# Bag of Wonder: The Bat > Hang upside down, see with your ears and swoop after a moth in the moonlight. Shh, poppets! 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/bat/ - 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 A bat hangs upside down, spreads its hand-wings, sees with its ears and hunts a moth in the night. A free, narrated interactive 3D exhibit for children aged 2 to 6. 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. Shh, poppets. It's night, and a bat is hanging upside down. Letting go and falling is how a bat starts to fly! 2. Look, a bat's wings are really hands! Long fingers, with stretchy skin between. Wiggle yours! 3. The bat shouts, but we can't hear it. The sound bounces off things and comes back, so the bat sees with its ears! 4. Swoosh! In the dark, the bat swoops and catches a moth. Dinner time! 5. A baby bat is called a pup. It clings to its mom, warm and snug, while she rests. 6. Look, poppets: a whole night on one table! A bat, a moth, and a little pup. ## The parts, and what we tell children These are the tap cards, word for word. - **Gripping feet**: A bat's feet have strong little claws. They hold on tight, so it can sleep hanging upside down. - **Bat**: Bats are mammals, like us and like dogs. They have fur and feed their babies milk. They are the only mammals that truly fly. - **Wings are hands**: A bat's wing is a hand! Long fingers hold up the skin, and a short thumb pokes out with a claw. - **Big ears**: Big ears catch the echoes. A bat can hear a tiny moth in the dark. - **Echo**: Bats make high squeaks that people can't hear. The squeaks bounce off a moth and come back as echoes. This is called echolocation. - **Moth**: Moths fly at night, too. Some can hear a bat's squeaks and zoom away! Lots of moths get away. - **Pup**: A baby bat is a pup. Mom feeds it milk, and it holds on with tiny claws. Many bats have just one pup at a time. ## Getting the science right What we checked, and the myths we steer around: - Bats are mammals: they have fur and feed their babies milk. They are the only mammals that truly fly (flying squirrels glide). - A bat's wing is built like a hand: long finger bones hold up a stretchy skin, and a short thumb with a claw pokes out at the front. - Bats are not blind. Most can see; the insect-eating bats on the page also use echolocation, calling out high squeaks that people cannot hear and listening for the echoes that come back from a moth. - Some moths can hear a bat's squeaks and dive or swerve away, and many get away. The story says so on purpose. - Many bats have only one pup a year; the pup clings to its mother with tiny claws and drinks her milk. - Bats hang upside down to rest; strong little claws on the feet do the gripping. Many bats start to fly by letting go and dropping. - The 3D bat is a general bat shape (a model given wings that fold and open in code), not a scan of one particular species. Gentle wording: no scary bat stories, no vampires. - Safety note for grown-ups: if you find a bat on the ground or inside the house, do not touch it with bare hands; call a grown-up, local animal control or a wildlife rehabilitator. ## How to use it with children Watch the whole story with the sound on, then slide back to the wings and ask, "What do you notice about a bat's wing?" Let the child wiggle their own fingers. Pull the bat apart to open its wings wide, then play the echo story again and ask, "How does the bat find the moth in the dark?" Ask more than you tell, and let the child drive. Then step away from the screen: on a warm summer evening just after sunset, sit outside together and watch the sky for small flickering shapes that swoop and turn. Then play "bat and moth": one child is the moth and stays still, the bat calls "squeak!" and the moth answers "squeak!" so the bat can find it with their eyes shut. 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 bat: ["Bat | Kelelawar" by denys4624](https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/bat-kelelawar-01a0487f34fd4c6598159d2c55259dca) (CC BY), given wings that fold round it and open out on our own computer - The moth: ["Animated Peacock Moth" by Osian CG](https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/animated-peacock-moth-1c3db0798f1c46be9764e99631cbb0a7) (CC BY) - Grass, shrubs, nettles and the dry branch: [Poly Haven](https://polyhaven.com) (CC0) - The display table is a real scan from Poly Haven ([side table](https://polyhaven.com/a/side_table_01); CC0) - Real sounds of the garden from Freesound ([CC0](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/), thank you!): [summer meadow](https://freesound.org/s/815552/) (richwise) and [summer meadow with wind](https://freesound.org/s/639459/) (Garuda1982) - The night backdrop: watercolor paintings Kelly made with Grok - Music-box tune made for the Ladybug page - Night sky and stars made in code - Narrated by Kelly, in her own voice ## More on the Garden & Pond shelf - [The Pumpkin](https://bagofwonder.com/look-inside/pumpkin/index.md): From one little seed to a big orange pumpkin. Open it up! - [The Frog](https://bagofwonder.com/look-inside/frog/index.md): From tiny floating eggs to a wiggly tadpole to a big bullfrog. Jug-o-rum! - [The Robin](https://bagofwonder.com/look-inside/robin/index.md): Sky-blue eggs, a baby growing inside, hatching day, and first hops on the lawn. Cheep! - [The Egg](https://bagofwonder.com/look-inside/egg/index.md): Look inside a hen's egg for 21 days: a tiny spot, a beating heart, a chick. Then it hatches, all by itself! Peep! - [The Oak Tree](https://bagofwonder.com/look-inside/oak/index.md): One little acorn becomes a mighty oak. Watch the seasons change and meet who lives in it! ## 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 Bat", Bag of Wonder, Curiosity's Child (Troy, Michigan). https://bagofwonder.com/look-inside/bat/