Exploring ramps and motion can be so much fun with a few cardboard tubes and pom poms!
We recently did a giant ramp activity, which went really well with the kids.
So we had to try a smaller, more intricate version with pom poms and cardboard tubes.
I was pleasantly surprised by the longevity of this activity. Elena (age 4) loved sliding the pom poms down over and over again.
And after the official “activity time” was over, she continued playing and reconfiguring the ramps.
Disclosure: We use sponsored, or affiliate, links, which means that we could earn a small commission that helps fund our blog (at no extra cost to you!). All opinions are our own and we only recommend products we love. Thank you for your support and happy shopping!
How to Set up this activity
These are the supplies I used for Pom Pom Slides. Shopping links are for the exact items.
- Con-Tact paper
- 1″ pom poms (this brand is my favorite!)
- cardboard tubes
- masking tape
I chose to make a sticky wall with Con-Tact paper for this activity so that Elena could experiment with the positioning of the cardboard tubes.
Con-Tact paper makes it super easy to set up everything.
Just cut a large piece and unpeel a portion of the top. Tape the top down, sticky side up, peel off the rest of the backing, and tape the sides.
I had two paper towel roll tubes saved, so I cut those in half to make four pom pom slides.
Later, we extracted two toilet paper rolls to add to the fun.
You can arrange the tubes however you want. We did a herringbone-ish pattern because that was simple and easy.
Elena thought it would be fun to catch the pom poms in a cup at the bottom of the drop.
Then she wanted to catch the matching colored pom poms in the cup.
Learning Through Play
To be honest, I don’t know much about engineering or mechanics.
But at the preschool level, you don’t have to know too much!
As I was setting up, I talked through my thought process for angling the the cardboard tubes.
Basically, I said I was making a bunch of slides for the pom poms to go down.
Once we started playing, Elena could see for herself how the slides work.
After a while, I suggested she move the ramps around how she would like them, and she experimented for a long time with this.
She’d set up the tube slides and test it out, then adjust to get the outcome she wanted.
All great for developing independent thinking and learning!
I stayed out of her way as much as possible and kept my comments to myself 😉
I only helped if she asked, and even then I had her explain to me exactly what she wanted to do.
She also continued using the colored cups to catch the matching colored pom poms.
One thing I found interesting about this was that she couldn’t “predict” where the pom poms would land.
She kept moving the cups around to where she saw the last pom pom fall and didn’t quite know where to put the cups to catch them.
Will You Try Pom pOm Slides?
It’s your turn!
This activity was the perfect challenge for my preschooler. She learned so much about gravity, ramps, and motion.
I’m so proud of how she persevered and kept experimenting with the cardboard tubes.
My youngest (almost 2) enjoyed sliding the pom poms, but wasn’t too interested in making her own set of slides.
This will be a great activity to come back to in a year and see how much the kids have grown!
Looking for an organized guide of fun, easy activities to do with your toddler that also encourages their growth and development?
I’ve created a 3-month activity planner just for busy parents like you! The plan includes 65 detailed, simple, and stress-free activities including: arts and crafts, sensory play, motor skills, and STEM–all using easy-to-find supplies.
Let me help make planning activities for your toddler easy, so you can skip the stress and get straight to the fun!
