# Bag of Wonder: The Airplane > Pack a suitcase, buckle up, take off, glide above the clouds and land. Then pull the airplane apart! A free interactive 3D exhibit for children aged 2 to 6, from Curiosity's Child in Troy, Michigan. - Interactive exhibit: https://bagofwonder.com/look-inside/airplane/ - Ages: 2 to 6. The story is pitched at the youngest; the tap cards give older children more to chew on. - Cost: free, with no sign-in, no ads and no tracking. - Works on: phones, tablets and computers, in a web browser. Sound on for the narration. ## What it is Interactive 3D airplane story. Poppy flies from England to visit her grandma, Ms Daisy, in Michigan: she waits at the airport, packs her suitcase, buckles up on board, takes off down the runway, glides above the clouds, peeks into the cockpit and lands gently to a big hug. Then a slider pulls the airliner apart (wings, engines, landing gear, cockpit, cabin, tail, seat belt, suitcase), with labels; tapping a part shows a child-friendly fact. How to play: press play to hear the story (read aloud in Kelly's voice, with the words on screen). Slide the time slider back and forth to see any part again. Slide "Pull apart" to see what is hidden inside. Tap any glowing button for a fact. ## The story 1. This is Poppy, my granddaughter! She lives in England, and today she's flying all the way across the ocean to visit me. 2. Time to pack Poppy's suitcase! What would she take? A rubber duck, a sunny hat, boots for puddles, and a camera. Click! All ready. 3. All aboard! Everybody sits in a seat and buckles up. Click! Then we can look out of the little window. 4. The engines roar, softly at first. The plane speeds down the runway... and up, up, up into the sky! 5. The wings help it fly. They hold the plane up in the air, just like a bird gliding. Now you try, poppets: stretch your arms out wide like wings, and glide! 6. Up above the clouds is a sea of fluffy white, and the sun is shining. 7. The pilots steer the plane from the cockpit, right at the front. Look at all the buttons! 8. Down we go, nice and gently. Wheels down... bump! Hello, Michigan! 9. And who is waiting at the airport? Grandma Daisy, with a great big hug! Welcome to Michigan, Poppy. Have you been on an airplane, poppets? Where did you go? 10. Look, poppets: an airplane on our table, with a suitcase and a pilot's cap! ## The parts, and what we tell children These are the tap cards, word for word. - **Wings**: Big wings stick out from the sides. As the plane speeds forward, air flows over the wings and lifts the plane up into the sky. - **Engines**: A jet engine pulls in air at the front and blows it out of the back, very fast. That push sends the plane zooming forward. - **Landing gear**: The wheels are called the landing gear. They roll the plane along the runway, and after takeoff they fold up inside to stay tucked away. - **Cockpit**: The cockpit is the pilots' room, right at the front. They sit in big seats, with controls to steer and lots of buttons and dials. - **Cabin**: Passengers sit in rows of seats in the cabin, each with a seat belt. The little windows let you look out at the sky. - **Tail**: The tall fin on the tail helps keep the plane flying straight. The small wings on each side help it tip its nose up and down. - **Seat belt**: A seat belt holds you gently in your seat. Click! Everyone wears one when the plane takes off and lands. - **Suitcase**: Your things travel in a suitcase. At the airport, suitcases ride in the belly of the plane, in a special space under the floor. - **Passenger**: A passenger is someone who rides on a plane, a train or a bus. Poppy was a passenger all the way from England! - **Pilot's cap**: Pilots often wear a cap with little wings on it. It shows they are the grown-ups who fly the plane. ## Getting the science right What we checked, and the myths we steer around: - The plane is a generic twin-engine airliner modelled on an Airbus A320, plain white with no airline, logo or registration on it. The cabin seats three and three with an aisle, as an A320 does. - Lift: air flows faster over the curved top of a wing than under it, so the wing is pushed up. The card says "air flows over the wings and lifts the plane up", which is true and simple enough for children; it does not claim a single cause. - A jet engine pulls in air at the front, burns fuel in it, and blows hot air out of the back very fast; the push forward is thrust. A fan at the front pulls in most of the air and sends it round the core. - Landing gear: on an airliner the wheels fold up into the body after takeoff and come down again before landing. On the page the nose wheel folds forward and the main wheels fold in toward the middle, as on the real plane. - The tall fin (vertical stabiliser, with the rudder) keeps the nose pointing straight; the small wings on each side of the tail (horizontal stabilisers) help the nose tip up and down. - Suitcases travel in the belly of the plane, in the cargo hold under the passenger floor. - The cockpit stage is a painted flight deck (painted with Grok Imagine; the painting is of a generic airliner flight deck, not specifically an A320). The 3D 737-800 cockpit (a Sketchfab model, a different type from the A320 outside) is only inside the display-table plane. The plane has two pilots; the story says "the pilots". - Above the clouds the sun really does shine: clouds are low, and the plane cruises high above them. The sea of clouds and the other places (airport window, cabin, runway, island airport) are paintings made with Grok Imagine; the plane, suitcase and its things are 3D. - Gentle wording: no turbulence, no emergencies, nothing frightening. Takeoff is "softly at first", landing is "nice and gently ... bump!". ## How to use it with children Watch the whole story with the sound on, then ask the closing question together: "Have you been on an airplane? Where did you go?" Pull the airplane apart at the table and find the wings, engines, wheels, cockpit, cabin and tail. Ask more than you tell, and let the child drive. Then step away from the screen: fold a paper plane and a paper ball and see which glides; wings matter. Pack a pretend suitcase for a trip: what would you take, and why? Set up chairs in rows, three and three with an aisle, and play "buckle up! click!" before a pretend flight. A few minutes together is plenty. The exhibit is a doorway to the real thing, not a replacement for it. ## Credits and licenses The real scans, maps and photographs belong to their makers, under the licenses below. The words, story and code are Curiosity's Child's. - The airplane: [an Airbus A320 by Dlourine](https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/airbus-a320-200-02470bf974e645f78f5d9385a333e9e0) (CC BY), plain white with no airline on it - The cabin seats: [Airplane Inside by Dixept](https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/airplane-inside-4fc41cb155cf4cf89cb41eac742227c2) (CC BY) - The cockpit: [737-800 Cockpit by hakai315](https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/boeing-737-800-cockpit-d463256f98654b36af019d2d88bd5bbe) (CC BY) - The gull: [Seagull by Dayvable](https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/seagull-dc42ffc81c86480e9e7f7752fa134174) (CC BY) - The rolling suitcase: [Hard Trolley Bag by adriansaputraz](https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/hard-trolley-bag-with-adjustable-handle-1758ad5207d943d597db8ff2b21bf827) (CC BY) - The suitcase, duck, sun hat, boots, camera, display table and floor: real scans from [Poly Haven](https://polyhaven.com) (CC0) - Backdrops painted with Grok Imagine - Poppy, painted with Grok Imagine (Kelly's own) - Takeoff and landing filmed with Grok Imagine (Kelly's own) - Seat belts and the airflow are made in code - Real sounds from Freesound ([CC0](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/), thank you!): [a quiet airport terminal](https://freesound.org/s/210786/) (jrosin), [aeroplane ambience](https://freesound.org/s/245690/) (TicAshfield), [high altitude wind](https://freesound.org/s/578275/) (Makape), [a plane taking off](https://freesound.org/s/478217/) (papedo), [a jet landing](https://freesound.org/s/572259/) (TRP), [a seat belt click](https://freesound.org/s/429948/) (jonnythedonkey) - Music-box tune made for this page - Narrated by Ms Daisy ## More on the Things That Go shelf - [The Electric Car](https://bagofwonder.com/look-inside/car/index.md): An electric family car’s whole day: buckle up, drive the lanes, swish through the rain. Then pull it apart! - [The Excavator](https://bagofwonder.com/look-inside/excavator/index.md): Dig, scoop and pour! Meet Patrick, fill the dump truck, then pull the excavator apart. - [The Gas Station](https://bagofwonder.com/look-inside/gas-station/index.md): Fill up the car, look inside the pump, and find the giant tanks under the ground. Click! Full! - [The Train](https://bagofwonder.com/look-inside/train/index.md): A long freight train rumbles by: look inside the cars, cross a big bridge, count the cars. Food travels too! Then pull it apart. - [The Mayflower](https://bagofwonder.com/look-inside/mayflower/index.md): Sail across the Atlantic in 1620: tall sails, a hundred people below deck, a storm, then Land ho! Blow like the wind, count nine weeks, and pull the ship apart. - [The Bicycle](https://bagofwonder.com/look-inside/bicycle/index.md): Ride along the street with Raphael and Leonardo, count the wheels, see the chain and brakes glow, then pull a real bicycle apart. Ring the bell! ## About Bag of Wonder A free library of interactive 3D "look inside" science exhibits, made at Curiosity's Child, a licensed home daycare in Troy, Michigan. Secular and science-based; welcoming to all. - All exhibits and how we make them: https://bagofwonder.com/llms.txt - For grown-ups and AI assistants: https://bagofwonder.com/look-inside/about/ - To cite: "The Airplane", Bag of Wonder, Curiosity's Child (Troy, Michigan). https://bagofwonder.com/look-inside/airplane/