Click here to read 7 Marble Games & Activities for Fine Motor Skills on Hands On As We Grow®
Marble games and activities are incredible for working on fine motor skills with kids! And let’s face it, kids love to play with them!
I remember growing up and we actually had a marble season at school.
Everyone would bring their marbles to school and we would play games every day at recess time.
I had a blast!
Believe it or not, I actually still have the marbles I used when I was a kid.
Now my own kids play with them (with addition of a few more, of course!).
I love it!
Considering I have a large coffee tin full of them, I’m constantly looking for new and exciting ways to incorporate marbles into activities.
Here are 7 super simple marble games and activities to enjoy with your kids at home!
Give them a go!
Pool Noodle Marble Race Track
This super fun marble sensory activity is sure to get your kids excited about marbles.
For this Marble Sensory Game, You’ll Need:
- a pool noodle
- marbles
- a bin or basket
When we first started this activity we used a laundry basket.
But, we quickly learned that the marbles would go shooting through the holes.
Don’t get me wrong, that was actually fun!
However, we wanted to keep them contained. So we placed a towel at the end of the hamper to stop them.
Next, my girls sat on the stairs and had a blast dropping marbles down the pool noodle race track.
This activity soon led to some great science talk.
My girls love doing science experiments!
We always find ourselves asking multiple questions when it comes to science, which is great!
- How can we slow the marbles down?
- How can we make the marbles go faster?
- Do you think you could make the marbles stop?
- Do you think you could catch the marble out the opposite end without touching the pool noodle?
I must say, this was great for critical thinking and problem solving!
Marble Grab Game
This activity is all about fine motor transfer control skills and/or pincer grasp development.
For this activity, you will need:
- cut up pool noodles
- a cookie sheet
- a pair of tongs and/or a spoon.
I first cut up some pool noodles and arranged them on a cookie sheet, like the picture above.
The cookie sheet is entirely optional but I love the sound it makes when the marble is dropped on it.
It just adds a new sensory side to this marble game.
Have you child use the tongs or a spoon and place one marble at a time into each pool noodle.
The tongs were definitely more challenging than the spoon.
As simple as it may seem, it took some concentration to complete this one.
As my daughter, started to loose interest, I switched it up.
I had her use her fingers to place the marbles in the pool noodles.
This was great pincer grasp practice.
This kept her attention longer as she was filling each pool noodle up with marbles instead of just placing one in each.
Marbles Frisbee Freestyle
For this activity, I actually left it up to my child to explore and see what she could do with a frisbee and some marbles.
Supplies Needed for this Marble Game:
- Frisbee
- Various sized marbles
Free exploration activities, like sensory bins, are great!
No specific way to play.
No right or wrong.
Just exploration!
At first she took out the the big cob marbles and spun them on the frisbee like a top.
Next she placed the marble on the frisbee, and moved the frisbee to spin the marble in circles around the outside of the frisbee.
This was great hand-eye coordination.
What can your child do with a frisbee and marbles? Give it a try!
Marble Catch Game
Supplies Needed for Marble Catch:
- marbles
- painter’s tape
- hard/smooth floors
For this activity, I placed some tape strips, sticky side out, on the floor.
To play this game, have your child roll the marbles to see if they can get them to stick to the tape.
This took some practice because if you rolled it too fast it wouldn’t stick to the tape.
My daughter was quite excited when she got her first marble to stick.
I even had to join in on her fun!
Why not? Kids love it when their parents join them!
This activity is also fun to do with ball pit balls too!
Make Marble Patterns
Next, we reused our tape strips from the marble catch game and made marble patterns.
Supplies Needed to Make Marble Patterns
- painter’s tape
- various colors of marbles
- flat surface
Kids can relate to patterns quite easily as patterns are everywhere!
Marble Balance Game
This marble game is all about fine motor balance!
Supplies Needed for Marble Balance
- non slip bathtub markers (I found some at our local dollar store.)
- marbles
- steady surface
Flip the bathtub markers over so the suction cups are facing up.
Then have your child balance marbles on the the suction cups. That’s it!
Super simple, no-prep activity! That’s the best kind!
Lego Blocks and Marble Towers
Pull out those Lego Duplo blocks and build some balancing towers with marbles.
This game is also all about balancing marbles, but with a building twist!
It was great to try something different.
We have all built lego block towers before but I’m sure not this way.
Supplies for LEGO Block Marble Towers
- larger size building blocks like LEGO duplo blocks
- marbles
- flat steady surface (table)
Set a Duplo block down on a table, balance marbles on the holes then place another block on top.
How tall can you build your tower before it crashes?
My daughter started to get creative with her towers once she felt more comfortable with it.
She started adding different types of lego blocks.
She really enjoyed this marble game as it challenged her to experiment with different ways of building.
Let your child explore with this activity!
It truly can be very simplistic or it can be challenging depending on how your child approaches it.
So grab those marbles and give one or more of these games and activities a try!
Believe me, your kids are going to love them!
Have you tried any other games with marbles?
If so, share them with us.
We’d love to hear all about them!
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