The Noise Jelly kit invented by the French designers.

Have you ever seen a musical instrument that is edible? Well, you have now thanks to French product designer Raphael Pluvinage and food designer Marianne Cauvard who have invented a game that allows the players to create sounds using the famous gelatinous dessert.

Noisy jelly is a game where the player has to cook and shape his own musical material, based on coloured jelly

The thinking behind the idea is to make an entertaining game from their favourite past times: music and food. The board itself is made up of a set of sensors that run on a set of software programs – but how the jellies produce noise is pure genius.

Science creating sound in jelly

The innovative game works when the different jellies are touched and manipulated triggering sensors on the board. The different sounds produced are created by the concentration levels of salt in the jellies, the shape of the moulds and the pressure of human touch. Food designer Cauvard believes the prototype can merge the electronic and tangible world.

“Noisy jelly is a game where the player has to cook and shape his own musical material, based on coloured jelly,” Cauvard says. “With this noisy chemistry lab, the gamer will create his own jelly with water and a few grams of agar powder. After adding different colour, the mix is then poured into moulds. Ten minutes later, the jelly shape can then be placed on the game board and by touching the shape, the gamer will activate different sounds.

“Technically, the game board is a capacitive sensor and the variations of the shape and their salt concentration, the distance and the strength of the finger contact are detected and transform into an audio signal. This object aims to demonstrate that electronics can have a new aesthetic, and be envisaged as a malleable material, which has to be manipulated and experimented.”

A unique interactive experience

The game is still in a prototype stage but could it be the 21st century’s Playdoh? Take a look at the video below and make a decision for yourself. What we really want to know is, how quickly could it be made available to the public?

For more information go to www.pluvinage.eu and www.mariannecauvard.fr.

For more articles related to innovation and toys please read:

Play-Doh: From wallpaper cleaner to toy icon

What if every toy was educational?

Mr Potato Head vs Play-Doh: Design vs Discovery

Play time: Welcome to the psychology of play

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