Marble Rush Corkscrew Challenge

Developmental Benefits

Discovery Exploration

Cause & Effect

Science Concepts

Independent Play

Creative Play

Developmental Benefits

Marble Rush Corkscrew Challenge

Heightens curiosity and encourages exploration.
Even young babies love to learn about the world through exploration. Kicking and waving their arms while lying in their cot can lead them to discover that a kick can make a banging sound. Exploration and play are closely linked in infants where, for example, discovering that a toy makes a noise leads to infants repeating the action that made the noise. Babies learn a great deal through repetition. Once babies are either crawling or walking their mobility gives them more opportunities to explore their world.
Babies need to satisfy their curiosity about an object or toy by approaching and handling it. Adults can influence an infant’s confidence about the world by encouraging and smiling at them when they approach an unfamiliar object or toy. Babies can show uncertainty about a new toy and in order for them to confidently explore and discover it they need the emotional reassurance from their parent or caregiver. The confidence to explore and discover new things develops during infancy and creates a healthy curiousity about the world throughout childhood.

Rewards baby as they learn that their actions have reactions
Babies are exploring and experimenting with the world almost from the day they are born. Cause and effect is a scientific concept that babies learn very early in their lives. A delightful example of this is when babies begin to explore gravity by dropping toys whilst sitting in their highchair. The toy drops downwards and makes a noise as it hits the floor. Parents will tend to pick the toy up and return it to the infant. This enables the baby to continue with their experiment and learn more about cause and effect; babies learn a great deal through repetition and it is good to facilitate opportunities where babies can begin to understand that, for instance, a toy will always fall to the ground. This type of learning through cause and effect continues throughout childhood. Encouraging children to be curious about the world facilitates learning through experience. Toys that reliably make a noise when pressed, pulled or touched teach babies that their actions have an effect on the world. VTech bath toys with their pouring and squirting features encourage cause and effect awareness.
Children demonstrate that they have understood the concept of cause and effect when they talk about the consequence of actions. Before children use spoken language researchers discover what young infants understand about the world by presenting them with unexpected events. For example, babies are beginning to understand that toys reliably fall to the ground and that if a toy train goes into a tunnel it will come out the other end. If babies are presented with an unexpected event where, for example, a moving toy train disappears behind a screen but does not come out the other end they will stare for a long time at the screen. VTech toys offer babies and children the opportunity to learn more about cause and effect by pressing buttons and listening to the sounds, moving toys around and playing educational computer games.

Exploration of various environments & associated vocabulary.
Children are sometimes referred to as intuitive physicists, biologists and even psychologists. This means that children may naturally understand something about how the world around them works. Infants are beginning to understand about physical objects and their effects upon one another. They also learn a great deal about the world around them by repeating actions that have an effect. For instance, infants demonstrate their understanding of ‘object permanence’ when they pull away a blanket to reveal a toy that has previously been hidden from view. Young children continue to build knowledge of their world by acting on the environment around them.
As children’s skills mature and develop they can learn about science related words and expand their vocabulary. Young children demonstrate their biological knowledge when they make the distinction between animate beings such as animals and inanimate objects. Children use inanimate objects such as toy animals or pictures of animals to learn more about an animal’s diet, behaviour and habitat. From an early age children can understand the difference between a living thing such as a cat and a model or toy cat. Toys can engage children in thinking about scientific inventions, details of the animal kingdom, environmental information and facts whilst also expanding their science vocabulary. Scientific knowledge can then be reinforced through fun games and quizzes.

Games and voice prompts allow children to control the pace.
Early play in infants tends to be solitary or takes place alongside other children. Young children learn how to interact with other children through play but they can also explore and learn independently. The initial play experience for infants is when they begin to explore through moving and acting upon the world. Many toys offer infants the opportunity to learn more about their world. Young children will sometimes act out some aspect of their lives e.g. going to the shops and then they involve their toys in these activities. These young children are playing independently but they are also reinforcing their understanding of the social world by acting out scenarios.
Young children can consolidate their existing skills by repeating actions whilst playing a game. Learning to play independently has its benefits, for instance, children using an educational game can control their own pace. Children sometimes choose to work independently in order to build up their confidence. Toys and computer games that facilitate independent activity at the right level for the child enhance problem solving skills and increase hand and eye coordination. Although cooperative play increases during childhood, children still spend the equivalent amount of time in solitary or independent play.

Use imagination in a variety of ways and contexts to communicate ideas
When children engage in creative play they are showing that they have the ability to produce something new and original. Children benefit from opportunities where they are free to use their imagination and explore. In order for creative play to occur children need to be in an environment that is rich in stimulation. Curiousity will drive children to take part in creative play.
Creative play is different from other forms of play; it enables children to develop confidence in their own abilities as they begin to think and work independently. Games and activities that provide choices and also a number of alternative solutions encourage a certain amount of risk-taking. Games with alternative answers can lead children to think creatively and differently. Children need encouragement to play and think creatively. Opportunities to engage in creative play boost children’s confidence and enable them to come up with better ideas. Children benefit from the knowledge they gain through creative play.

Best for ages:

4 to 12 Years

Highlights

Construct thrilling stunts, exciting challenges and watch marbles go for a spin with the Marble Rush Corkscrew Challenge.

Description

Construct thrilling stunts, exciting challenges and watch marbles go for a spin with the Marble Rush Corkscrew Challenge. This 112-piece colour-coded building set includes a corkscrew tumbler that plays a musical light show, see-saw track, dizzying vortex, thrilling ramps and bases that all easily connect together. The easy-to-follow leveled guide includes three different builds from beginner to advanced, or create your own courses to explore STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) skills. When construction is complete, dump the 10 marbles out of the barrel and into action! Watch them race down ramps to the corkscrew tumbler, vortex and elevator. Compete with family and friends to keep the marbles in motion and bring them back to the beginning. Combine with other Marble Rush sets (sold separately) to create an extreme playset. Find more build ideas by visiting the Marble Rush website.