How To Build Your Own Marble Run

There is a sense of wonder and excitement when it comes to marble runs, watching the marble roll up and over and back around as it makes its way through the maze, and when you’ve create the marble run yourself that excitement gets even bigger knowing that you’ve put it all together. Marble runs are fun little experiments that get your mind working to solve a puzzle while you have fun trying to find cool and interesting things around the house to use to create this spectacular marble run. At the end of the finished product you’ll no doubt feel very accomplished and appreciate the praise of all your new “fans” at watching your marble run masterpiece.  So, how exactly do you make a marble run? Well, below you will find a guide to building a marble run to help you start creating and feeling the excitement.

1.    Go Searching - First, search around the home for supplies to build your best marble run. You are sure to find some interesting items such as toilet paper/paper towel rolls, plastic/wooden spoons, cardboard boxes, children’s toys, etc. Anything and everything can be used in building a marble run; you just have to use your noggin to figure out how they will work.

2.    Plan Your Marble Run – Next, you want to begin building your marble run in your mind. Think about how you can use the materials you’ve found around the house to build the run and how best to use gravity to make your run work. To use the pull of gravity you need your marble run to be at an angle so build it slightly raised on a board propped up about 5” or build it within a large box where the marble would be traveling down throughout the run. You want to make paths that the marble can rolls through such as linking paper towel rolls and wooden spoons one after the other to form a path that the marble can roll through as gravity pulls it down.

3.    Start Building in Steps - As you put your marble run together, concentrate on one part of the run at one time, making sure that it works properly before you move on to the next part. Building a marble run is all about trial and error so it may take a little while to figure out the best way to build the run, so don’t get discouraged. Again, make sure that you are utilizing gravity to make your marble run work or you are going to find that within a few seconds the momentum of the marble will stall and the fun will be over.

4.    Do a Test Run – After you think you’ve put the marble run together properly, do a test run. A test run will work out all the kinks and help you to build one that works like it should. The test run might even be a few test runs, but that’s the way it goes. Once you get the marble to run properly through the maze you’ve create then it’s time for you to find an audience to enjoy the awesome marble run you’ve created over and over.

5.    Have Fun – The best part about building a cheap marble run is having fun, so don’t forget it. Use your brain to think up cool ways to incorporate fun things around the house to make the marble run visually appealing and exciting. Don’t stress out or get angry when you first or even third try doesn’t work because really the fun is about 50% building and 50% watching, so don’t forget to enjoy the building half as well.

4 Construction Based Educational Toys to get your Child Learning while having Fun

There is a sense of accomplishment when you put something together whether it was all for fun or for a bigger purpose and the same can be said about construction based educational toys. Giving your child the chance to build a city out of blocks or a Galt super marble run out of wheels and slides, allows them to get that sense of accomplishment and to start learning the fundamentals of building and construction very early on. Below you will find 4 construction based educational toys that will not only be a fun event, but a learning experience as well which is the best of both worlds for your child.

1.    Techno Gears’ Marble Mania Mega – Marble run toy are always a fun experience for a child as they put the marble run together, constructing it piece by piece before spending hours playing with a few marbles watching as they careen round and round, up and over through the marble run at impossible speeds. The Marble Mania Mega is a perfect example of a marble run that can offer a good experience for your child to learn building and construction fundamentals while having a fun and enjoyable time with a toy that doesn’t feel like a chore or one of those dreaded “learning experiences”.

2.    Lincoln Logs Collector’s Edition Case – We probably all had this toy at some point in our childhood and the thought of them probably brings back a sense of nostalgia and warmth, right? Well, they same can be said of the next generation as they play with this fun construction based educational toy that will allow your child to build cabins or whole forts out of these nifty little toys that are always fun to play with.

3.    K'NEX Education Engineering Marvels: Buildings, Structures & Machines – K’NEX are another fun educational toy that are based solely on building and construction while still being a enjoyable toy as well. The K'NEX Education Engineering Marvels set was created just for the sole purpose of giving your child a fun and enjoyable learning experience as they learn the fundamentals of buildings, structures and machines at an early age.

4.    Physics Workshop – The Physics Workshop is a fun little mish-mash of education, construction and just plain fun that will have your kid building and learning in no time at all. The educational toy has 36 models and 37 experiments for your child to dive into and find out about all the fundamentals of construction and physics from the safety of their own home. They can learn how to build a wind power generator, crane, pendulum clock, sail car, mars robot, pin ball game, hammer machine, centrifuge, force scale and dozens of other models, so they will have hours upon hours of educational enjoyment from this wonderful toy.

The Top 4 Educational Toys for Children Under 10

Toys play a very important role in a child’s life and in their development. They help a child learn about a wealth of subjects from simple things like coordination when they are very young, games that stimulate the mind and toys that get the child learning about subjects they will need later in life like math or vocabulary, etc. Toys aren’t just toys anymore and now when you go out to buy a child’s toy the best toys you can get for your child are the ones that will not only entertain them, but educate them as well. So below you will find the top 4 educational toys for children under 10 to help make your choice a little bit easier.

1.    Young Scientist Microscope Set    – Children Ages 8 - 10yrs. – This nifty little kids’ microscope set is one of the top 4 educational Quadrilla twist set for children under 10 because it is a great way to help introduce children to the world of science in a fun and low pressure way. The microscope magnifies specimens anywhere from 100-1200 times their normal size, so kids can get an understanding of the microscopic world around them from the comfort of their own home.

2.    Alphabet Blocks – Children Ages 6 Months - 3yrs. – This is another of the top 4 educational toys for children under 10 as it is invaluable to the development of young children. Young children are just starting to learn to communicate through sounds and vocalization and alphabet blocks are a great way to get them to start learning the alphabet as well as understanding words. This will get their minds ready and able to acclimate to a pre-school setting as they will be able to communicate and recognize words and letters as well.

3.    Click Start – Children Ages 3 - 6yrs. – Computers are everywhere and it’s smart for a child to start learning how to use them from an early age, but the learning process can also help in the development of the reading and language skills, math, science, history, etc. As one of the top 4 educational toys for children under 10 the Quadrilla rail set has a large library of entertaining and educational programs to keep your child learning and growing through their most important years.

4.    Build-Your-Own City – Children Ages 4 -10yrs. – Building things is always fun for a child and the act of it can help a child’s mind in their most developmental years. With the Build-Your-Own-City your child can learn about construction and architecture in an easy way that will allow them to utilize the knowledge later on in life and that is why this is one of the top 4 educational toys for children under 10.