Pool Noodle Marble Run STEM Activity | Little Bins for Little Hands

Make a simple pool noodle marble run! Pool noodles are amazing and cheap materials for so many projects. I keep a bunch on hand all year-long to keep my kid busy. I bet you didn’t know how useful a pool noodle could be for simple STEM activities.

MAKE A POOL NOODLE MARBLE RUN FOR KIDS

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POOL NOODLE MARBLE RUN

This pool noodle marble run is easy to make and use. Attach your pool noodle pieces to a wall to create your very own marble run wall.

YOU WILL NEED:

Painter’s tape
Pool noodles
Knife and scissors

To get started on your DIY marble run, an adult should safely cut up chunks of the pool noodle. I used a serrated knife to cut the pool noodle into different lengths.

Next, I sliced the pool noodle pieces down the middle creating halves. You will also need a roll of painter’s tape and of course some marbles!

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MARBLE RUN SET UP

My best tip for creating the pool noodle marble run is to actually put the tape on the noodle pieces before you place them against the wall.

Make sure your tape piece covers the underside of the pool noodle right to the edges. This made it so much easier for us to accurately stick them to the wall.

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POOL NOODLE RAMPS

For the younger pool noodle STEM fan, you can set up an easier version which is a simple ramp idea!

Instead of making smaller pieces out of the one long noodle, simply slice the middle down the middle for one ramp. Prop up one end on a chair or table and let the kiddos send marbles down it! A basket at the bottom might be helpful!

The best part of our DIY marble run was testing it, of course! We didn’t get it quite right the first time, but that was the neat part. It provided a good opportunity to develop those problem-solving skills. Work out which pool noodle pieces needed to be moved more to the left or right, or up and down.

A simple marble run with pool noodles can turn into a great STEM activity for kids. We had the opportunity to talk about gravity and slope. We talked about the different sizes of pool noodles and how many we had to use. We also used our engineering skills to problem solve what wasn’t working.