Whirl
Press faster and the top spins faster — and throws things further.
What your kid practises: Effort and momentum — winding up, winding down
Why we made it
This is the one toy where mashing is the right technique. A flat palm, fast and uncoordinated, is exactly what winds the top up — and the toy visibly gets better the more of it there is.
Stop pressing and it slowly winds down: the hum drops and the top starts to wobble in a lazy circle. Press again and it stands straight. Effort, energy, decay, and effort again — felt in the hands.
Small things fly out from the rim and land where the spin threw them. A fast top scatters them evenly all round; a slow one clumps them into one arc. Nobody scripts that — the child can read the spin off the floor.
How to play together
- 1Press any keys, fast — a flat palm works — and watch the top stand up straight and hum higher.
- 2Stop and watch it wobble down together. Say it out loud: “it’s slowing down… wind it up again!”
- 3Try the Up and Down arrows: a bigger top is harder to wind up, hums lower and throws more at once.
Good to know
The toy runs in a browser tab, so a curious kid can still find these:
- Ctrl+Alt+Del — Windows always lets that through.
- The browser’s tabs and address bar (unless you use the kiosk launcher from GitHub).
- Swiping in from the screen edge on touchscreens.