As the project coordinator of the Wolfram Demonstrations Project, I have an inbox that is overflowing with fantastic ideas from Mathematica users and coworkers for how to make the Demonstrations site even more user-friendly and easy to navigate. One of the most exciting new features we’ve implemented recently is the new topics page. In a few easy clicks, users can fine-tune their searches to browse topics ranging from Middle School Mathematics to the Solar System to Natural Forms and everything in between.

Just last night at our favorite internet cafe, I used the topics page to find Demonstrations that were of interest to my six-year-old son. We’d been on the Demonstrations site together many times before, and needed a quick way to find educational and fun activities online for him to do while Mom worked diligently on coordinating the next new features to be unveiled on the Wolfram Demonstrations Project. A few clicks later we pulled up some of his favorite subjects, and in less than five minutes had at least twenty browser tabs open of Demonstrations that would entertain a kindergartener for a few hours (OK, maybe for 30-45 minutes).

Triple Touch Trace Pad

Drawing a Colored Polygon

Making Patterns

Learning Place Value by Counting Squares

Rock-Scissors-Paper

Interactive Maze

View of Our Solar System

Solar and Lunar Eclipses

Analog & 24-Hour Digital Clocks

I’m sure that everyone else who uses the Wolfram Demonstrations Project will enjoy this new topic search page as much as my son and I do. Of course, anyone who uses Mathematica 6 is encouraged to get involved and contribute Demonstrations for publication on the site, and we look forward to creating more and more features to make this free resource of interactive visualizations easy for everyone to use.