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The Hape Quadrilla Wooden Marble Run is a fun way to get your kids interested in STEM play from a young age. The box says suitable for ages 4-99, which shows that it’s not really something you grow out of.
I used to love playing with marble runs when I was little, but I never had one as good as this. There are several different Hape wooden marble runs, but this one is brightly colours, hits chimes to make music and has 77 pieces and 20 marbles.
The Hape Quadrilla Music Motion wooden marble run arrives flat-packed in a large box and needs assembling. It’s suitable for children ages 4+ but I needed to assemble it for my son. A slightly older child might have been able to follow the picture instructions but I think you’ll need an adult on hand. Once you’ve figured out which parts go where, then it’s pretty easy to assemble.
A great feature of this marble run is that it includes a musical element. Throughout the run there are metal keys that play a different musical note when a marble hits them. This give your child the opportunity to discuss things like predictions based on things they have already learnt.
How Easy is it to Assemble the Hape Quadrilla Music Motion Wooden Marble Run ?
All the parts you need are in the box, and it comes with a couple of spares left over. While the box comes with instructions, I’m not great at picture only diagrams. I like a few words to describe what I’m doing. That being said, assembly wasn’t too difficult, the hard part was trying to assemble it with a little pair of helping hands trying to join in!
If you’ve got younger children, you might want to assemble the marble run on your own for the first few times. There’s definitely an element of muscle memory involved, so if you’re called upon to get this out a lot there’s a chance you’ll be able to abandon instructions altogether.
The end result cuts a pretty impressive figure. It’s a little bit taller than the seat on my sofa and looks really interesting with its brightly coloured blocks.
Be careful once it’s up, as it’s easy to knock over. The different elements aren’t fixed together, so if anything crashes into it, you will have some rebuilding on your hands.
How to Play With the Wooden Marble Run
As you’d expect with any marble run, you drop down a marble and watch what it does. Each part has a different function, which Greg could see as the marbles dropped down.
A slightly older child might enjoy experimenting with what happens when you swap a block for one with a different function – which would be great for STEM play.
Each note that the marble hits is different, and if you drop lots of marbles down in close succession you get a really interesting tune. Greg was fascinated by all the different ways the marbles went and really enjoyed it when the musical notes were triggered.
When you’re finished playing with the marble run, it’s easy to dismantle and pack away in the original box for storage. If you’re feeling inventive, you could always try and assemble it differently next time you play with it.
The Hape Quadrilla Music Motion wooden marble run is available from Amazon (affiliate link).
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