I would actually like to see the nonce increment, added transactions, and the resulting hash. It'd be easier if you could control hash rate (i.e. 1 hash per second, etc...).
Does a project like this already exist? Possible?
You mean something like this: https://github.com/codler/Bitcoin-phpMiner
What is the real reason you want it for?
Nevermind I don't wanna know....
I want to help my dad/family understand it. I want to create a "live view" of the blockchain. An animated view of the previous block with transactions, nonce, hashes, etc... while showing the current block being mined (i.e. iterating nonce + transactions + prev hash).
Some people are visual, others can imagine what the code does in their mind. I want to try to bring these two together... for educational purposes. I know this will never mine a block, but I do want to show what's going on.
That would be a great project to incept. Publish in online and you'll be flooded with traffic.