Our School-age 2 children have continued showing a growing interest in building and playing with Marble Run, so the group decided to design and construct one of our own.
For the first step, we decided to use a large box which Emmett and Amanda worked together to tape and attach all of the loose sides. As they were working Amanda asked, “How are we going to make a Marble Run with this box? It is so flat the marbles will roll away.” Emmett then replied, “We can raise the side and tape them up.” From this conversation, we then cut some strips of the box and used them to strap the sided in order for it to look like a tunnel. Then, as we channeled out inner engineers, it was time for the children to design the track for the Marble Run.
Emmett and Will T. volunteered to start the design by using popsicle sticks and some bottle caps. As they were working Will T. commented, “We have to make sure that the popsicle sticks are a bit slant and have enough space between them so that the marble doesn’t get stuck.” After they were done, Lucy and Ella helped to attach a few pieces of the popsicle sticks and bottle caps. Lucy then said, “We have to make it tricky so we need to block some of the long open tracks.” Ella then added, “We need to put some of the smaller pieces under the long ones to make the marble goes both ways when it bounces on it.” When it was Ethan’s and Will B.’s turn Will B. pointed out that there was a gap that needed to be closed off because the marble will get stuck in there, so he blocked the gap with a bottle cap. The track was finished with the bottoms of three milk cartons with numbers written on them for scoring.
The Marble Run was then given a trial run to ensure proper function and any challenges. The children quicky realised that they needed to make some changes to the design because the marble was getting stuck in some places, and seemed to be not as challenging as they initially wanted it to be. Emmett kept on saying, “Something is not right I keep getting zeros.” So, after a few laughs and cheers the children made some changes by moving, adding and eliminating a few pieces of the bottle caps and popsicle sticks until they were satisfied with the outcome. When the children started to play with the Marble Run Thomas K suggested that we needed a score keeper to which Wyatt quickly volunteered. He wrote all the participants names on a piece of paper and made a chart to add their scores as the played. Each participant had several turns and their scores were recorded then they were tallied at the end.
The children were able to practice their critical thinking and problem-solving skills while doing this activity. They worked together and listened to each other. They were given an opportunity to use their imagination and develop their creativity. They practiced their numeracy skills by identifying numbers and tallying their scores. But most of all they showed good sportsmanship even when they scored zeros.
