There are many variations of balance toys—all of them interesting and a bit counter-intuitive. In some of my technology classes I’ve shown my students how to weld “cut” nails together to make a balancing person. However, welding tanks are not available to most people. Fortunately, Australian educator Katrina shows how to make a design that anybody can make. Sometimes it takes a fresh view to cut through all the complexity and simplify the construction enough that elementary school kids can build. Thanks Katrina!
Here are the directions in a print-friendly, PDF format.
The trick to making it balance mysteriously is to keep the center of gravity low by making sure more than half the weight below the feet. She accomplishes this with a lightweight foam head and denser modeling clay weights.