ALL ABOARD: WE’RE GATHERING STEAM

Source: gosciencekids.com/magnetic-marble-run

Make a fun and simple fridge door magnet run with your family!

Materials

• Cardboard tubes in different lengths & diameters (toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, foil/cling film rolls)
• Washi tape or other decorative tape or stickers
• Magnetic sheet
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun or strong glue
• Various little balls (marbles, pom poms, etc.) to run through the track!

Directions

• Decorate your cardboard tubes with washi tape or whatever you’d like! Stripes are simple to achieve and look great.
• You can create some shape variations by cutting an angle in the end of some of the cylinders, or by cutting a small section out of the side of another. (These variations are great to have later, when the kids are trying out different marble run designs.)
• Use hot glue (or other strong glue, and let them dry overnight) to attach magnets to the side of each tube. Stronger magnets are best, especially if you plan to use heavier balls like marbles or steel balls for your run. Weaker magnets work if you’re using pompoms.
• Once you’re done creating and decorating your tubes, pop them on the fridge and wait for the kids to come and play!

Spark Creative Learning!

• How many zigzags can you incorporate into your design?
• Use a stopwatch to time your marble run. Can you modify your track to make it quicker? Slower?
• Test your marble run using a heavier smooth ball (a marble) vs. a lighter, rough ball (a pompom). Do you need to modify your design to suit the ball type? How does the type of ball affect the speed?
• How far does your ball roll when it comes out of the end of marble run? Can you modify your design to get the ball to land in a particular spot?