Logo Homeschool World ® Official Web Site of Practical Homeschooling Magazine Practical Homeschooling Magazine
Practical Homeschooling® :

Walk Like a Bug

By Janice VanCleave
Printed in Practical Homeschooling #66, 2005.

How bugs walk without stepping on their own toes.
   Pin It
Janice VanCleave


Fun Time

As a bug walks, three legs support the weight of the body while the other three legs swing forward to a new position. To walk like a grasshopper, ant, or ladybug try this:

Form a line with two helpers, one behind the other. Place your hands on each other's shoulders.

Adult step. Write the numbers 1 through 6 on the labels. Place the labels on the children's shoes as shown.

Adult step. Instruct the children to walk using the feet that you tell them to lift.

  1. First lift and move forward feet 1, 3, and 5.

  2. Next, lift and move forward feet 2, 4, and 6.

  3. Repeat the steps several times.

This experiment was taken from Janice VanCleave's Play and Find Out About Bugs and used by permission of the publisher, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

For more information about insects, check out Janice VanCleave's Insects (ages 8-12) and Janice VanCleave's A+ Projects in Biology (ages 13 and up).

Q: With six feet, why don't bugs step on their own feet?

A: Bugs with six legs balance on just three of their legs, if they are the correct ones. The three legs that they must keep on the ground are the front and hind legs on one side plus the middle leg on the opposite side. They can raise the three other legs to walk. So, they have room to move their legs and walk without stepping on their own feet.

The term "bug" is often loosely used to mean any small creepy crawler. Bugs belong to a group of animals called arthropods. Arthropods makeup more than three-fourths of all kinds of animals and include such familiar bugs as insects, spiders, centipedes, and millipedes. These bugs are different in many ways, including the number of their legs. Insects have six legs and spiders have eight. While the name centipede means 100 feet, these bugs can have many more than 100 feet but most have fewer than 50. While some centipedes do have 100 feet, no millipedes have 1,000 feet as their name implies.

Bugs on land move from place to place by walking on legs. The fewer and longer the legs are, the harder it is for the animal to balance. Spiders stand on four legs at a time, two on each side (first and second on one side and second and fourth on the other side). The other four legs do not all move together. Instead they move in a wavelike motion, with the first leg coming down about the time the fourth leg is being lifted. A general principal of walking for animals with four or more legs is that alternate legs are lifted and no leg is moved until the one behind it is in supporting position.

Free Email Newsletter!
Sign up to receive our free email newsletter, and up to three special offers from homeschool providers every week.

Popular Articles

Can Homeschoolers Participate In Public School Programs?

Shakespeare Camp

Patriarchy, Meet Matriarchy

Myth of the Teenager

The Equal Sign - Symbol, Name, Meaning

Montessori Language Arts at Home, Part 1

Laptop Homeschool

Getting Organized Part 3

What Does My Preschooler Need to Know?

Teach Your Children to Work

Top Jobs for the College Graduate

University Model Schools

Teaching Blends

Interview with John Taylor Gatto

Columbus and the Flat Earth...

Getting Started in Homeschooling: The First Ten Steps

Don't Give Up on Your Late Bloomers

The Benefits of Debate

A Reason for Reading

The Charlotte Mason Approach to Poetry

I Was an Accelerated Child

How to "Bee" a Spelling Success

Give Yourself a "CLEP Scholarship"

Joyce Swann's Homeschool Tips

Start a Nature Notebook

Discover Your Child's Learning Style

How to Win the Geography Bee

Combining Work and Homeschool

Narration Beats Tests

The History of Public Education

Phonics the Montessori Way

What We Can Learn from the Homeschooled 2002 National Geography Bee Winners

Character Matters for Kids

The Charlotte Mason Method

Critical Thinking and Logic

Getting Organized Part 1 - Tips & Tricks

AP Courses At Home

Who Needs the Prom?

Saxon Math: Facts vs. Rumors

Montessori Math

Top Tips for Teaching Toddlers

A Homeschooler Wins the Heisman

Why the Internet will Never Replace Books

The Gift of a Mentor

Bears in the House

The Benefits of Cursive Writing

Art Appreciation the Charlotte Mason Way

Classical Education

Whole-Language Boondoggle

Advanced Math: Trig, PreCalc, and more!

          
Terms of Use   Privacy Policy
Copyright ©1993-2025 Home Life, Inc.