Little Roos
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The Zip-Zap Club

A 3D tour of the brain and nerves that follows a message as it zips from a tickled finger up to the brain, and back down to wave, for children about five to eight. Free, with no ads and no sign-ups.

Ages 5-8 How the brain and nerves work About 4 minutes, then a quiz
Open the tour A sheet to print

What your child will learn

How it works

Story. An echidna tells it in nine short chapters. The camera follows a message (a little glowing zap wearing an orange ring) three ways: in from a feather tickling a finger, up the spinal cord to the brain; out from the brain down to a muscle in the arm, so the hand waves; and the reflex, when a finger touches the echidna's prickles and the spinal cord sends a message straight back before the brain knows. Two close-ups show a message running along a nerve, and crossing the tiny gap to a muscle. Every word is spoken and shown.

Explore. Turn the body round, peek inside the skull, or tap any part to hear what it does (tap the cerebellum and the child wobbles, then steadies). Three buttons send a message: Tickle (in to the brain), Wave (out to the arm) and Prickle (the reflex). Follow a message goes all three ways, again and again, and What's this? shows the parts one at a time, including both close-ups.

Quiz. Six picture questions, read aloud, so it works before your child can read. A wrong answer greys out and they have another go; nothing is ever lost. Finishing brings a new animal for their My mob book, and a card of the words they now know.

The real words it teaches

The tour uses the real names for the parts, and says what each one means the first time. These are on the card at the end, and a tap on each says what it means. Two long names, acetylcholine and acetylcholinesterase, are said once each in the story with what they do, but kept off the card.

For grown-ups: across the gap, in detail

The close-up in chapter 5 follows the wave message to where a nerve meets a muscle in the arm: the neuromuscular junction. What it shows, cartoon but true:

  1. Along the nerve. A message is an action potential. Sodium channels open and sodium rushes in, then potassium channels open and potassium flows out to reset. Each patch triggers the next. On nerves wrapped in myelin, it jumps from gap to gap (the nodes of Ranvier), which is much faster.
  2. At the nerve ending, the message opens calcium channels. Calcium flows in, and tiny vesicles full of acetylcholine join the edge of the nerve and spill it into the gap (the synaptic cleft).
  3. Across the gap, acetylcholine binds to receptors on the muscle. Each receptor needs two acetylcholine molecules, like two keys, and then it opens a channel; sodium rushes into the muscle, and it contracts.
  4. Clean-up. An enzyme in the gap, acetylcholinesterase, quickly splits each acetylcholine into choline and acetate, so the channels close. That's why one message makes one pull.
  5. Recycling. The nerve takes the choline back in, and choline acetyltransferase makes fresh acetylcholine, packed into new vesicles for the next message.

Inside the brain, most synapses use other messengers; acetylcholine is the one at this junction, which is why the tour follows the wave to the muscle. Some medicines used by doctors work at this junction too.

What it practises

The codes are from the Australian Curriculum v9 (Foundation to Year 1). Each links to the official wording.

Things to try together

The tour says nothing about injuries or illness, and nothing about some brains being better than others. Its advice is sleep, and a helmet to protect your head and brain when you ride. The prickle is gentle and funny: it's the echidna's own spines.

What's simplified, and why

Where the facts come from

Every fact the tour states was checked against the page linked beside it.

Every word it says

The whole script, for reading along, or for a child who'd rather read than listen.

1. The boss

2. A tickle

3. Along the nerve

4. Let's wave!

5. Across the gap

6. Left and right

7. Balance and breathe

8. The shortcut

9. Look after your brain

The quiz

Quiz time! Let's see what you remember. The right answers are in bold.

  1. Where is your brain? (In your tummy / In your head / In your foot)
  2. What keeps your brain safe? (Your skull / A hat / Your hair)
  3. Which part helps you balance? (Your elbow / Your nose / The cerebellum)
  4. What carries messages between your brain and your body? (Nerves / Blood / Bones)
  5. The left half of your brain moves which side of your body? (The left side / The right side / Neither side)
  6. Your hand jumps away from something prickly before you think. What's that called? (A sneeze / A hiccup / A reflex)

For every child

What it needs, and what we collect

A recent browser on a phone, tablet or computer. The first visit downloads about 9 MB, and after that it keeps working with no signal. Nothing about your child is collected: the My mob card and the sound setting are kept on your own device. The privacy page has the whole story.

More in the series: What Makes Me, with the Lub-Dub Club, the Huff-Puff Club, the Munch-Crunch Club and the Mix-Fix Club.