Make Running Ladybugs in 5 Steps

Materials you'll need

• Aluminum foil
• Red and black permanent markers (or paint)
• Scissors
• Marbles
• Baking pan or tray

 

Step-by-step tutorial

Step 1: Lay out a sheet of aluminum foil. Use a red marker to draw ladybug shapes, which includes a round body, black head, spots, and a line down the middle. Make as many as you'd like!

Step 2: Cut each ladybug out in a circle, leaving a bit of foil around the edges.

Step 3: Place your marbles into a baking pan so they're spread out and easy to grab.

Step 4: Place a marble in the center of each foil ladybug and lightly fold the edges up around it so the marble is loosely wrapped inside.

Step 5: Set your ladybugs on a smooth, flat surface and give them a push. They'll wobble and scurry like real bugs!

Learn more

Your ladybugs move because of the marble rolling around inside them. When you push the foil disk, the marble shifts to one side and then rolls back toward the center, but it overshoots, sending the bug wobbling in a new direction. This back-and-forth shifting is called an off-center center of mass: the weight inside the disk isn't balanced, so the bug keeps correcting and overcorrecting as it moves. It's the same reason a washing machine shakes when the clothes clump up on one side.