Tube Ball Run

What you need

• cardboard tubes from kitchen roll and toilet roll
• masking tape, a few strips torn off ready
• scrap paper scrunched into small balls
• a shoe box to catch them at the bottom

How to do it

1. Tear off strips of masking tape and stick them along the edge of a table so they are ready to grab.
2. Hold the first tube against a door at a slope while your child tapes it on, then add a second tube lower down, sloping the other way.
3. Put the shoe box on the floor under the last tube and drop a paper ball in at the top.
4. Watch where it gets stuck, then move a tube together and try again.

Why it matters

A ball that stops halfway is a puzzle they can see, and moving a tube to fix it puts their own idea to the test.

What they're learning

Trying again

Moving one tube and testing it again is what fixing things looks like.

Using tape

Pressing a strip down firmly so a tube holds on a door.

Words for where

In at the top, through the tube, down into the box: the words come with the ball.

What to look for

Watch for them moving a tube on their own after a ball gets stuck, before you say anything.

A tip

Masking tape comes off most doors cleanly, but test a small strip somewhere out of sight first. Paper balls are quiet and can't break anything.

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