When I was a little girl I had a marble run that I absolutely loved. It came from an auction that my Grandmother went to, was old and bashed and not particularly inspiring beause it just went back and forth, however, I remember having super fun while playing with it.

There are certain toys that never go out of fashion. Every child I know loves a torch, they all love a slinky too, etcha sketch… That sort of thing. Its the time old favourites toys that really grab them. A marble run with a big bag of the shiney glass marbles with pretty patterns inside is just one of those types of toys that ALL children, boys AND girls, seem to be drawn to.

I’ve often thought about trying to find one for my two because I remember loving mine so much but I’d never seen one which I actually want to have in the house. The one I had myself was wooden and although beaten up, still had that wooden toy aesthetic that can deal wth bumps and scrapes like a plastic equivalent could never hope to. In fact, the only marble run type toys I’ve seen lately have all been plastic and had batteries for flashing lights and while I’m certainly not against this type of toy, it just wasn’t what unwanted out of a marble run. Perhaps that’s down to my own nostalgia…

Anyway, I digress, I have now stumbled across a marble run which has caught my eye for lots of reasons and the first being that it is very much made from beautifully crafted wooden pieces. It doesn’t just look lovely, it looks flipping amazing! It’s absolutely nothing like my old marble run (it’s WAY more exciting) but it has that same feel in its wooden beauty. Old fashioned for sure but yet very modern at the same time! And I love it!

The Cyclone is part of the Quadrilla marble run collection from Hape Toys and can be bought at marbel.co.uk!

The box is filled with 198 pieces which can be made into all manner of types of track.  BIG booklet comes with it to show you how to build lots of them but of course you could always just free syle and make your own. You’re given bricks in different colours with different middles for the marbles to run through on the track.

The Cyclone is the largest in the Hape Quadrilla marble run family and comes with two spiraling funnels, 12 curved rails, and 10 power-boosting accelerators to inspire builders to design the ultimate marble run. Now, while the instructions are easy pictures with the brick colours faded out after each stage you’ve completed so that you can focus on the stage you are building, and very cleverly put together, it still takes some thought and time to make the marble runs. This is all part of it though, creating that end result either as a team or on your own and it literally can keep little construction workers occupied for hours!

This one took us about an hour to build following instructions and doing it together but we had so much fun doing it and made it a real team effort. I can imagine Christmas days spent building and re-building with Jonny while the lunch is being cooked. Oh it’s just up the Daddy street in this house I can tell you!

This is the perfect type of toy for a child who likes to build, loves a puzzle and enjoyes to create. It can be a bit fiddly if you’re not prepared to take the time to do it because you have to be methodical working out what to put where next but when you get there and start dropping the marles down, it’s all worth the hard work. It’s aimed at age 4+ and Jimmy at 3 and a half, isn’t quite there yet whereas Florence totally is. With things like this and building a train track, Jimmy is interested and does start out building but is just that little bit too small to be patient enough. Florence on the other hand enjoys the project and relishes having to create, artisitcally, before she gets to play.

Befor this item arrived for us to review I have to admit I was bulwarking at the fact it costs over £100. I was skeptical to say the least that a wooden marble run could possibly be so expensive. However, as soon as I opened the lid to the box I could see exactly why this is not half the price. It’s absolutely stunning, something really very special and something to be kept forever, possibly passed down throughout the family. It’s not a toy that will be bundled in a toy box and forgotten about but one which will be played with for many years and atract all ages. It’s absolutely beautifully made and the pieces all feel delightful. The colours are bright without being gaudy and you can add to this set at further birthdays and Christmas times too. It easily combines with other Quadrilla marble sets so that you can make a run of epic proportions and there are lots of sets to choose from here. 

As I mentioned, the box is fairly big but actually we’ve decided not to keep it in that, instead we will store it in one of our stacking IKEA storage boxes. In this it doesn’t take up as much room and there is room left over in the box for us to add to the Quadrilla set when we want to. This is a world away from plastic and flashing lights with its crafted long-lasting birch and rubberwood and it is far more than I could ever have hoped for when wanting a wooden marble run for my children.

On top of all the fun it also helps develop hand-eye coordination and dexterity. This is great but the best thing for me is that it involves the whole family if you want it to and can turn you into a real team! It’s absolutely brilliant!

This set has an RRP of £129.99 and is sutable for ages 4 years. we were sent a set for the purpose of an honest review.

Follow