62. Real CroissantA croissant is a flaky, buttery pastry shaped like a crescent moon, and "croissant" is the French word for crescent.
  63. Carrot CakeCarrot cake is a spiced cake made with grated carrots, which bake into the crumb and keep it moist.
  64. PomegranateA pomegranate is a round fruit with a tough, leathery skin and a little crown on top.
  65. LanternAn old oil lantern, the kind people carried on farms, on boats and on camping trips before flashlights were common.
  66. Cat StatueA concrete statue of a sitting cat, wearing a red collar with a little bell.
  67. Horse StatueA white marble statue of a horse.
  68. Wind-up RobotA tin wind-up robot of the kind made in the 1950s, modeled and rendered on a computer and then drawn with splats.
  69. Ship ModelA museum model of the Soleil Royal, a French warship launched in 1669 that was the flagship of the fleet in 1692, when she was burned in Cherbourg Bay after the Battle of La Hogue.
  70. TypewriterA manual typewriter, captured from photos and drawn with splats.
  71. Rangefinder CameraA film rangefinder camera, captured from photos and drawn with splats.
  72. Space CapsuleThe descent module of a Soyuz spacecraft, captured on display and drawn with splats.
  73. Muscle CarA muscle car from 1970, built for the high-speed oval and sold to the public so it could race.
  74. Classic Sports CarA classic sports coupe from the 1980s, white with red wheels, captured from photos and drawn with splats.
  75. Track CarA modern sports car built for the track, captured from photos and drawn with splats.
  76. Cochem CastleCochem Imperial Castle, high above the Moselle river in Germany, captured by a drone from many photos and drawn with splats.
  77. Perseverance RoverNASA's Perseverance rover, which landed on Mars in February 2021 to look for signs of ancient life and to collect rock samples.
  78. Real PencilThe "lead" inside is not lead at all but graphite, a soft gray form of carbon, mixed with clay and baked into a thin stick.
  79. Real Tin CanA tin can is a steel can with a thin coat of tin that keeps it from rusting.

Lab

  1. Shape MorphOne cloud of Gaussian splats takes one form after another, all in the splash's teal-to-pink ink: words or names (an emoji gives its shape and its light and dark), the Lorenz attractor, a Klein bottle, a gyroid, a loop, and QR codes.
  2. Splat FieldHundreds of thousands of splats (the count depends on your device and the Detail setting), and the graphics chip works out where every one of them is, and its color, again every frame.
  3. Light LabEvery element glows in its own colors.

Shapes

  1. TorusA torus is the shape of a ring: a circle swept around a line beside it, like a hoop made of tube.
  2. Jelly BlobA wobbly jelly blob, built by the computer from a few rules rather than from photos.
  3. Neon KnotA glowing tube tied in a trefoil knot, the simplest true knot.

Arcade

  1. ShardballA ball, a dish and a dome of bricks.
  2. LongtailA string of glass beads crawls from tile to tile, one tile a beat.
  3. Grain GardenEvery grain here is one splat, moved by a simple rule sixty times a second.
  4. Page BreakerShardball with your own page.
  5. StrataStones of our own shapes fall down a well between stone walls, ten wide and twenty deep.
  6. Volley TableA rally on a felt table against the computer.
  7. Stone BeltThe rocks here are the real shapes of seven asteroids, Bennu, Itokawa, Eros, Kleopatra, Geographos, Toutatis and Golevka, from NASA's public-domain models.
  8. Soft LandingOn the Moon it comes from the laser altimeter and camera of NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (the CGI Moon Kit): Tycho crater, Copernicus crater and the Sea of Tranquility, where Apollo 11 landed.
  9. Night Owl PinballA pinball table whose steel ball is moved by Splashery's own physics engine, the same one the Hands-on switch uses.
  10. Cast a ShadowA carved block hangs between a lamp and a wall, and every piece of it casts its own small shadow.
  11. Photo DashA photo becomes the landscape.
  12. Note RiderA song comes down the track as glowing notes: its melody, low notes in the low lane and high notes in the high one.

Toys

  1. Building BricksBuilding bricks are small plastic blocks with round studs on top that press into tubes underneath the next brick, so they hold together firmly and can be pulled apart again.
  2. Rubber DuckA rubber duck is a little yellow bath toy that floats.
  3. Spinning TopA spinning top is one of the oldest toys in the world, played with in many lands for thousands of years.
  4. DiceDice are small shapes with a number on each face, rolled to get a number by chance.
  5. Newton's CradleNewton's cradle is a row of steel balls, each hung on two strings so it can only swing in one line.
  6. Teddy BearA teddy bear is a soft, stuffed toy bear.
  7. Yo-yoA yo-yo is two disks joined by a short axle, with a string tied around the axle.
  8. Puzzle CubeA twisting puzzle cube: 26 small cubes around a hidden core, with one color on each of its six faces.
  9. Spring ToyA spring toy is a long, loose coil of metal or plastic that can walk down stairs by itself.
  10. KiteA kite is a light frame covered with paper or cloth that flies on the wind at the end of a long line.
  11. Paper PlaneA paper plane is a sheet of paper folded into a glider.
  12. Origami CraneOrigami is the Japanese art of folding a single square of paper into a shape, without cutting or gluing.
  13. Balloon DogA balloon dog is made from one long, thin balloon, twisted into a chain of bubbles and folded into a head, ears, a body, four legs and a tail.
  14. Soap BubblesA soap bubble is a very thin skin of soapy water wrapped around some air.
  15. Tin RobotA wind-up robot is a tin toy with a spring inside.
  16. Chess SetChess is a game for two players on a board of 64 squares.

Balls

  1. BasketballA basketball is a bouncy ball with a pebbled skin for grip and dark grooves, called channels, running around it.
  2. Soccer BallThe classic soccer ball is stitched from 32 panels: 12 black pentagons and 20 white hexagons, a shape mathematicians call a truncated icosahedron.
  3. American FootballAn American football is a pointed oval ball of leather with a row of white laces along one side for the fingers to grip.
  4. Tennis BallA tennis ball is a hollow rubber ball filled with air under pressure and covered in fuzzy felt.
  5. BaseballA baseball has a small cork and rubber center, wound with long strands of yarn and covered with two figure-eight pieces of white leather.
  6. SoftballA softball is bigger than a baseball, about 30 centimeters (12 inches) around, and in spite of its name it is not soft.
  7. Beach BallA beach ball is a thin plastic ball blown up with air, usually with bright stripes of color.
  8. Golf BallA golf ball is small and hard, covered in hundreds of little dents called dimples.
  9. Rugby BallA rugby ball is a big oval ball, rounder and larger than an American football.
  10. VolleyballA volleyball is a light ball of smooth leather panels.
  11. Water Polo BallWater polo is a team game played in a swimming pool, often in water too deep to stand in, so the players tread water the whole time.
  12. Ping-pong BallA ping-pong ball, used in table tennis, is a hollow plastic ball 40 millimeters across that weighs less than 3 grams, about as much as a small coin.
  13. Cricket BallA cricket ball is a hard ball with a cork center, wound tight with string and covered in leather.
  14. Bowling BallA bowling ball is a heavy ball with three finger holes, rolled down a long wooden or plastic lane at ten pins.
  15. Pool BallPool is played on a cloth-covered table with pockets.
  16. PickleballPickleball is a game played with solid paddles and a light plastic ball full of holes, over a low net on a small court.
  17. DodgeballA dodgeball is a soft, light ball of rubber or foam, made to be thrown at other players in a game of dodging, catching and throwing.
  18. Medicine BallA medicine ball is a heavy ball for exercise, used for throwing, catching and lifting to build strength.
  19. Lacrosse BallA lacrosse ball is a small ball of solid, hard rubber.
  20. Squash BallA squash ball is a small, hollow rubber ball that hardly bounces when it is cold.
  21. Bouncy BallA bouncy ball is a small ball of very springy, hard rubber.
  22. MarbleA marble is a small, hard ball, usually of glass, with twists of color inside.
  23. Hockey Puck6 centimeters) across and 1 inch thick.
  24. ShuttlecockA shuttlecock, or shuttle, is used in badminton instead of a ball.
  25. Flying DiscA flying disc is a plastic disc with a curled rim, thrown with a flick of the wrist.

Imaging

  1. Airport X-rayAn airport scanner sends a fan of X-rays through each bag as the belt carries it past, and a row of detectors measures what gets through, one line at a time.
  2. CT ExplainedA CT scanner (computed tomography) turns an X-ray tube and a curved row of detectors around the object, taking hundreds of views from every side.
  3. Walnut CTThis is a real walnut, scanned with X-ray CT at CWI in Amsterdam: more than a thousand X-ray pictures taken from all around it, worked back into a volume of how dense the walnut is at every point.
  4. Fruit MRIAn MRI scanner (magnetic resonance imaging) uses no X-rays.
  5. Electron MicroscopeA scanning electron microscope sweeps a fine beam of electrons across a sample in a vacuum.
  6. Thermal CameraEverything gives off infrared light, more the warmer it is.

Earth and Maps

  1. Grand CanyonThe Grand Canyon in Arizona is about 1,800 meters (a mile) deep, cut by the Colorado River over the last five or six million years through layers of rock laid down over almost two billion years.
  2. Mount St. HelensHelens, a volcano in Washington State, erupted on May 18, 1980.
  3. The Sea FloorThe Mariana Trench in the western Pacific is the deepest place in the ocean: its Challenger Deep is nearly 11 kilometers (about 7 miles) down.
  4. Bar Harbor TidesTides are the slow rise and fall of the sea, pulled by the Moon and the Sun.
  5. HurricaneHurricane Polo grew over the warm eastern Pacific, off the coast of Mexico, in September 2026.
  6. Relief MapA relief map shows the shape of the land.
  7. Stork MigrationWhite storks fly thousands of kilometers each fall from Europe to Africa, and back in spring.
  8. EarthquakesGeological Survey publishes the earthquakes it has located around the world.

Music

  1. Music BoxA music box plays a tune all by itself.
  2. Acoustic GuitarAn acoustic guitar has six strings stretched over a hollow wooden body.
  3. Snare DrumA snare drum is a shallow drum with a skin, called a head, stretched across each side.
  4. XylophoneA xylophone is a row of tuned wooden bars that you strike with a mallet.
  5. Toy PianoA toy piano is a small piano with no strings.
  6. Grand PianoA grand piano is a keyboard instrument whose strings lie flat under a lid shaped like a wing.
  7. Upright PianoAn upright piano stands its strings on end, so a full piano fits against a wall.
  8. HarpsichordA harpsichord plucks its strings instead of striking them.
  9. Electronic KeyboardAn electronic keyboard makes its sounds with circuits instead of strings.

Everyday Things

  1. Treasure ChestA treasure chest is a strong wooden box with metal bands, a heavy lid and a lock, made to keep coins, jewels and other precious things safe.
  2. StorybookA storybook is a book of stories, with pages of words and often pictures.
  3. LaptopA laptop is a computer small enough to carry and use on your lap.
  4. Alarm ClockA wind-up alarm clock has two metal bells on top and a little hammer between them.
  5. Gift BoxA gift box is a present wrapped in bright paper and tied with a ribbon and a bow.
  6. UmbrellaAn umbrella is a folding shade of cloth stretched over thin metal ribs, held up on a stick.
  7. Desk FanA desk fan cools you by moving air: its angled blades push air forward as they spin, and moving air carries heat and sweat away from your skin faster.
  8. Desk LampA desk lamp has a jointed arm that bends, so you can point its shade right where you need light, over a book or a drawing.
  9. Potion BottleA potion is a magic drink from fairy tales and wizard stories, said to make you fly, shrink or fall asleep.
  10. TelescopeA telescope uses lenses or mirrors to make faraway things look nearer and bigger.
  11. Fountain PenA fountain pen carries its own ink inside.
  12. Water BottleA reusable steel bottle closes with a screw cap.
  13. Soda CanA soda can holds a drink with carbon dioxide gas dissolved in it under pressure.

Nature

  1. Oak TreeThe oak is a big, broad tree with a thick trunk and wavy-edged leaves, and its seeds are acorns.
  2. Pine TreeA pine is an evergreen tree: it keeps its long, thin needles all year, and its seeds grow inside woody cones.
  3. Palm TreeThe coconut palm grows on warm, sandy coasts all around the tropics.
  4. Cherry BlossomCherry trees flower in spring, covering their bare branches in clouds of pale pink blossom before the leaves come out.
  5. Maple TreeThe maple is a tree known for its leaves with pointed lobes, which turn fiery red, orange and gold in autumn.
  6. BonsaiA bonsai is a real tree kept small by careful growing in a shallow pot.
  7. Weeping WillowThe weeping willow is a tree whose long, thin branches hang down almost to the ground like a curtain.
  8. SunflowerA sunflower's big head is not one flower but many: the dark middle is packed with hundreds of tiny flowers that each become a seed, and the yellow petals around the edge belong to flowers of their own.
  9. RoseThe rose is one of the best-loved flowers in the world, grown in gardens for thousands of years for its soft, layered petals and its scent.
  10. DandelionA dandelion starts as a bright yellow flower.
  11. TulipsTulips are spring flowers that grow from bulbs, each stem holding one cup-shaped flower.
  12. DaisiesA daisy looks like one flower, but its yellow middle is made of many tiny flowers, and each white petal around it is a flower too.
  13. LotusThe lotus is a water plant that roots in the mud at the bottom of ponds and holds its big round leaves and flowers above the water.
  14. ToadstoolThese red toadstools with white spots are fly agarics, perhaps the most famous mushrooms of fairy tales.
  15. FernFerns are some of the oldest plants on Earth: they grew long before the dinosaurs, and they still grow in shady woods today.
  16. Saguaro CactusThe saguaro is a giant cactus of the Sonoran Desert in Arizona and Mexico.
  17. Coral ReefCorals may look like rocks or plants, but they are animals.
  18. PineconeA pinecone is the part of a pine tree that holds its seeds.
  19. AcornsAn acorn is the nut of an oak tree, with a little scaly cap on top.
  20. SucculentSucculents are plants that store water in fleshy leaves, stems or roots, so they can live through long dry spells.
  21. BambooBamboo is a giant grass with tall, hollow stems split into sections by rings called nodes.
  22. PebblesPebbles are small stones rounded smooth by water.
  23. KelpKelp is a giant seaweed, a kind of brown algae that grows in cool, shallow seas.

Weather & Fire

  1. CampfireA fire needs three things: fuel to burn, heat to start it, and oxygen from the air.
  2. Storm CloudA thunderstorm cloud can tower more than 10 kilometers into the sky.
  3. Lava LampA lava lamp is a glass bottle of liquid with blobs of colored wax inside, and a lamp in its base.
  4. Snow GlobeA snow globe is a glass ball filled with water, with a little winter scene inside and white flakes that settle on the ground.
  5. VolcanoA volcano is an opening in the Earth's crust where melted rock, called magma, comes up from deep below.
  6. Ice SwanAn ice sculpture is carved from a big block of clear ice with saws, chisels and even small power tools.
  7. CandleA candle is a stick of wax with a string, the wick, down the middle.
  8. TornadoA tornado is a spinning column of air that reaches down from a thunderstorm to the ground.
  9. RainbowA rainbow appears when sunlight shines into falling raindrops.
  10. IcebergAn iceberg is a huge piece of ice that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and floats out to sea.
  11. WaterfallA waterfall forms where a river runs over a steep drop, often where hard rock sits on top of softer rock.
  12. Ocean WaveMost ocean waves are made by wind blowing across the water, sometimes far out at sea.
  13. GeyserA geyser is a hot spring that now and then shoots water and steam high into the air.

Food

  1. Ice CreamIce cream is a frozen mix of milk or cream, sugar and flavors.
  2. WatermelonA watermelon is a big fruit that grows on a vine along the ground.
  3. Birthday CakeA birthday cake is a sweet, frosted cake with candles on top, often one for each year.
  4. PopcornPopcorn is a kind of corn whose kernels puff up when they are heated.
  5. JellyA jelly, or gelatin dessert, is fruit juice or sweet flavored water set with gelatin and turned out of a mold.
  6. PancakesPancakes are flat, round cakes made from a runny batter of flour, eggs and milk, cooked on a hot pan.
  7. CupcakeA cupcake is a small cake baked in a paper cup, called a liner, and topped with swirls of frosting.
  8. LollipopA lollipop is a hard candy on a stick.
  9. Candy CaneA candy cane is a stick of hard peppermint candy bent into a hook, with red and white stripes, and it is often hung on trees in the Christmas season.
  10. MacaronsA macaron is a small French sweet: two light, round cookies made of ground almonds, egg whites and sugar, stuck together with a creamy filling.
  11. DonutA frosted donut with sprinkles, built by the computer from a simple ring shape.
  12. Gummy BearA gummy bear is a small, chewy candy shaped like a bear, made of sugar, fruit flavors and gelatin.
  13. PretzelA pretzel is a baked bread shaped from a long rope of dough into a loop with a twist in the middle.
  14. CroissantA croissant is a flaky, crescent-shaped pastry; its name is the French word for crescent.
  15. PizzaPizza is a flat, round bread topped with tomato sauce and cheese and baked in a very hot oven.
  16. BurgerA burger is a round patty of ground meat, or of vegetables, cooked and served in a sliced bun with toppings.
  17. SushiSushi is a Japanese dish of rice mixed with a little vinegar and sugar, served with fish, vegetables or egg.
  18. TacoA taco is a Mexican dish: a tortilla, a thin, round flatbread of corn or wheat, folded around a filling such as meat, beans, cheese, lettuce and salsa.
  19. Boiled EggA soft-boiled egg is cooked in its shell in boiling water for only a few minutes, so the white sets firm but the yolk stays runny.
  20. CoffeeCoffee is made from the roasted seeds, called beans, of the coffee plant, which first grew wild in Ethiopia.
  21. AppleApples grow on trees and come in thousands of kinds, from sharp green ones to sweet red and golden ones.
  22. BananasBananas grow in big hanging bunches on giant plants that look like trees but are not: the trunk is made of tightly rolled leaves.
  23. OrangeAn orange is a citrus fruit.
  24. KiwiA kiwifruit is a small fruit with thin, fuzzy brown skin and bright green flesh around a pale core ringed with tiny black seeds.
  25. PineappleA pineapple is a tropical fruit with a tough, scaly skin and a spiky crown of leaves.
  26. CherriesCherries are small, round fruits that grow on trees, often in pairs whose long stems are joined at the top.
  27. GrapesGrapes grow in bunches on woody vines, from a few dozen to a few hundred on a bunch.
  28. AvocadoAn avocado is a fruit with a bumpy green skin, soft, creamy green flesh and one big, round stone in the middle, which is its seed.

Gems

  1. DiamondA diamond is pure carbon, squeezed into a crystal deep underground by great heat and pressure, and carried up to the surface by volcanic eruptions long ago.
  2. RubyA ruby is a red form of the mineral corundum, which is made of aluminum and oxygen.
  3. EmeraldAn emerald is a green form of the mineral beryl, colored by tiny amounts of chromium or vanadium.
  4. Amethyst GeodeA geode is a rock with a hollow inside, lined with crystals.
  5. SapphireA sapphire is the mineral corundum, the same as ruby, but colored blue by iron and titanium.
  6. Quartz ClusterQuartz is one of the most common minerals in the Earth's crust, made of silicon and oxygen.
  7. OpalOpal is made of tiny balls of silica, the stuff of quartz and sand, with a little water between them.
  8. PearlA pearl is a gem made by a living animal.

Body

  1. Beating HeartThe heart is a muscle that pumps blood around the body.
  2. BrainThe brain is the body's control center.
  3. EyeLight goes in through the pupil, the black hole in the middle, and a lens focuses it onto the retina at the back, which sends a picture to the brain.
  4. LungsThe lungs are two spongy organs in the chest that bring air into the body.
  5. ToothA tooth is made in layers.
  6. KidneyThe kidneys are two bean-shaped organs, each about the size of a fist, tucked in the back just below the ribs.
  7. Anatomy AtlasAn anatomy atlas shows the body in layers, the way a medical textbook does.

Tiny World

  1. VirusA virus is a tiny bundle of genes inside a shell of protein, usually smaller than a bacterium.
  2. BacteriophageA bacteriophage, or phage, is a virus that infects only bacteria, not people.
  3. BacteriumA bacterium is a living thing made of just one small cell, with no nucleus: its DNA floats inside it.
  4. Red Blood CellRed blood cells carry oxygen from the lungs to every part of the body.
  5. NeuronA neuron is a nerve cell, the kind of cell that carries messages around the brain and body.
  6. Astrocyte" Astrocytes look after the neurons around them, and the ends of their arms, called end-feet, wrap around tiny blood vessels and help control how much blood flows by.
  7. Animal CellCells are the tiny building blocks of every living thing, and the human body is made of tens of trillions of them.
  8. DNADNA is the long molecule that carries the instructions for building and running a living thing.
  9. White Blood CellWhite blood cells are the body's defenders: they find and clear away germs.
  10. MicrogliaMicroglia are the brain's cleaners and guards.
  11. DiatomA diatom is a single-celled alga with a shell made of silica, the material in glass.
  12. TardigradeTardigrades, or water bears, are tiny animals, most about half a millimeter long, with a plump body and eight stubby legs that end in claws.
  13. Pollen GrainPollen is a fine powder that flowers and cones make.
  14. SnowflakeA snowflake starts high in a cloud, when water vapor deposits as ice onto a tiny speck of dust and grows into an ice crystal.
  15. ChromosomeA chromosome is a long thread of DNA, wound up tight and packed small.
  16. MitochondrionA mitochondrion is a tiny part inside a cell, often called the powerhouse of the cell.
  17. ParameciumA paramecium is a living thing made of a single cell, shaped a bit like a slipper, that lives in ponds and puddles.
  18. AmoebaAn amoeba is a living thing made of one soft cell with no fixed shape.
  19. DNA to ProteinA gene is a stretch of DNA that spells out a protein.
  20. Cell DivisionMitosis is how one cell becomes two with the same chromosomes.
  21. ApoptosisApoptosis is a cell's tidy, programmed death: the body's way of removing cells it no longer needs, or that are damaged, without harming their neighbors.
  22. PhagocytosisPhagocytosis means "cell eating".
  23. Neuron SpecimenA textbook nerve cell on a lit microscope slide: dendrites, a cell body with its nucleus and Nissl bodies, a myelinated axon, and terminals.

Clothing

  1. Running ShoeA running shoe is laced through rows of eyelets, so the laces pull the shoe snug around the foot.
  2. HoodieA hoodie is a sweatshirt with a hood, first made in the 1930s for people working in cold places.
  3. SunglassesThese are round glasses with light-changing lenses.
  4. Baseball CapA baseball cap is a round crown sewn from six panels, with a button on top and a stiff brim that shades the eyes.

Medieval

  1. Sword in the StoneThe sword in the stone comes from the old legends of King Arthur of Britain.
  2. Heraldic ShieldA heraldic shield carries a coat of arms, a painted design that showed who a knight was, even when a helmet hid the face.
  3. Bow and TargetArchery is the sport of shooting arrows with a bow at a target.
  4. TrebuchetA trebuchet is a giant throwing machine from the Middle Ages.
  5. CrossbowA crossbow is a short, strong bow fixed crosswise on a wooden stock.
  6. Knight's HelmetA knight's helmet was made of steel, hammered into shape by a skilled craftsman called an armorer.
  7. CrownA crown is a ring of gold or silver worn on the head by a king or queen, a sign of their rule.
  8. Dragon EggDragons are creatures of legend, told of all over the world.
  9. Wizard's OrbA wizard's orb is a glass ball from stories of magic, where a wizard gazes into it to see faraway places or the future.
  10. Crystal BallA crystal ball is a ball of clear glass or quartz.

Animals

  1. JellyfishA jellyfish is a soft sea animal with no brain, no heart and no bones; its body is mostly water.
  2. School of FishA school is a big group of fish swimming together, all turning at once.
  3. ButterflyA butterfly is an insect with four large wings covered in tiny, overlapping scales, and the scales make its colors and patterns.
  4. PufferfishA pufferfish is a slow swimmer with a clever defense: when it is frightened, it gulps water and swells up into a ball several times its normal size, and in many kinds, spines stand out all over it.
  5. NautilusA nautilus is a sea animal related to the octopus and the squid, but it lives in a coiled, striped shell.
  6. LadybugA ladybug is a small, round beetle.
  7. SnailA snail carries its home on its back: a coiled shell it can pull its whole body into.
  8. OctopusAn octopus is a soft-bodied sea animal with eight arms lined with suckers.
  9. StarfishA starfish, or sea star, is not a fish at all but a relative of the sea urchin.
  10. Sea UrchinA sea urchin is a round, spiny sea animal, a relative of the starfish.
  11. FrogA frog is an amphibian: many species start as tadpoles in water, then grow legs and lungs, though others develop directly into small frogs.
  12. PenguinA penguin is a bird that cannot fly, but it is a superb swimmer: its wings are stiff, strong flippers that it uses to fly through the water.
  13. OwlOwls are birds that mostly hunt at night.

Holidays

  1. Jack-o'-lanternA jack-o'-lantern is a pumpkin carved with a face and lit from inside by a candle, a symbol of Halloween.
  2. SnowmanA snowman is built from big balls of snow rolled across the ground, stacked up and given a face of coal, a carrot nose, stick arms, a scarf and a hat.
  3. FireworksFireworks were invented in China more than a thousand years ago.
  4. Decorated TreeA decorated tree is an evergreen tree, such as a fir or a pine, brought indoors and hung with lights, ornaments and a star on top for the Christmas season.
  5. Patterned EggDecorating eggs with bright patterns is a spring tradition in many countries, especially at Easter.
  6. Paper LanternA paper lantern is a light made of thin paper stretched over a frame of ribs, glowing from a light inside.
  7. DiyaA diya is a small clay lamp that holds oil or butter and a cotton wick.
  8. MenorahA Hanukkah menorah is a candle holder with nine branches, lit during Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights.

Vehicles

  1. RocketA rocket flies by pushing hot gas out of its engine very fast.
  2. HelicopterA helicopter lifts itself with a big rotor on top: its long blades are thin, spinning wings.
  3. Hot-air BalloonA hot-air balloon flies because hot air is lighter than the cool air around it.
  4. Steam TrainA steam locomotive burns coal or wood to boil water in a long boiler.
  5. Ocean LinerAn ocean liner is a big passenger ship that sailed on a regular route, or line, across an ocean.
  6. Sports CarA sports car is a small, light car with a powerful engine, built for speed and for taking corners well.
  7. BusA bus carries many people along a set route, stopping to let them on and off.
  8. Propeller PlaneThis propeller plane is a biplane: it has two sets of wings, one above the other, held together by struts and wires.
  9. Jet AirlinerA jet airliner is a big passenger plane driven by jet engines.
  10. SailboatA sailboat is pushed along by the wind in its sails.
  11. SubmarineA submarine is a ship that can travel underwater.
  12. BicycleA bicycle has two wheels, one behind the other, and pedals that turn a chain, which turns the back wheel.
  13. TractorA tractor is a strong farm machine for pulling heavy things: plows, trailers and all kinds of tools.
  14. Flying SaucerA flying saucer is an imaginary spaceship from science fiction, shaped like a round, flat saucer.

Landmarks

  1. Eiffel TowerThe Eiffel Tower is an iron lattice tower in Paris, built by the engineer Gustave Eiffel's company for the World's Fair of 1889.
  2. Washington Monument, built to honor George Washington, the first president of the United States.
  3. Pyramids of GizaThe Pyramids of Giza stand at the edge of the desert near Cairo, in Egypt.
  4. Twisting SupertallA supertall is a skyscraper more than 300 meters (about 1,000 feet) tall.
  5. LighthouseA lighthouse is a tower with a bright light at the top that guides ships at night and warns them away from rocks and dangerous coasts.
  6. Statue of LibertyThe Statue of Liberty stands on Liberty Island in New York Harbor.
  7. White House, is the home and office of the president of the United States.
  8. Tower of PisaThe Leaning Tower of Pisa, in Italy, is the bell tower of the city's cathedral.
  9. ColosseumThe Colosseum is a huge oval arena in Rome, Italy, built of stone and concrete about 2,000 years ago, and finished in the year 80.
  10. ParthenonThe Parthenon is a marble temple on the Acropolis, the rocky hill above Athens, in Greece.
  11. StonehengeStonehenge is a ring of great standing stones on Salisbury Plain, in England.
  12. Big BenBig Ben is the nickname of the great bell in the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament in London, England, and people often use it for the whole tower.
  13. Taj MahalThe Taj Mahal is a white marble tomb in Agra, in India.
  14. CastleA castle is a fortified residence.
  15. PagodaA pagoda is a tower of many roofs, one above the other, built at Buddhist temples across China, Korea, Japan and much of Asia.
  16. WindmillA windmill uses the wind to do work.