Fun with a Marble Run!

We have been playing with a marble run; and my older preschoolers and their parents have loved it.

For a marble run you need:

cardboard tubes – paper towel tubes, gift wrap tubes, toilet paper tubes…
magnets
marbles or ping pong balls
hot glue or another adhesive
packing or duct tape (optional)
large baking sheet, refrigerator, or other metal surface

How to make a marble run:

Use the original size tubes and or cut them to various lengths
Cover in tape. This is optional. I used tape so that they could be wiped down.
Hot glue the magnets onto the tubes

Now just play!

Ping pong balls work well and are a little easier to manage for small hands. Plus they are less likely to roll under the refrigerator. 🙂

This was a mailing tube that we used at the bottom, it did a great job of catching the marbles at the end of the run. We tried to catch them in plastic containers too.

We also used a baking sheet in our laps. I would hold it and the children would adjust the tubes. It was a little more cramped and it took some patience but it worked to0:

I hot glued the magnets onto the tubes. I tried magnetic tape but it wasn’t strong enough to hold the tubes onto the surface. These round magnets worked very well.