DIY Marble Maze STEM Activity for Preschoolers
Looking for a fun, hands-on way to build STEM skills with your preschoolers? Try this marble maze STEM activity! It’s one of the most popular projects in my classroom year after year. Kids love building their own mazes, and you’ll love how this simple activity supports creativity, planning, and early engineering skills.
This DIY craft uses inexpensive materials you already have at school or home—just straws, glue, a small box, and marbles. Whether you’re a teacher looking for an indoor activity or a parent wanting a quiet afternoon project, this one’s a hit!
Why Try a Marble Maze STEM Activity?
This project introduces children to the basics of engineering and motion through play. As kids design and test their own mazes, they practice spatial reasoning, fine motor control, and problem-solving. It’s also a great way to build persistence—kids quickly learn that their first idea might not work, and they get to try again until it does.
Even better? It’s easy to set up, and the results are always unique.
Materials Needed
- Plastic Milkshake or Smoothie Straws (Larger than regular drinking straws for thicker maze walls and easier manipulation by young children)
- Scissors
- Small Cardboard Boxes (We used boxes from greeting cards, the lids of children’s shoeboxes, and small pizza boxes)
- Double-sided Tape
- Glue (Hot glue gun or fast-drying craft glue)
- Marbles
- Optional Items: Magic marker lid, broken crayons, or small plastic blocks as alternative to straws.
How to Build a DIY Marble Maze
- Cut the Straws
- Cut straws into short pieces to form walls of the maze. Some preschoolers may need help with this step—milkshake straws are especially tricky to cut. You can pre-cut some pieces in advance to save time.
- Design the Maze Path
- Give children a box lid and some double-sided tape. Let them arrange their straw pieces inside the box to create a path. The tape holds the pieces temporarily, so kids can adjust the layout and test new ideas.
- Test the Maze with a Marble
- Offer each child a marble to test the path. Does the marble make it through? Can they tilt the box to guide the marble from start to finish? Encourage them to experiment and problem-solve if the marble gets stuck.
- Glue Everything in Place
- Once they’re happy with the design, use a hot glue gun (teacher’s job!) or fast-drying craft glue to secure the straw pieces to the box permanently.
What Kids can Learn from this STEM Activity
DIY marble mazes allow kids to exercise many different valuable STEM skills, including:
| Subject | Skill | Objective |
|---|---|---|
| Science | Physics | Gravity, motion, force |
| Technology | Problem-Solving with Tools | Using scissors, glue, and tape as tools |
| Engineering | Design and Build | Designing and building a structure. |
| Math | Measurement and Geometry | Measuring, spatial reasoning, shapes |
| Additional Skills | Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Fine Motor Skills | What happens if the marble gets stuck? Can we fix it? Cutting, placing, and gluing require precision and hand strength. |
Tips for Adapting This for Preschoolers
This marble maze STEM activity can work for a wide age range. Here are a few ways to simplify or extend the project:
- Toddlers: Build one large class maze using a big box lid. Let toddlers help move the marble through.
- Preschoolers: Offer pre-cut straws and let them handle the layout and design.
- Older kids: Encourage more complex maze paths, obstacles, or themes (like “Under the Sea” or “Jungle Adventure”).
Encourage Sharing and Problem-Solving
After building their mazes, I let kids test each other’s designs during free choice time. This simple idea turned into a classroom favorite. They compared maze designs, swapped ideas, and helped troubleshoot when a marble got stuck.
Later, some children even started designing new mazes during open art center time—using whatever materials were on hand. Marker lids and broken crayon pieces made surprisingly good maze walls!
More Easy STEM Ideas
If your students enjoyed this marble maze STEM activity, keep the fun going with more hands-on science and engineering play:
Build Sledding Ramps: Explore slopes and speed in this fun winter STEM activity.
Sink or Float Experiments: Test predictions and learn about buoyancy using common classroom items.
Visit the Free Resource Library: Get printable STEM crafts and science activities to use right away!
If your kids love STEM challenges, check out this huge bundle of paper-folding crafts!
Final Thoughts
A marble maze STEM activity is a great way to introduce early engineering skills and make learning fun. It’s easy to prepare, endlessly customizable, and keeps kids engaged as they test and redesign their creations.
If you’ve tried this activity or found other fun ways to build mazes, I’d love to hear from you!
Happy building!
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