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Zoetrope

Adapted from Wikipedia · Explorer experience

An animated zoetrope, an early toy that creates the illusion of motion when spun.

Zoetrope

A zoetrope is a fun toy that makes pictures look like they are moving. It is a round tube with small cuts along the sides. Inside, there is a strip of pictures that show something changing a little bit from one picture to the next. When you spin the zoetrope and look through the cuts, it looks like the pictures are moving!

The word zoetrope comes from ancient Greek. It means “wheel of life.” An inventor named William E. Lincoln from Providence, Rhode Island first used this name. In 1866, a company owned by Milton Bradley made a zoetrope that children could play with. People loved it because it made drawings come to life by showing them moving!

Zoetropes work in a similar way to an older device called the phénakisticope. They were made popular after stroboscopic discs were created in 1833. Today, zoetropes are still used for fun, art, and even in some ads. They help us understand how moving pictures work, just like movies and animations do!

Images

An animated simulation of a zoetrope, an early animation device, showing motion frames inspired by Eadweard Muybridge's work.
An old zoetrope-like animation device from a 17th-century book showing early forms of moving pictures.
An old device used to create animated pictures, showing how early films were made.
An old zoetrope animation showing the flight of a seagull, created in 1887 by Étienne-Jules Marey.

This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on Zoetrope, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Images from Wikimedia Commons. Tap any image to view credits and license.