Customer Reviews

Haba Ball Track Construction Set

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Bought this for my girl on her 3rd birthday. Both her and her big brother (5) love the toy. Possibilities are endless, from very simple designs to the very elaborate. In fact, my husband is having just as much fun creating very complex and creative designs, with the addition of some other accessories. This toy enthralls them all for hours. Beautiful, sturdy, educational, quiet. Highly recommended. A toy that will grow with my kids. All you can wish for a toy.

Pros: the blocks are well made and durable. My 3-year-old son enjoys playing with it.

Cons: the blocks are stacked on top of each other and/or put adjacent to each other to construct a ball track. They have to be pretty much perfectly aligned for the track to work properly, which is a very difficult task for little kids to handle (hence, you have to do it). Since these blocks cannot be attached to each other, they can easily go out of alignment after a number of runs (marble runs), not to mention when accidentally bumped by the kid(s).

Comments: It would be a major improvement if the blocks are designed so that they can be attached to each other. The toy is fairly expensive.

The set is well made and the blocks were bigger than I expected. Children at first might think its just another block set but when the marbles get rolling their attention follows fast. A bell bridge and a "klicker/klacker" track are the two special pieces included. Made in Germany, it's a bit pricey for the 42-pieces, which is why it gets 4 stars instead of five on the overall rating, but for a toy that is likely to last decades beyond the flimsy plastic junk everything else is, this toy is a worthwhile investment. I hope soon to buy some more accessories such as the domino track. The Quadrilla Marble Railway, Twist and Rail seems to be the main competition.

This review was written at amazon.com.

Editing to say we enjoy this toy so much, especially now that the littlest one is 2 1/2 and we don't have to worry about him swallowing marbles. Mostly he uses these as building blocks, making roadways, towers, and parking garages.

Now our five year old enjoys building the ball track. This is such a high quality toy. I would say this would be best for 6 and up, or younger with lots of adult participation. The wooden pieces are so nice and sturdy, they are very nice to hold and can be put together in infinte ways. This toy will help your child learn in a concrete way about physics, building, patience, motor skills, and so much more. I wish we had only such simple, sturdy, educational playthings in our home. Definitely an outstanding toy that will last for years and years.

Our whole family plays with this. Our children, 3 & 5, love coming up with various combinations, and this set has enough variations in tracks and drops to keep it interesting. We had also considered the plastic versions [including one by Lego], the Quadrilla, and the one on Back to Basics, but this one won out because of its variety-- short tunnels, a zig-zag, a couple of bridges, and a bell. It is sturdy and well-made. One thing worth considering-- smaller children will need help because pieces don't click together as plastic mazes do. My children have played with plastic mazes before, though, and got bored with them (they seem slow).

Haba also has many additional pieces, and while they are imaginative, I do find them to be pricey. We've made up our own variations out of toys we have though!

Santa just brought this for my 6 yr old son this past Christmas. At first my son was not too excited about it -- but when I reminded him of the ball track in one of his 'I SPY' books he became somewhat interested. It was not until we laid it out and starting working with it did he really get into it. As one of the reviewers noted - if you move the pieces by just a hair -- it makes the marble run off the track incorrectly. But quite honestly that's what I love about this. It makes him fine tune what he's made. It has definitely helped with his patience. If it doesn't first work - we try, try again. We don't quit and give up. We have to check and double check the track as we're making it. So instead of waiting until the end to test the track -- we test it throughout the process. We usually start out making one of the designs but by the end we end up creating our own ending.

Our 7 yr old neighbor came over today to play. I suggested they play with the marble run vs watch TV. The 7 yr old balked and I said -- just wait and see. So my son and I got out all of the pieces and started assembling it together. Okay, so as of right now the 7 yr old will not STOP playing with it. He has already searched some other pieces that we could get to go along with this and is loving it!

They have had to figure out how to take turns, how to make the pieces all work together, and see if they can create anything on their own.

I also love playing with this as well. So I don't mind helping them get it started. There is a definite sense of accomplishment when you can get the marble to run the track, hit the bell and end up where you've planned for it to land. I LOVE THIS TOY!!!

I plan on keeping this toy for when I have grandchildren. It is made very well and built to last (much nicer than the plastic marble runs from china, imo). My only negative is that my son just drew in black ink all over one of the pieces. Oh well. Ours now has a funky look!

Have fun!!!

The construction set allows a multitude of different paths the marble can roll with the interchangeable parts. The different blocks of wood are cut very precisely, so the construction always works if put together properly. With a little imagination, it is easy to integrate foreign elements such as drums, bells or glasses to show additional effects. What might be considered a minus is that there is nothing to connect the parts to one another, which means that the power of the rolling marble hitting a block will displace it after some time, unless fortified by other blocks. On the other hand, you may also think of it as part of the learning experience.

We bought this set for the kids last Christmas. They love the set, and love to build runs, but they get frustrated trying to keep it together and expand it. The blocks are very well made and the pieces align perfectly, but they don't "stick". Every marble that runs down the track knocks the pieces slightly out of alignment. It only takes a few marbles to break the flow. It's a constant effort to maintain the track.

I had planned to add more of the specialty pieces over time, but they are pricey, and the kids don't play with it long enough due to the constant realignment requirement. Not sure if I will now.

We were so excited to find a toy like this reminiscent of my husband's childhood. We gave it to our 3 yr. old son for his birthday after researching and reading reviews for different marble tracks. This is a fabulous concept, but cannot be built on carpet. This is a very basic set and seems to have only a few ways it can be put together since it is lacking more structural supports. Nonetheless, the children (3 & 5) have had a lot of fun, as long as all the holes are lined properly and we are right there with them.

Usually we love Haba toys and games but this one comes short.

The pieces of woods are very sturdy maybe too sturdy (thick, bulky and heavy). The tracks offer a lot of possibilities if only it would be more stable to actually be able to let marbles run and enjoy it. It's impossible to play it on the carpet. We tried on hardwood floor, the pieces of wood are so sturdy would leave marks on your floor if it falls appart and it does fall all the time. As previously mentionned in another review. Haba should allow the blocks to be put together with either a magnetic system or kind of wooden nail. Kids tried and tried various combinations just to see how it would fall appart if slightly touched.

We bought the Quadrilla marble run set Twist and Rail and this is really the best marble run we've ever played with and much cheaper. Quadrilla really is demonstrating what a well thought and built marble run should look like. They even thought about how to place the pieces back in the box and give a detailed manual to build different tracks.