Magnetic Pipeline Blocks — 42 Pieces with Ball Runs

Parent guides: Easy Science Experiments for Kids at Home: Step by Step, by Age · Games That Build Your Child’s Skills, by Age: 1, 18 Months, 2, 3, 4–5 and 6+

1. Build a base and walls from the square and triangle pieces.
2. Fit the curved tubes so they connect from the top downwards.
3. Check each joint lines up with the next.
4. Drop a ball in at the top and watch where it goes.
5. If it stops, adjust the angle of the tube it stopped in.

• Gravity, slope and speed, discovered rather than explained
• Diagnosing a failure at the exact point it happens
• Three-dimensional building with a working goal, not just a shape
• Persistence, because the ball is an honest test

• Build the longest run you can before the ball loses speed
• Make a run with one deliberate dead end and fix it together
• Race two balls down two separate runs