A #grimmsballrun is one of our favorite things to do with blocks–but lately Grimm’s have been so hard to come by. With the holidays coming up, I thought it would be fun to put together a guide of other sets that can be used to build effective ball runs.
Listed in no particular order:
Bauspiel
1: Gemmed Windows: the long edges are great for guiding marbles, and stacked horizontally they make wide stable supports.
4: Color Street. These are great for supports and structures and have the perk of coming in a large strong box that can also be used as a construction surface.
6: Epsilon Puzzle. for younger builders these are good chunky sturdy support pieces, and great for making 90 degree angle changes. Older Builders can use them for fancy tricks. Read more here.
7: X-Bricks. good support structure, or a marvelous track for the ball to run along. If you have Grimms Leonardo Sticks or Bauspiel Colored rods (same concept) you can make a very nifty track with these.
8: Circle. This set is phenomenal–chunky pieces for building and guiding marbles, and amazing swoop and curve potential.
9: Building Steps. We love these for tracks, for guides to keep the ball on course and as stable structures to elevate the start of a run.
Treasures from Jennifer
2: Craft Board. Intended as a platform for drawing and painting, we also use this ALL the time in builds and ball runs.
Gluckskafer
3: Building Slats. In our non-grimms ball runs (and our Grimm’s ball runs) we use these a lot to elevate a surface just a little or to create a track for the ball to roll on.
( 6: Grimm’s marbles because that is what we have, but any marbles (wood suggested) will work)
Its hard to say what the best kit to start with is–it depends a lot on the age of your builders and your building style, but if you can pull together a mix of these, you’ll be off to a great start!
Throughout the week, I’ll be posting runs using these sets on @buildingwithrainbows on Instagram. I’ll add links here at the end of the week.
If you’re shopping–start now if you see the items you’re after! Shipping from Europe is slow right now, and its hard to say whether or not shops will get another restock in time to ship for the holidays. I’m starting to pull together a list of shops that carry these brands:
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