Magnetic Marble Track Preschool Project

Preschoolers love marble tracks, but you probably dislike the mess of cleaning up an entire marble track with a million pieces. With this quick preschool project, you and your preschooler can make a magnetic marble track that can be played on the refrigerator or any magnetic surface. With just a few items from around your house, you can create the coolest magnetic marble track on the planet -- and help saving the planet at the same time because this preschool project re-uses paper towel and toilet paper tubes!

What You Will Need

Several paper towel and toilet paper tubes with towels and toilet paper removed
Glue gun and glue sticks
Several magnets - you will need at least two small magnets for each tube
Paint and paint brushes, including a can of white spray paint
Marbles

How to Make It

Take several paper tubes and cut them in half length-wise.

Spray each half tube with white spray paint.

Using colorful paints and paint brushes, let your preschooler decorate each half tube.

When the paint is dry, use the glue gun to glue at least two magnets to each tube near each end of the tube on one side. For paper towel tubes, which are longer, glue one additional magnet in the center for extra support.

How to Play with It

Let your preschooler arrange the tubes on the refrigerator to make a track for the marbles. They will have hours of fun first figuring out how to get the marbles to travel from one to the next, and then creating new tracks as they rearrange the large and small tubes.

More Fun with Marbles

Building a Marble Track with your Preschooler
Let your preschooler learn all about preschool physics topics such as gravity, inertia, motion and friction by building a marble track. Turn your kitchen table or kitchen floor into a marble raceway with this fun and easy preschool physics activity. 

Marble Painting
This activity uses marbles instead of paintbrushes. Preschoolers love the alternative to painting with a paintbrush. They get their entire body moving as they use marbles to paint fantastic designs.

Marble Hide-And-Seek
Preschoolers love to hide-and-seek. So why not try a little hide-and-seek game with marbles? Just how quick are their eyes and memory? Test them with this game of hide-and-seek.