# Bag of Wonder: The Garbage Truck > Meet Brayden and his big garbage truck: watch him tip a can into the scoop at the back, a blade squeeze the trash small, then recycling and compost. 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/garbage-truck/ - 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 Meet Brayden and his big garbage truck: watch him tip a can into the scoop at the back, a blade squeeze the trash small, then recycling and compost. 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. Good morning, poppets! This is Brayden. He drives a big garbage truck, and he keeps our streets clean. 2. Here comes Brayden's garbage truck, backing up to the cans. Beep, beep, beep! 3. On collection day, families put their trash cans and recycling bins at the curb. 4. Brayden lifts the trash can and tips it into the back of the truck. Whoosh! 5. Inside the truck, a big blade squeezes the trash small, so lots more fits. Now you try, poppets: squeeze your hands tight, just like the blade! 6. Recycling goes in a different truck. Paper, cans and bottles get made into new things! 7. Food scraps, like an apple core, can become compost to help gardens grow. 8. Brayden waves to the children watching from the window. They love that! 9. Thank you, Brayden, for keeping our streets clean! 10. Look, poppets: a garbage truck's world on one table! The truck, a trash can, a recycling bin, an apple core, and Brayden. ## The parts, and what we tell children These are the tap cards, word for word. - **Brayden**: Brayden drives the garbage truck. He keeps our streets clean, and he is cheerful and kind. - **Cab**: The cab is where the driver sits. Brayden drives the truck from here. - **Scoop**: This is the scoop. Brayden tips the trash in here. - **Blade**: This big blade pushes the trash in and squeezes it small, so lots more fits. - **Truck body**: The body is the big space that holds all the trash, until it is time to empty the truck. - **Wheels**: Big, strong wheels carry the heavy truck along the street. - **Trash can**: A trash can holds the things we throw away. On collection day, it goes out to the curb. - **Recycling bin**: A recycling bin holds paper, cans and bottles. They get made into new things! - **Apple core**: An apple core can go in the compost. Compost helps gardens grow. - **Trash**: When the blade squeezes the trash small, the truck can carry lots more. - **Waving children**: These children are waving to Brayden from their window. Brayden waves back. Friendly neighbors! ## Getting the science right What we checked, and the myths we steer around: - The truck is a rear-load refuse truck (a model by elikev247, CC BY, recoloured green; the scan carries no logos or words). On a real rear loader the worker tips the can into the scoop (the hopper) at the back; a big blade sweeps the scoop clean, pushing the trash forward into the body and squeezing it small. Brayden tips the can by hand in the story (a real worker often uses a lifter for big carts; this is the small-can storybook version). The page shows the inside in a cut-away of the body (the near wall is left out so a child can see in) with black trash bags between the blade and the front wall of the body. The scoop, the body and the blade are separate pieces on the display table. - Inside a garbage truck the blade pushes the trash from the scoop toward the front and squeezes it against the trash already inside, so much more trash fits in one trip. - Most places collect recycling in a separate truck or in a separate trip, as the page says. Paper, cans and bottles go in the blue bin; a clean bottle can be made into a new bottle (a Grok clip of a blue recycling truck rolling gently down the street past the cans). Recycling rules differ from town to town. - Compost: food scraps such as an apple core rot down into rich soil that helps flowers and vegetables grow. The page plays a Grok time-lapse of seedlings growing in the garden bed beside a compost bin with an apple core on top (the clip is trimmed to its first 4.5 seconds, before the plants grow oversized). - Brayden (about 1.78 m, a cheerful garbage truck driver in an orange hi-vis shirt with reflective stripes, work gloves and boots) is painted for this exhibit with Grok and cut out of his plain ground. The street and the house with two small waving children are Grok paintings by Kelly (the children are painted, not real); the arrival, the cans, the tipping, the recycling truck and the compost bin are whole painted and animated scenes (Grok, painted by Kelly), so there is no 3D truck in the story except the cut-away. The trash can and recycling bin on the table are real 3D carts (Toter 90-gallon carts by Trashbulldogproductions, CC BY). - Gentle wording: no smell or mess jokes about the worker; the message is that Brayden keeps our streets clean. The page never invites a child to go near the truck, and never uses the word "secret". Summer: the street and the lawn are in full green leaf. ## How to use it with children Watch the story with the sound on. When Brayden tips the can, ask: what do you think happens to the trash next? At the cut-away, watch the blade squeeze. Then pull the slider at the table and tap the cab, the body, the scoop and the blade. Ask more than you tell, and let the child drive. Then step away from the screen: on collection day, watch your own street: look for the truck and its scoop. Sort a little recycling at home (paper, cans, bottles) and compost an apple core in a garden or a bin. Wave to the person who collects your trash, and say thank you. 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. - Garbage truck: [Tri-County Sanitation Rear Loader](https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/tri-county-sanitation-rear-loader-4386388d46f440d8a6687bb56ae0e15f) by [elikev247](https://sketchfab.com/elikev247) (CC BY), cut into its parts and recoloured - Trash cans: [Trashbulldogproductions](https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/toter-90-gallon-residential-trash-carts-81bef5dbd45d40c397b22b60c56aafd9) (CC BY) - Apple core: [koshu](https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/apple-core-71b6fcd762e54b2d9b3fada6dfab2d39) (CC BY) - Table and trash bag: [Poly Haven](https://polyhaven.com) (CC0) - Brayden, the street, the tipping, the recycling truck and the compost bin painted and animated with Grok Imagine (Kelly's own) - Sounds from Freesound ([CC0](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)): [kvgarlic](https://freesound.org/s/818450/), [kyles](https://freesound.org/s/637517/), [chainsaw_dinner_party](https://freesound.org/s/403075/), [qubodup](https://freesound.org/s/871231/), [cfedorek16](https://freesound.org/s/660566/), [florianreichelt](https://freesound.org/s/459993/) (the truck's reversing beep) - Music-box tune made for this page - Narrated by Ms Daisy ## More on the Community Helpers shelf - [The Firefighter](https://bagofwonder.com/look-inside/firefighter/index.md): Meet Aaron, a kind firefighter. Put on his gear, ride the fire truck, rescue a kitten and learn stop, drop and roll. - [The Police Officer](https://bagofwonder.com/look-inside/police/index.md): Meet Officer Bruce, a kind police officer. See his police car, cross the road safely, help find a lost teddy and learn what to do if you are lost. - [The Ambulance](https://bagofwonder.com/look-inside/ambulance/index.md): Meet Amber, a kind paramedic. See her ambulance, help Jake after a tumble in the park, listen to a heartbeat and learn when to call 9-1-1. - [The Farmer](https://bagofwonder.com/look-inside/farmer/index.md): Follow one little corn seed with Farmer June and her granddaughter Suhayla, from her hand in spring to a harvest meal, then take a little tractor apart. Thank you, farmer! - [The Mail Carrier](https://bagofwonder.com/look-inside/mail-carrier/index.md): Follow Barbara, the mail carrier, from the post office to your door: a birthday card across the ocean, a parcel, a doorbell. Then spread the mail out on the table! ## 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 Garbage Truck", Bag of Wonder, Curiosity's Child (Troy, Michigan). https://bagofwonder.com/look-inside/garbage-truck/