Make a marble run

Designing a marble run can be a really fun activity that you can do either on your own or in a group. You can make one out of recycled materials or anything that you can find, just use your imagination... You can make it big or small, easy or complicated, but before you start there are a couple of things that you need to think about

The first thing you need to think about is GRAVITY. Gravity is an invisible force that holds things to the surface of the Earth. Gravity stops things floating away and because of gravity you will need to make sure that your marble is always running downward. To learn more about gravity have a look at the BBC bitesize website.

The second thing you need to think about is FRICTION. Friction is another invisible force that you find when two surfaces rub against one another. As your marble may be running over different surfaces you will need to think whether this will make your marble speed up or slow down. To learn more about friction have a look at the BBC bitesize website.

So have a look around and see what you can find...

Maybe you have some toilet roll tubes, yoghurt pots or carboard boxes, or you may find some paper plates hidden in the back of a cupboard, these are all great materials to get you started. Have a look at some examples that I have made. I hope you have fun with this activity!

The video tutorial for this activity is available on the Surrey Libraries Facebook Page and on the Surrey Libraries YouTube Channel

Marbles at the ready...

For the next science activity we are going to be making a marble run!

To do this you are going to need to collect a few things...

The most important thing that you will need is a marble. Hopefully you will be able to find one somewhere at home, but if you don't have one, any small ball will also work.

You will also want to collect some recycled materials and things that you have at home to make a marble run. You can use all sorts of different things but you might want to collect things like cardboard boxes, toilet roll tubes, plastic packaging, whatever you have...

You will also need a pair of scissors, some tape and/or some glue to help you put your marble run together.

For more information please watch the short introduction film.

This activity will be released on Thursday 30th April at 10:30am on Surrey Libraries Facebook page.

 Follow Surrey Libraries on Facebook and Twitter for more information and do not forget to visit Science Club on the Surrey Libraries YouTube Channel

Make a model hand!

Of the 206 bones in the human body you have 27 bones in each hand. You have 14 phalanges bones or finger bones, 5 metacarpal bones and 8 carpal bones. This means that about 1/4 of all of your bones are found in your two hands!!

To demonstrate how amazing your hand is we are going to be making a model of your hand that moves...


To start you will need to get a piece of card. This can either be an A4 piece of craft card or a piece of cardboard packaging like from a cereal box. The first thing you will need to do is draw around your hand. If this is difficult, or if you have small hands you might like to draw around an adults hand. 

You can then cut out your hand. 

You then want to get a straw and cut it into small sections. These small sections are going to be the bones in your hand and you will tape them to the hand where the bones would be. You will need 3 small pieces for each finger and 2 for the thumb and you will need 1 larger piece for the metacarpal bone for each finger and thumb.

You are then going to thread a piece of string or wool through the straw pieces and tape it to the end of each finger or thumb. You will also want to bend your hand between each straw piece to make the joints in your hand.

The last thing you need to do is take your small piece of paper and roll in into a tube. This can then be taped at the wrist section of the hand. All 5 of the strings can be threaded through here. 

Your hand should now be finished!


If you pull the strings then your hand should move. You could also pull just one string and one finger will move.

I hope you have fun making this. You can decorate it, change the colour of the straws or the threads to make it personal to you...



The video tutorial for this activity is available on the Surrey Libraries Facebook Page or on the Surrey Libraries YouTube Channel.

Get ready to make a model hand...

Hello everyone!

I hope that you enjoyed our first science activity. For our next session, which we will be releasing on Thursday 23 April at 10.30am on Surrey Libraries Facebook page we will be making a moving model hand.

You can watch a short introduction video to find out more!

To do this you will need to collect some materials:

1.  A piece of card - either A4 craft card or cardboard packaging like a cereal box
2.  Some straws
3.  A pair of scissors
4.  Some tape
5.  A pen or pencil
6.  A small piece of paper
7.  Some string/ wool/ thread

Follow Surrey Libraries on Facebook and Twitter for the latest information and don't forget to visit Science Club on the Surrey Libraries YouTube Channel

Natural Indicators

For our first science activity we are going to be using a red cabbage to test whether some of the things you can find at home are acids or alkalis.

We are using a red cabbage as a red cabbage is a natural indicator. Red cabbage juice is purple and it sometimes changes colour depending on the types of things that we add to it. If we add an acid it turns red, if we add something neutral it stays purple and if we add an alkali it turns green.

The first thing we are going to need to do is make some red cabbage juice. To do this tear up some red cabbage leaves and put them in a bowl.

You then need to pour some hot or boiling water over the leaves. The water will turn the purple colour of the red cabbage. 

You will need an adult to help you with this!

Leave this until it cools down and then you can remove the leaves and you will have your red cabbage juice. You can use your red cabbage juice to test some of the things that you find at home.

I have made a worksheet that you can download and use from home if you want to. 

To see the video tutorial for this activity visit the Surrey Libraries Facebook page or the Surrey Libraries YouTube Channel.

Hello Everyone!

My name is Laura and I work for Surrey Libraries. For the last year I have been running a regular Science Club and Science Workshops for children. In these difficult times as we are being asked to stay at home and you are not able to visit us at the Library we are going to be posting some of our Science Club sessions online. This way you and your families, can still get involved and have fun with science!

Please follow Surrey Libraries on Facebook and Twitter for the latest videos and follow our blog for more information on any of the science activities

We hope that you enjoy the science activities and please get involved and share your results or what you do with us on social media.

 For the first science activity all you are going to need is a red cabbage and with this we will be testing some of the things that you find at home to see if they are acids or alkalis...