DIY Marble Racer Tutorial and Free Template -

DIY Marble Racer Tutorial and free template

My son was given an assignment at school to make 24 items to sell at there upcoming economics fair. I have been giving a lot of thought on unique handmade gift items. I noticed there are tons of ideas for handmade gifts for girls. It has been hard to find something to make for boys. We saw a similar idea of a wooden marble racing track online. When we click on the link it was dead. We searched all over the web for instructions or other information on these marble racers. The only luck we found was they are popular in Norway. My son was dead set on making these. With nothing more that pictures to give us an idea, we designed our own template and got to work.

First we gathered some scrap wood. We did not cut our own wood, just used pieces that were already cut. Our boards range in size from 14 inches to 18 inches tall and 5 1/2 inches wide. The template we made is 13 inches tall. We painted all of our boards a variety of colors first.

We wanted the boards to have designs that would be appealing to boys, you can paint or cut any designs for girls or boys. My son choose local sports teams, Bronco’s, and the fox logo. I cut these using my silhouette machine.

Next we applied the decals, after our boards were completely dry.

We made our template using a sheet of paper. Place the template and center over your board. We pre-drilled the holes first. This allowed the nails to go in straight. After all the holes are drilled, pound nails in each hole.

We decided the boards work better, if they are slightly tilted back. We drilled two larger holes on the backside closer to the bottom of the board. We purchased some wooden dowels and cut them down to size. We used hot glue to glue the dowels in place

Picture of our handmade template

Here are the dowels we used

All of the neighbor kids have loved these. I am sure they will be a big hit at the economics fair. These could be a great inexpensive unique gift to give this Christmas or for birthdays. I am including the template. The template sure makes mass producing these a lot quicker and easier.