From experience we know how much children like building marble runs from the specialist sets you can get. BUT you don’t actually need the specialist sets to create a run. The challenge is to create a run using whatever scrap materials and/or normal items around the house or grounds you can find. Eg. Lengths of wood, books, cardboard tubes, etc. Be inventive…. although obviously if using items in use and you want to keep stipulate they can’t be damaged.
- Can they use the materials to guide a marble down the stairs?
- Can they make it go down in the slowest time possible?
- Can they use the materials to guide a marble around a corner?
You can use any type of ball for this. Marbles just work well for being small and heavy for their size which helps with momentum.
Have fun! and feel free to drop a comment and if you want your pictures of what you’ve created.
Variation
The Drain Game
A variation of ‘marble run’. Teams are given a set time to build a track out of the materials provided, once this has been completed teams will roll a ball down the track, but the prize goes to the team that takes the longest to reach the end.
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Want something a bit larger? Have a look at the Ball Run Challenge.