No Losing Your Marbles Here

Just another post

for Rocknquilts Tuesday Toot-torial

Think you are going to lose your marbles while taking care of your kids this summer?

Well, here is a fun activity for the kids to play and grow their brains at the same time!

As a grandmother and a teacher I think one of the biggest challenges parents face during the summer months is "Grow your brain activites".  

It is hot outside and if they are not in the pool they start winding down and complaining about the heat! I can not blame them one bit for that either but the last thing I want to do is bring them in to watch television or play video games (which both can be grow your brain activities if done properly) but sometimes your brain starts to turn to mush, too and you find yourself saying,

"okay, just go do it...anything!"

A little prep time and less than a five dollar investment 

can save your sanity, and help your child get a little smarter.

SO....
Stock up on a few of the pool noodles, a few marbles and a roll of masking tape and turn the kids loose with it.  

Oh, preparation first!

Take those noodles (must have a hole down the middle) and with a sharp knife slice them down the middle the length of the noodle to make two long tracks per noodle for a marble run. Mine sliced easily. (I used three noodles and had all the length necessary for the marble run.)

Then the tracks (as many as you want to try) can be taped together end to end to make a continuous run.  We found that the start needs to be about three feet high to get a good long run.  Explore a little.  My guys found that the stairs worked as a great place to start the run and then they did loop-de-loops and curves. The guys from 2 to 62 got involved and they had hours of fun.  Part of the fun is the experimentation of "what happens if...?"

 

 

Make a science lesson of it if you wish or just let them discover!

  We did this last summer and the kids still ask to take them out and play. 

A great father/ son activity, actually, it was a great Nana/child activity until Papa came home and then it really got fun!  

So find your marbles and go have fun!

*Marbles come in various sizes and we found the medium size worked better on our noodles (stayed in the track better). 

So you may experiment with marble sizes as well as slope, height etc. 

Most importantly, let loose and have fun!