Marble run product reviews

I love the flexibility of the marble run, children can create so many different ways to make the marbles roll down the course, choosing from big circular pieces to tunnels, making marbles spin bits, and do loops! I have bought these for my own children when they were small, and as an early childhood teacher I have used them in my centres and everywhere they are used children get hours of enjoyment from them.

There is no wrong way to put these together, and children soon learn how to make the track with the pieces they enjoy giving them fun while improving fine motor skills and also cognitive development. In group situations social skills get a great work out as children work together teaching and showing each other the 'best' way to use the tracks. As these tracks use marbles they are not suitable for younger children due to the choking hazard, although I think I have seen some larger designs hitting the market now.

Oh the adventures you can have with these amazing marble runs! I remember playing with one myself as a child and have since then set up and played with them a number of times both in my workplace (I'm a Early Childhood Teacher) as well as with my many nieces and nephews. Last christmas I brought at least five of these as presents for different nieces and nephews ~ it was so awesome knowing that such a great product would be loved by all. In fact they are still using them all the time 6months later - definately worth the money I spent on them!

I love that these are so versatile - each and every child will find a different way of playing with the toy and put the pieces together in different ways too. Its amazing to see the things their little minds come up with and watching them figure out how to build the towers so the marble can continue to drop through the holes. All of the pieces can be put together in like 10 minutes or so if you have used the product before or if the child is confident with being able to stick the peices together (takes concentration and fine motor skills!)

I would love it if this product was available in a wooden form but thats purely personal choice, in saying that the plastic its made of seems to be strong and last well. Definately a toy I recommend to parents out there!

When I first started doing Homebased Childcare one of the things I knew I needed to buy was a marble run. The set I got first was very limiting as it didn't have many pieces or variety. I replaced it with two sets from Marbutopia that were on a great special on one of the daily deal sites. My inlaws, not knowing we had these, also bought one of my daughters the same set for Christmas so now we don't have a shortage of pieces.

The marble run is very popular with my three and four year olds but I will also admit to enjoying playing with it myself. When the marble run is out my husband also enjoys building with our girls. It really does appeal to all ages although because of the choking hazard it only comes out when the babies are asleep and the marbles are counted out and back in.

There is so much learning that comes from this activity: colours, shapes, spacial awareness, fine motor skills, prediction, and it is loads of fun too. I also find because I usually have several children working with it at once that there is a lot of team work that is happening too. I think what appeals to the children most is the surprise element of not knowing where the marbles will go and even a veteran like me can find my carefully planned track is not at all like I thought.

I have had a few pieces break but this has usually been when someone has stepped on it. These set has a great variety of pieces and although there is instructions on how to build a structure using all the pieces it is more fun to create your own. This is one toy that I know my girls as they get older will continue to use. I can pull it out when teenagers visit and they happily interact with the kids or build their own superior structure. It brings out the geek in all of us.

I must say this product has been one of the best children's toys that I have ever purchased... such a versatile piece of equipment that money can buy. I bought one set and have added more sets as time has gone on. The great thing about these marble runs is the user (child) can put the pieces together in any or every which way that their little heart desires... a toy that can be used in literally hundreds of ways.

The pieces can be put together in 10 minutes or can be used and reused over and over for hours... this toys promotes concentration, as the children need to think about how they put the pieces together for a smooth downward run of the marble and with the pieces being see through the children love watching the marble make it's way through the tunnels, slides, wriggly bits... it is just endless hours of fun and amusement.

The plastic that the pieces are made off is very strong and can withstand hours, even years of play... I have used my set in a childcare setting so it has been tested by enough 3 to 5 year olds to stand up to the best of all time tests and it is still very very strong. I thought initially the children would require instruction of how the pieces went together but straight away they got the concept and constructed it all themselves... and once they were bored with the pattern they pulled it apart and constructed another and this would go on all day and the next and next etc.

The pieces are coloured in bright colours which is attractive and very appealing for young children. The amount of language development happening is fantastic as well, the children are always talking about how the pieces should go what colours they are using, the turn taking is great, hand/eye coordination... I could literally on on all day about the benefits!

Children of all ages can benefit from this toy... even the adults, me included... get involved, and get very excited constructing the tallest tower possible to get the best run of the marble. Is toy is a must have a great toy for both girls and boys and isn't an ordinary toy... the possibilities are endless... no boredom possible with this toy. Yes expensive to boy but well worth it and it lasts for years and the children are busy all day long... a great investment.

We brought this for our son for his 2nd birthday, yup all warnings saying not for under 3's we didnt listen to, we figure if we are going to be helping him set it up we can control the marbles and it worked great, he is now 3 and has the marbles in the box with the track so he can build and do it all himself.

This is really fun for children of all ages, yup that means adults too. Build up the tower to how the box says or make your own, just make sure the marbles will go though to the next level, as your building test your track regularly. Once at the top, give the child the marbles and off they go, have races with your child, it gets everyone excited on who is going to win.

As your child gets older they can start working out how to put it together and making up the tower themselves, my 3 year old gives this a go all the time and then will ask for help later on for us to build it tall for him. The marbles we got are plastic like along with the track itself. You can buy more packs and they will all click onto each other and make it taller longer and more track for the marbles to roll.

Lots of colours to use not only are we learning about the marbles going down we are learning colours..can you get me the orange piece? can you find the blue piece? its a great learning tool as well and a great fun toy. Makes bonding time fun too...so what are you waiting for, this is great for both boys and girls.