Rolling Ball Puzzle Games Are Addictive Fun for Friends of Any Age
These rolling ball puzzle games are another timeless classic. And there is a reason for that. They are just super fun. Make them for yourselves or make them for friends and family. Just make them.
A maze puzzle game makes a great gift, because it doesn't need any explanation. Simply roll all the balls around until you get them all into the little holes.
It looks simple, but can be devilishly tricky. And that's what makes these little rolling ball puzzle games so fun.
What do we need to make a rolling ball puzzle game?
- Printed picture or wrapping paper
- 1 round cardboard cheese box
- Scrap cardboard
- PVA glue
- Silver ball cake decorations or small ball bearings
- Clear acetate film, if your cheese box does not have a clear lid already
- Double sided sticky tape
- Scrap paper
- Scissors and a hole punch
Begin Making A Rolling Ball Game
Step One
The first stage to make a rolling ball puzzle game, is to find a fun little picture. This will be our background. It could be from a magazine or a photo you have printed out. Or just a picture from an old comic.
Put the picture down and place the round cheese box on top. Draw around the cheese box to make a template.
Now glue the picture to some card and let it dry a little. Now cut around the round edge you drew, cutting through the picture and the card.
You may need to trim your image and card a little around the edges so it fits nicely inside the round cheese box.
Make The Game Board With Holes
Step Two
The next thing we need to make a rolling ball puzzle game are some holes.
Use the hole punch and make as many holes as you feel you want. When we play the game we are going to roll the balls around until they drop in all the holes.
We have added eight holes to our game, but you can do as many or as little as you want.
Start Assembling Our Rolling Ball Game
Step Three
Now we can fit the picture into the box. Pop some glue on the bottom of the box and place the circle on top. Wait for the glue to dry. You can pop a little weight on top to hold it flat. Maybe a can of soup or something similar.
Continue To Bring Together Our Paper Ball Game
Step Four
Once the glue has dried we can move on with our project to make a rolling ball puzzle game.
Now we can add the little balls. We used silver ball cake decorations, but you could use little ball bearings if you have some of a similar size.
Lay down your clear acetate and use the round box to draw around. Cut out the circle from your acetate.
Pop in your little balls and then glue on the acetate circle to the top of the box. Let the glue dry.
Finish Making Our Rolling Ball Game
Step Five
Now we want to make a neat edge at the top of our puzzle. If you have some decorative tape you can just use that. But here we will make our own paper finish.
Use a tape measure to measure around the edge of the round box. Then cut a strip of coloured paper that is 1cm longer than the length around the box. This is so we can have a little overlap at the ends.
Make the strip of coloured paper the same width as the double sided tape you have. If you only have thin double sided tape, make the paper twice the width and just two strips of double sided tape.
Cut out the strip of paper and then stick along it the double sided tape.
Then tape it around the edge. But, we want half the width of the tape to be sticking up above the box. We are going to fold this bit over to make a nice edge.
But we can't fold it over until we make little snips with some scissors all around the edge.
Once you make all the little snips, take your time and slowly fold each piece over and stick them down to the acetate.
And that's it... now comes the hard part of getting all the balls in the holes. Why not make a rolling ball puzzle game for all your friends and see who can complete the game first.
