I read that April 7 is National Marble Day, but of course any day is a good day to play with marbles. Making marble runs is a great STEM activity, and you can even pull in some art activities by painting with marbles and using them in other ways, too. Check out these fun marble run ideas and other activities to do with marbles.
You can make a marble run with a cereal box (Made by Joel), or a box and craft sticks (Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls), a paper plate (Kids Activities Blog) or several (Frugal Fun again), cardboard tubes (Powerful Mothering), a geo board (love this one from The Creative Homemaker) Legos (Mama Papa Bubba), an old CD case (Bloesem) foam pipe insulation (Buggy and Buddy) or pool noodles (Little Bins for Little Hands) just to name a few. Give your kiddos a bunch of supplies and see what they come up with!
Use an inclined plane to build your marble run and it becomes a science lesson, too. Check out this one from Preschool Toolkit.
How about some art projects? This marble sun catcher from Kids Activities Blog is so pretty I want to make one myself. Mable painting is also fun for adults as well as kids, and you can learn how to do it from the Artful Parent.
Did you know you can use marbles in tie dyeing? It’s a simple technique that gives fun results. Check out the instructions on FaveCrafts. They used socks but you could of course do this with a shirt, bandana or anything else you want to dye.
If you have marbles and plastic cups you can make this super simple marble game from All for the Boys. So easy and kids can play it over and over (use a cardboard box if you don’t have cups handy).
