The “balancing bird” is a delightful toy you can buy, but it’s much more fun, cheaper, and better for the environment to make your own! If you like this, there are LOTS more toys you can make at home in my book Mr Shaha’s Marvellous Machines.

TEACHERS This is a great activity to do to when teaching about moments and centre of gravity.

EXTRAS: If you enjoyed making the balancing bird, you could try making other shapes that balance, like a butterfly or the spaceship designed by the brilliant Sai Pathmanathan in the downloadable template below. You could also try making some balancing sculptures, as shown in this video I made for the Royal Institution.

MORE GOOD STUFF: Click here for more activities. I’ll be publishing more videos of activities from my book over the coming weeks. Check back here, follow me on Twitter or subscribe to my YouTube channel to make sure you don’t miss them.