1090” Marble Run / Tennis Ball Race

Jon came in and asked me if he could make a super marble run yesterday.  I think I half heard him – What I heard was “Mom I’m going out side, in the sun, I’ll be out there for hours, Good Bye.”  So I said – “Sure JonnyLego – Have a great time!”

They had found the old gutters in the building pile by the boat house . . . They attached it to the second story of the house – and bit by bit, elevation by elevation, trial by trial – got the ball to the dock. It took about an hour and  a half to make it “work”, it took about 4 hours for it to work every time. I got a lot of reading in yesterday.

Home School Marble Run

The boys ended up building a 971” marble / tennis ball run. Then, they went out and added 70 inches and 49 inches to make it roughly 1,090 inches long.

Homeschool HackSaw Marble Run

There was quite a bit of construction to make it work – Jon had a great time! This is the end, he pulls up the rope to get the ball.

Marble Run End

Not a bad playground for a homeschool kid!  We had traveling fisherman and kayakers come up and ask what we were doing – Jon called Ms. Neighbor JoDana over to show her as well. At this point, I’m surprised he doesn’t have a sign on the highway . . . $1.00 a view. . .Hmmmmm.

Homeschool Playground

Here’s a view for you for free. Smile (Paypal payable to Pebblekeeper) HA!

 

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About +Angie Wright

The Transparent Thoughts of an Unschooling Family of Boys - Answering the question - What DO you DO all day?
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12 Responses to 1090” Marble Run / Tennis Ball Race

  1. Pingback: School Supplies for Boys | Petra School

  2. Loretta's avatar Loretta says:

    My sons loved building huge marble runs (I had three of the smaller track commercial sets) when they were younger, and I have a feeling that, even though they’re in high school now, they would have enthusiastically embraced this project. What fun! And think of all the engineering and problem solving skills involved.

    Loretta

  3. Diane's avatar Diane says:

    The marble run is great. I am sure they have a blast with it. Looks like something my son would have put together when he was a child.
    Blessings
    Diane

  4. Phyllis's avatar Phyllis says:

    That is pretty awesome. I can’t believe that view.

  5. Blossom's avatar Blossom says:

    That was awesome!
    Dd says “No fair!” (because you live in Oregon & on the coast!) Oh and she says “Neat” about the video 😉

  6. Jennifer's avatar Jennifer says:

    WOW!!! My son would enjoy watching that, and helping too.

  7. Heidi's avatar Heidi says:

    I love it! A great use of old gutters and time. 🙂

  8. Briana's avatar Briana says:

    We(my children and I) are wondering how many marbles they lost! That is really cool!

    • +Angie Wright's avatar pebblekeeper says:

      We started with around 20ish, and have that many now. There are only two places where the marbles jump track. . . . And a mom who likes to keep her marbles about her. 🙂 Jon’s making a second one right now going down the stairs to the left and out to the sand pit. 🙂

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