My boys, like most children, love construction play and love balls and marbles, so it was no surprise that a build your own marble run activity would appeal to them. We were sent the Kugelbahn / Marble Run starter set from Hubelino and have had so much fun building our own marble runs together. It’s a great activity for teamwork and learning through play.
Our set came with 85 pieces and we also received some extra pieces just in case we needed more. The Hubelino toys are totally compatible with Lego Duplo which is perfect for us as we do have plenty of that to mix in and it can be frustrating for children when they have similar sets which are not actually compatible.
While building the marble runs the boys were working on their problem solving, team work, developing engineering skills, making observations about the speed and direction that the marbles travelled in and lots more – plenty of great STEM learning here (science, technology, engineering and maths).
The Hubelino box comes with a booklet of instructions for loads of different marble runs. Each page shows the design and the number of each of the pieces that you need, and then you can work it out from there – so children may sometimes need a few attempts as they use trial and error to complete those tracks.
Mr Z successfully copied the first few tracks
They start out pretty simple and then progress. Even the most basic tracks are lots of fun and give kids a sense of achievement in building it themselves. Soon they moved on to designing their own
It was great to listen to the children’s discussions while they built, negotiating with each other on where each piece should go and how to make each track even better.
Of course the Hubelino blocks can be used simply to build and make towers too. If younger siblings are joining in then this offers an easy way for them to be equally involved in the play.
This is a brilliant toy for young children, that would suit any age from 3+ and works great with mixed age groups. I can see it keeping its appeal for years as you can build up to some much more complex and involved layouts for the marble runs. If you want to extend, you can add extra packs and it’s all compatible.
The Hubelino marble run sets are available on Amazon (aff) along with other educational toys in their range. I’ve been really impressed with the range we tried and would definitely recommend this set. It keeps the boys attention for hours at a time and has been returned to often.
You can download free instructions for the marble runs hereÂ
Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.
Great way for kids to learn to innovate!
Those look really fun!
I hadn’t seen these before but look like so much fun and a great addition to any Duplo set! Adding some to my wish list now 🙂
Little man has a marble run set and he really enjoys putting it together! 🙂 x
This looks really great for younger children, are the marbles a little bit bigger than the usual type you get? I like that it is compatible with duplo too, so you can have even more creative fun! #MiniCreations
Yes, bigger than typical small marbles. I would still watch very little ones for putting them in the mouth, but they are less of a hazard
This looks great! I will be adding it to my two year olds Christmas list.
This looks awesome! I loved marble run as a child but this looks sturdier than the type we had. This makes me want to play with marble run again!
I’ve never seen these but thanks to your post I’m adding them to our holiday wishlist! Thank you!
Oh! We have a marble run of a totally different kind, which is great for the kids when set up, but not really doable for them on their own yet. I like this idea a lot (even though I enjoy building the marble runs for them to a quite embarrassing degree).
This looks great and I know my two would love it. A really fun learning activity. Thanks for sharing with #Playtime
Lucas says – This is soooooo AWESOME an it looks like you all had MEGA fun. Thanks for linking to #minicreations
This looks brilliant! I used to love marble runs when I was a kid but they look so much better these days 🙂 Thank you for linking to PoCoLo 🙂 x