Marble Run Fun in the Classroom

 I didn’t tell my students what the pieces were for.  I didn’t tell them how the pieces connected.  I didn’t even tell them what they were supposed to do.  I literally dumped everything out and let them explore.

And explore they did!  A couple of my students had played with marble runs before, so they knew immediately what to do.  A few of my students had no clue what to do with the pieces.  The majority of my students, however, got right to work and began trying to figure out how the pieces went together.

It was pretty interesting to see how my students worked together and talked together as they tried to figure out how to build their marble run.  It definitely created a sense of team work, as they quickly realized that in order to be successful, they would all have to work together on this project!

 Several students asked for their marbles right away.  They wanted to try their marble run pretty quickly after starting.  Other students protested, and encouraged them to wait a little longer, to see how big and tall they could make their marble run.  I loved hearing my students have conversations about how to build and how not to build their creations!

My students had a ball exploring the marble run set!  They were all in agreement that today was one of the best science days ever!!! Today’s fun was all about exploring the marble run set, finding out how parts fit together, learning how the process worked, and just having fun!  Our next project will be exploring how we can make the marbles travel faster (or slower) through the run and examining how different pieces can make this happen. 

I received four marble run kits for my classroom because I am a Marble Genius Ambassador!  Unfortunately the ambassador program is closed, but you can still get your marble run kits on the Marble Genius page.  I also highly suggest utilizing Donors Choose as a way to obtain marble run kits for your classroom!  If you need any help writing a project or getting ideas of ways to incorporate this project in your classroom, just let me know!  I’m always happy to help my fellow teachers!!

Your kids will thank you — this I can definitely guarantee you!!