Yes, we love building marble runs over here!  We’re back with another idea, and this is particularly a good one for kids to build themselves.  It’s easy to rearrange the pieces in all different ways.

Changeable Pegboard Marble Run

I saw this idea on momtastic, and we decided to give it a try.  Owen (age 6, almost 7) had a great time building this marble track with only a little bit of help.  A younger child could also definitely do this with help.

Build a Pegboard Marble Run

To build this marble run, you will need:

  • Pegboard – we bought ours at Home Depot
  • Paper towel rolls
  • Paper fasteners
  • Scissors
  • Hole punch
  • Duct tape – to make it colorful!

First, cut the paper towel rolls in half lengthwise.  I covered them in duct tape just to give this project some color!

Build a Pegboard Marble Run

Tip:  Fold your tube halves in half to put a crease in the bottom.  This will made the trenches deeper and keep the marbles from falling off.

Attach the paper towel rolls to the pegboard using paper fasteners.  We punched holes first with a hole punch.  That added a little physics lesson to the project!  Owen found it very difficult to use the hole punch… until I showed him that he needed to squeeze the ends of the handle and not the middle (up by the joint).  You can’t work a lever by pushing too close to the fulcrum!

Build a Pegboard Marble Run

The holes didn’t always end up in the right places, but it wasn’t a problem to just punch more holes.  Folding down the paper fasteners at the back of the pegboard is not hard, but it works better as a two person job.  Perfect cooperative activity for kids to do in pairs!

Build a Pegboard Marble Track

Then it was time to play!  We put a cup at the bottom to catch the marbles.

Build a Pegboard Marble Run

Jonathan enjoyed pouring all the marbles down at once!

Build a Changeable Pegboard Marble Run

Be sure to check out all of our marble run projects here:  The BEST Marble Runs for Kids to Build

3 Comments

Post a Comment
  1. Joyce Ostertag Mar 10, 2016

    Pegboard - what a great idea for a marble roll! I particularly appreciate how you can easily move your tubes around with this option - great for promoting experimentation. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  2. Beth Mar 14, 2016

    Wow! I think I may try this in my Montessori classroom! I really love your ideas in all of your newsletters for my own 7 and 9 year old boys. Bravo to you!

    Reply
    1. Sarah Mar 16, 2016

      Thanks for the encouragement!

      Reply
  3. Brad Nov 27, 2016

    Fasteners were not part of material list.

    Reply

Post a Comment