Butterfly Balancing Act
Activity DesignerLara Housser
Did you know that all butterflies are perfectly symmetrical? Unlike humans, the two halves of a butterfly including their wing patterns are exactly the same. I thought a fun way to introduce the concept of symmetry to my kids was by creating these super cool Balancing Butterflies. These butterflies rely on symmetry (in the shape and placement of the weights, not in the wing pattern), to balance. It does seem almost like a magic trick when you make it work!
What You'll Need
- play-dough clay (or pencil w/ an eraser)
How We Did It
First, fold the white paper in half and trace the body of half a butterfly (with the fold of the paper marking the middle of the body.) Note: This white paper isn't your final butterfly; you just use it to get a perfectly symmetrical butterfly (using the folding technique), which you'll then trace in the next step on the paperboard.
Decorate your butterfly with whatever materials you'd like! You can talk about how in nature, a butterfly's wing patterns match--but that it's not necessary for this project.
Place your chopstick (or whatever you're using) into a piece of playdough or modeling clay (to hold it up).