Article: How to Build the Magnetic Marble Roll

[Jack McKee]

You can view the page at http://www.sawmillcreek.org/content....ic-Marble-Roll

[John Coloccia]

This is GREAT. I was thinking of tossing some things like this together for my wife. She's a psychologist who works with kids, and she's always looking for these kinds of activities to help some of kids with concentration, and things like that. I love the PVC!

[Jack McKee]

This is GREAT. I was thinking of tossing some things like this together for my wife. She's a psychologist who works with kids, and she's always looking for these kinds of activities to help some of kids with concentration, and things like that. I love the PVC!

John,
Part of the way I got interested in building stuff for kids was that my wife was and occupational theripist who worked with kids. She was always needing something designed for a specific kid/need. Here is a busy box I built. I actually built two versions of this and one is still in use after 25

bsybx.jpgyears.

[Roger Thoreson]

Always looking for something to fun and useful to make for the grandchildren. This looks like a sure winner. Thanks Jack.

[Stan Powers]

My grandchildren are a little too young yet, but it will be a great project for them to help with in a couple of years. Thanks for sharing

[David Gaab]

This is great! My family was just at the San Francisco Exploratorium and they had an area with a similar setup - except using pegboard. My nephews (8 &12) were there for 1.5 hours, and had a blast. Judging from the # of people around, it was a real hit. What was really fun was seeing kids working together and really putting their brains to work. I will try to find a photo. I really dig this version as it looks a bit easier for kids to adjust and tweak than the pegboard version (which was also darn cool).

[Michael Wildt]

Nice toy!!

Easy to make and it sure is a blast even for adults.

Boston's Children museum has a whole wall with similar setup. Unfortunately no pictures of it on they website: http://www.bostonchildrensmuseum.org. It uses golf balls if I recall correct.

[Mike Gager]

forget kids, id build one of these for myself!

[Mike Heidrick]

I think this is a super awesome idea and build. Thank you.

[Guy Bratt]

I'm a little late here but how's this... a colored paddle wheel mounted on bearings that the ball sets into motion. I can see wild Rube Goldberg setups with levers and triggers.