Make a DIY Ball Ramp

The DIY ball ramp is a necessity

What is it about kids and cardboard boxes?

They’s basically like peas and carrots and the stuff dreams are made of. Usually my kids decorate their cardboard boxes but this day… this day I decided to turn it into DIY ball ramp.

Cardboard boxes are magical. Don’t ever forget that! My kids love decorating their cardboard boxes (which we keep for months on end), making roads out of them, and have you seen this epic marble run from Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls?

But my kids had never experienced the fun of a ball ramp until this activity.

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Materials

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• Cardboard box
• Duct tape
• Broom handle
• Various balls, like this set

RELATED: Wondering what activity supplies are the best to keep on hand? Check out my list of “must-haves.”

How to make a DIY ball ramp

There was a method to creating this ball ramp: all thanks to my husband who figured out the linchpin to this whole set up.

First: I didn’t want it to just be a ramp. We needed a little more excitement.

I wanted this to be similar to Ski Jumping (the winter Olympics were on when I first did this activity).

Here’s what we came up with:

1. Cut open the box so it’s flat
2. Fold back the flaps and taped them down
3. Tape my broom stick to the back. That’s the trick. Gotta make the ramp part nice and sturdy.
4. For the bottom of the ramp, I folded up the bottom to make it curve just like a ski jump ramp. It worked perfectly.

RELATED: Need more super easy indoor activities to do with kids? Head to this post to see the best ones.

This indoor activity set up is worth it

Usually, I have a strict “this can’t take more than 1 minute to set up” policy. My favorite activities are always the easiest activities.

But this was well worth the 5 minutes to set it up because my kids played with it ALL.DAY. Then all day the next day – basically until the floor was so dirty that I needed my broom back and even then, we swapped it was a garage broom and play resumed.

RELATED: Do you have a ton of cardboard boxes lying around? I have a post just dedicated to what to play with cardboard boxes.

What do kids do with the DIY ball ramp

For obvious starters, they roll balls down the ramp.

But again, I wanted a little more.

At the bottom of our ball ramp, I added a target aka a basket to catch the balls (in later years, I added a muffin tin for more precision).

The balls didn’t always make it into the target but having something to aim for made it just a little bit more than randomly rolling balls down a cardboard box.

Challenges to try with the ball ramp

Here are some ideas for ways to change up this activity or add a little something extra:

• Keep track of which balls jump the farther – put them in order
• Try rolling other items – which work best
• Make it more like Skee ball and add multiple basket

Cardboard boxes and kids – it’s a relationship that just never gets old. Buuuuut if you do need a change of pace, try making a DIY toy (this ball ramp) as a fun random activity that your kids are bound to enjoy.

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Susie Allison, M. Ed

Owner, Creator

Susie Allison is the creator of Busy Toddler and has more than 2.3 million followers on Instagram. A former teacher and early childhood education advocate, Susie’s parenting book “Busy Toddler’s Guide to Actual Parenting” is available on Amazon.