Tumble Trax, from Learning Resources, magnetic marble review

Go to any children’s museum and they’re likely to have some sort of steel plate on the wall with magnetic running boards for balls or marbles. Tumble Trax from Learning Resources is essentially the same version of those, just scaled down slightly for players at home.  This is an activity that can keep kids engaged for hours, watching the marbles fall prey to gravity before being captured by magnetic boards.

In order to fully utilize the activity set it’s important that you have a steel surface that’s big enough for kids to build the maze of magnetic guiding boards. Case in point, if you’re in a school setting and have a large board this set if perfect for you.  In a setting like that you’ll be able to construct all of the suggested marbles runs or anything else that your creativity wants to do.

Our house doesn’t have a large board like that, but we do have a refrigerator. On a surface this size you can build three of the ten suggested marble runs. Of course, your imagination can build anything-even on a refrigerator; it just takes a little more effort.  Our play with Tumble Trax and our two children had mixed results however.

The simpler marble mazes, say the ones that only used four or five magnetic pieces worked just fine. However, when more pieces were used than that, the space around they play area got crowded and the magnetic pieces didn’t stick to the refrigerator as well as needed. For example, the more complex mazes that used seven pieces would stay in place fine for a moment. But the moment anything brushed against it, even slightly, would cause the maze to collapse. This was disappointing because trying to teach a lesson in gravity often became a lesson in patience.

Tumble Trax was even less effective on surfaces that weren’t entirely flat, say a garage door. The instructions state not to place the magnetic strips on any surface that you do not want to be scratched. Our effort to expand the set beyond the frig was frustrating and not recommended.

We tried the activity on a large board, like the one that you’ll find in a classroom and the magnetic strips worked perfectly. Every parent wants their child to get a head start with STEM education and this activity is certainly a fun way to have them learn about it. If you have a large magnetic board at home or are buying this for a classroom then the world is your oyster. Home users will still be able to use Tumble Trax, but only at a percentage of the fun and education that it’s intended for.