APP
OF THE
DAY
How Are Things Made?
From chocolate to skateboards
Want to know where paper comes from, or how bread ends up as a loaf? Curious about how chocolate is made, or how your t-shirt ends up in the shops? And how on earth does a skateboard work?
How Are Things Made? has the answers. It’s a learning app for budding inventors, that teaches your child how five common items get made. You’re on the frontline from start-to-finish – and invited to take part in the process.
It’s a miscellaneous assortment – all the better to learn lots. Pick an item and you’ll be presented with a delightful, detailed cartoon tableau, populated by tiny figures poised to spring into action.
Take bread-making: to start, you need to source salt from the ocean, then load it onto a tiny truck that carries it off to the kitchen, where the baker is waiting.
You then tap on a harvester that whirrs around a field of golden wheat, cutting it in advance of transportation to the mill.
In paper’s story, you start by tapping bystanders and asking them to recycle – placing the emphasis on sustainability, rather than instructing someone to start swinging an axe.
Click on icons to hear a description, but aside from that the app isn’t too intrusive: the point is to learn through play.