“Moovl” by Burton and Gould

Moovl (www.moovl.com), doodles that move, is a ‘decorated dynamical system’1 for children as young as 3. By combining a basic drawing interface with simple simulated physics, Moovl allows children to explore science concepts through natural playful, explorative and experimental cycles.

The Moovl canvas runs a simulation that imbues all shapes with naïve 2D Newtonian physics. Connected shapes are joined by a graph of springs to form discrete objects. Shapes in discrete objects are able to collide with each other2. Thus shapes have not only a property of colour, but physical properties such as density, friction and hardness. These properties can be inspected and varied for every shape within a drawing allowing for represented objects to combine real world appearances and simulated behaviours. A typical example of this is the ability to draw a marble run and then drop marbles down it.