Tag: marble run

july 2026: still working on this

(you can also download the files from github here)

Manual for the workshop (German)

workshop manual Nederlands

Making the schablone:

Cut the PDF with a laser cutter or print them on paper and cut them with a knife and scissors. use cardboard of about 0.5 – 1 mm.

Alternatively they may be 3D printed.

straight track schablone:

curved tracks and support schablone:

Using the schablone:

copy the lines on 200- 300 gram paper, using a ballpen, which gives suitable folding lines. when tracing: skip the triangles, they are only ment for holding the schablone together. draw / cut a straight line

Augustusburg, june – july 2026

I have been invited as a maker in residency in Aufweiterflur in Augustusburg, close to Chemnitz in Germany. A major objective was giving workshops marble run here and also representing AWF at the Chemnitz maker fair. And also collaborating with other makers at Makers United (link to Makers United 2026 here)

I developed a marble run made of paper. Trial and error and interaction with children was part of designing. The first ideas of the marble run were very much rooted in smoothly running tracks made of wire, or referencing the German – Ertzgebirge toy tradition. For example here: spielzeugmuseum-seiffen

Very nice things, but I wanted to create something else than the than marble runs that are available on the market (not so easy though!). Why? A couple of reasons: some need specialized tools to construct them. Or require much work. Or are just expensive. I would like to connect to the German toy making, but still had to find out how.

Paper

Paper is a material that I like a lot, and it can be worked with quickly. So it felt comfortable to follow this paper road and see what could be done with that material for a good workshop, wherever it might go.

Ultimately i arrived at a very simple solution: two curved tracks, a straight track and a support that can be combined. All made of easily available, either new or recycled, paper. It runs with standard glass marbles. It requires nothing more than scissors, a pencil and some tape. Optional were bamboo or paper sticks and (ready made) 3D printed supports for the tracks that fit on the sticks. For drawing the tracks I produced schablones, cut with a laser (optionally with a scissors and a knife) and I also printed these

The shapes are included in the workshop manual (aimed at instructors) and all are available digitally here as well as on Github.

The sticks and supports turned out to work well. The support design is not perfect ( too stiff), but it is used successfully anyway. An improvement may follow later.

You can find the support 3D design (VV2-TPU) here on Github, you can download and print it, or improve it (keep me informed!) yourself.

Other marble tracks were also prepared (more about them here). These use 3D printed supports and wire ( either ABS , bamboo sticks or rattan; a natural fiber). Building them requires more time and dexterity than the paper tracks. Most of all, they are more permanent and components can be used over and over again in new marble runs. Built marble runs now reside in the AWF garden and are used frequently by children. It obviously is not necessary for them to build a new marble run from scratch. Much of the fun is playing with a marble run, not only building it.

Looking back.

And, did I connect to the tradition of toy design? 
Specifically, Erzgebirge toy design? 

Frankly, not really. 
But I did connect to toys and toymaking, when you ask yourself: 

What is a toy (for)? 

If there is a specific goal, I would put this on the first place: 

Make children (and also adults) explore, cooperate, try for themselves, get interested, learn not to give up.....

That, rather than making a nicely looking toy (even though that certainly helps a lot in accepting the toy), is what unites toys all over the world. Not a design-goal maybe or something to advertise on a website, but certainly a deeper understanding of what toys mean and what they can do.  The good thing is: you get it because you are working with it. 

I have this result now and kick it into the world. It is not perfect and it is limited in its use but it works and it broadened my understanding of marble runs.

Gluck auf!